A Few Highlights of the Environment in the South of France that Keep Me Coming Back
Trained and educated as an Urban Geographer and an Architect, I can’t help but appreciate aspects of the physic environment when I travel. And there’s something about the richness and versatility of French Limestone that has captured my heart. I can’t walk by a limestone building, wall or ruin without reaching out to stroke its creamy smooth texture and soak up the romantic beauty of its buttery colour.
Everything from Geological sites such as Font de Gaume at Les Eyzies, Cro-Magnon troglodite cave villages such as La Madeleine, the 600-year-old Medieval Bastide fortified villages on both banks of the Dordogne River, to modern restorations of Renaissance farm and manor houses with gorgeous interior design details ranging from wallpaper to furnishing to table settings. Below are a few images of my own trip to the south of France, showing a sample of the variety of ancient ways people shaped the environment to suit their needs, and left a legacy for us to appreciate centuries later.
Entrance to prehistoric limestone caves at La Madeleine, housing perfectly preserved cave art depicting mammoth, horses, hunters, other animals and symbols 
Troglodite cave where early people lived from ancient times through the Middle Ages to WWI 
Plan of a hilltop Bastide Village showing central defensive Place des Arcade 
Typical perimeter arcades, all in limestone, make for an attractive central square that provides a focal point for village life, including weekly markets. As well, the arcades charmingly shelter shops, cafés and restaurants. 
Wattle and dab medieval structure in a bastide village in the south of France. Some Bastide village have a central structure, either like this one in Villeréal, that functioned, one supposes as a kind of defensive look out tower or just a large open sided roof that sheltered the markets that are still held every week from spring to fall in all the villages in turn.
I’ve selected a few choice blogs to help you explore and expand your awareness of the richness to be found in the south of France where my story, A Forged Affair is set. In writing my novel, though I have to restrain myself from describing everything I love and remember, I do try to paint a vivid picture for my readers, and immerse my characters and events in its setting in a way that comes alive. It’s this love affair with the built environment that I believe led me to create a character that was so quintessentially a creature of movement, at one in her body and in the world around her, who would use that physicality to both avoid and solve problems. Check out the book HERE.
A Toast to Limestone
In a nod to the numerous wineries of the Dordogne Region, here are a couple in the vicinity of my fictional bastide village of Petite Bergeron for you to ogle and imagine wandering the vinyards and enjoy tastings in the caves and tasting rooms. Domaine de la Tuque is “located on sunny hillsides, on the borders of the southern Perigord, the Dordogne valley and the Lot valley… the Domaine de La Tuque stretches in the heart of unspoiled nature on a promontory facing the imposing fortress of the Biron Castle.” You can even stay at the vinyard. Imagine it, cycling, ancient castles, gastronomy and wine all in one beautiful place! (No, no commission, just pure passion.)
Another interesting winery site to visit is the Chateau de Monbazillac. Here’s an intriguing quote from the site: “The greatest virtue of Monbazillac’s terroir, as with Barsac or Sauternes, is its predisposition to noble rot.” [My characters drink this wine in the market.] The chateau itself showcases Medieval through Renaissance architecture, furnishings and decor, and plays host to exhibitions of modern art, while the Medaille d’Or winning winery cooperative itself marries the latest in modern viticulture techniques with a love and desire to preserve and enrich the traditional wine culture of the region.
A Dynamic Tour of Life as a Parkour Traceuse…
Below are two videos to give you a sampling of what Parkour actually looks like, in case you’re not familiar. Here are the top 5 parkour traceurs in France, followed by what some of the best female traceuse can do.
I hope you’ve enjoyed my little celebration of French limestone. If after sampling these websites and videos, you’re in the mood to immerse yourself in the world of Aquitaine for a virtual summer vacation/romantic adventure, then give A Forged Affair a try! You can buy a copy HERE. Or read more about it HERE.
Leave a comment below, and tell me about your own travels, to France or elsewhere, and what about the physical environment that surprised or delighted you. Is there a particular kind of stone you have a love affair with too?