What to do!
This region is very well endowed with religious history, relics and ancient buildings.
Journet: Local bar and Depot du Pain, called DOM's, a five minutes walk down the old pilgrim path.
(take a short cut to the top of the field and turn left.... watch out for otters!!)
Order bread the day before for collection
next day. Explore the Lanterns du Mort in the village,...ancient pointed columns dating back to pre-Christianity??.
Local walks along old railway tracks and to other old religious buildings.
Montmorillon: Excellent town swimming pool with indoor and outdoor pools. Large Hypercentre on the Poitiers road out of town.
Called Hyper U, it has everything you will need. Many large religious buildings. A town noted for its ancient and more recent,
writers and scholars. The tourist information (highly reccomended you visit this as early
in your stay as possible) in the centre
of town is excellent, extremely friendly and is surrounded by many restaurants, old bridges, ancient buildings etc.
La Trimouille: Village cinema, restaurants, watch out for weekend car boot sales French style! Local Doctors,
post office etc. It also has a "reptile centre" which you might pluck up enough courage to go to!
Chauvigny:
A traditional and once very important, local market town, you must not miss the Eagle and Buzzards show,
Les Geants du Ciel, high on the castle walls. Hold on to your
hair... literally, this is fantastic.
Good for exploring the old town walls and busy markets. Old churches with ancient painting
and frescoes.
Saint Savin: A world heritage site , the
Monastary
is stupendous. Full of pre-renaissance frescoes which dominate this
part of France, all along
the Gartempe valley. The frescoes are painted on the ceilings and depict
famous old testament scenes, e.g. the Tower of Babel,
Joseph's coat of many colours etc. Not to be missed. Good local restaurants in and around the local area to the Monastary.
Lathus: Good river canoeing and rafting on the Gartempe river here. Also good river swimming
close by to the restaurant.
Sailing is available on the local reservoir and other lakes in the immediate area. A fantastic fairy tale chateau at Bourg
Archambeaux is worth a visit.
Lac St Pardoux:Canoeing and rafting, great swimming,
fishing, boating and sailing available here. This very large lake has sandy beaches, pizzerias, restaurant, bars all available on it's shores.
It reminds us of Canada as trees grow right down to the water edge. A great day out in the open air.
Poitiers: Originally a Roman town with great history and tourist facilities. The most famous is Futuroscope which is great for the more scientific minded of us.
Limoges: Great for pottery and large hypermarkets, all found just off the various motorway junctions which goes through the centre of the city.
Click on the water to return to our other holiday rental properties.
Click here for
Ferry Crossings, Aeroplane flights, Car Hire, Reciprocal Health Care
and Buying your Euros
Photo Gallery....... Click here for the La Bordeliere photogallery.
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France; Vienne; Poitiers, La Bordeliere, River Cottage. Discover River Cottage, a great value idyllic, characterful and rustic cottage with swimming pool,
in hot south west France with stupendous rural views.
An idyllic rural haven, this beautiful cottage is full of character, but yet updated with modern bathrooms and swiming pool, located in a peaceful setting admidst
the rolling hills of the Vienne.
Built into the limestone hills in the 16th Century by the Church, River Cottage was originally used as
an almshouse for pilgrims on the route to Santiago (St James) de Compostella in N.W. Spain. The sloping nature
of the limestone rocks gives the cottage a very special character and many different venues for sunning, snoozing
and alfresco dining!, an ideal holiday home.
French rural holiday rental home. Original tomettes... floor tiles 300 years old are a good example with a beautiful patina.
For this reason, (stairs, stone steps, slopes, low balcony walls and verandah railings etc) we do not allow children under
the age of 5 to stay at the cottage.
furniture, parasol, table etc... It is great at all times of the day as it gets the sun in the morning and natural shade in the afternoon.
On the stone balcony is an original stone Limousin sink which was used by ancient travellers for washing their hands before entering the almshouse.
We have installed an awning for when it becomes really hot and you can
barbecue here because of its proximity to the kitchen. This is also a great venue for watching the shooting stars at night
(it gets really dark) and listening to the owls hooting or bull frogs croaking... with a glass of wine or beer.
Note we also have resident otters and red squirrels.... but they are pretty shy!
on the Compostella trail. The kitchen has a fridge freezer, washing machine,
gas oven and hob, microwave, kettle, coffee maker and sink. All crockery and cutlery is provided.
On the other side of the kitchen is the second triple bedroom. (double bed with single bed) A wooden verandah the full length of the house
is accessed from the kitchen and the adults will enjoy dining here in the evening as the
sunsets can be glorious. A swing seat, wooden furniture, parasol and outdoor lighting completes your veranda experience.