Simply Perigord
Some of the loveliest houses in the Perigord are available for holiday rental through the English-speaking agency, Simply Perigord, run by fans of the Bruno novels. Readers familiar with Dougal’s agency Delightful Dordogne in the novels might spot a certain similarity.
Email simply-perigord@simply-perigord.com
Email simply-perigord@simply-perigord.com
Domaine de la Vitrolle
If you are holidaying in the Dordogne this year, and are interested in staying in a chateau used as the inspiration for a number of key scenes in the Bruno series, you might enjoy a short break at the Domaine de la Vitrolle.
The Domaine de la Vitrolle - just outside Limeuil on the road to Le Bugue - is a charming small chateau, used as a secret Resistance HQ by Andre Malraux in the summer of 1944.
The current owners have turned the chateau into a charming hotel, with rooms in the chateau for 110 euros per night for a suite and 85 euros for a room, all decorated in 19th century style with some fine antiques.
The grounds contain more than 20 self-contained gites, which are available 760 euros per week for a two-bedroom flat with sitting room and kitchen, plus a delightful annex with four rooms and its own chapel.
Set amid orchards and vineyards and overlooking the river, the Domaine de la Vitrolle has figured in several Bruno novels, inspiring the Domaine in Dark Vineyard and the scene of the summit in The Crowded Grave.
For a vin de table, it now produces remarkably good Merlot and Semillon thanks to a gifted winemaker, John Alexander.
The Domaine de la Vitrolle - just outside Limeuil on the road to Le Bugue - is a charming small chateau, used as a secret Resistance HQ by Andre Malraux in the summer of 1944.
The current owners have turned the chateau into a charming hotel, with rooms in the chateau for 110 euros per night for a suite and 85 euros for a room, all decorated in 19th century style with some fine antiques.
The grounds contain more than 20 self-contained gites, which are available 760 euros per week for a two-bedroom flat with sitting room and kitchen, plus a delightful annex with four rooms and its own chapel.
Set amid orchards and vineyards and overlooking the river, the Domaine de la Vitrolle has figured in several Bruno novels, inspiring the Domaine in Dark Vineyard and the scene of the summit in The Crowded Grave.
For a vin de table, it now produces remarkably good Merlot and Semillon thanks to a gifted winemaker, John Alexander.
Les Cabanes Perchées en Perigord
One of the unexpected benefits of the current vogue for eco-tourism is the sudden proliferation of treehouses masquerading as hotels.
When we first moved to the Dordogne we were quite taken with the treehouse owned by some local friends. They had bought a standard garden shed, lifted it into a suitable tree, and added a mattress and a rope ladder. Spending the night up there during the annual August meteor showers was a real treat, the sky streaked with white and nothing but treetops for miles around.
Unfortunately I don't have any trees capable of supporting a treehouse on my property, or I would have built one years ago.
I stumbled across the website for Les Cabanes Perchées en Perigord the other day, and their treehouses are the wooden equivalent of Versailles. In fact, in some cases it would even be more accurate to say that they're full-scale houses built into the trees, rather than treehouses as you or I might remember from childhood.
There's a love nest, or Lov'Nid, which looks like something from a Stanley-Kubric designed Planet of the Apes, and a suspended tent, in addition to slightly more traditional dwellings. It all looks completely batty, but an awful lot of fun.
When we first moved to the Dordogne we were quite taken with the treehouse owned by some local friends. They had bought a standard garden shed, lifted it into a suitable tree, and added a mattress and a rope ladder. Spending the night up there during the annual August meteor showers was a real treat, the sky streaked with white and nothing but treetops for miles around.
Unfortunately I don't have any trees capable of supporting a treehouse on my property, or I would have built one years ago.
I stumbled across the website for Les Cabanes Perchées en Perigord the other day, and their treehouses are the wooden equivalent of Versailles. In fact, in some cases it would even be more accurate to say that they're full-scale houses built into the trees, rather than treehouses as you or I might remember from childhood.
There's a love nest, or Lov'Nid, which looks like something from a Stanley-Kubric designed Planet of the Apes, and a suspended tent, in addition to slightly more traditional dwellings. It all looks completely batty, but an awful lot of fun.
