Monpazier
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Monpazier

MONPAZIER, founded in 1284 by King Edward I of England (who was also Duke of Aquitaine), is one of the most complete of the surviving bastides, and still relatively free of the commercialism that suffocates a place like Domme. Picturesque and placid though it is today, the village has a hard and bitter history, being twice – in 1594 and 1637 – the centre of peasant rebellions provoked by the misery that followed the Wars of Religion. Both uprisings were brutally suppressed: the 1637 peasants' leader was broken on the wheel in the square. Sully, the Protestant general, describes a rare moment of light relief in the terrible wars, when the men of the Catholic bastide of Villefranche-de-Périgord planned to capture Monpazier on the same night as the men of Monpazier planned to capture Villefranche. By chance, both sides took different routes, met no resistance, looted to their hearts' content and returned home congratulating themselves on their luck and skill, only to find in the morning that things were rather different. The peace terms were that everyone should return everything to its proper place.

Monpazier is now severely depopulated. There's an ancient lavoir where women used to wash clothes, a much-altered church and a gem of a central square – sunny, still and slightly menacing. Deep, shady arcades pass under all the houses, which are separated from each other by a small gap to reduce fire risk; at the corners the buttresses are cut away to allow the passage of laden pack animals.

The best place for an overnight stay in Monpazier is the Hôtel de France, 21 rue St-Jacques (tel 05.53.22.60.06, fax 05.53.22.07.27; €30–40; closed Nov–March), with a fine regional restaurant from €16. There are two campsites in the vicinity: Camping Véronne, 3km north, signed off the D660 Bergerac road (tel 05.53.22.62.22; closed mid-Sept to mid-June), and the more luxurious Moulin de David, roughly the same distance to the south (tel 05.53.22.65.25, www.moulin-de-david.com; closed early Sept to mid-May).

Another possibility is to base yourself in one of the attractive villages within a twenty-kilometre radius. BELVÈS watches over the surrounding country from a ridge-top on the Dordogne, and its Hôtel Le Home, on the through road at the top of the hill, provides good cheap accommodation and food (tel 05.53.29.01.65, fax 05.53.59.46.99; €30–40; closed Sun; restaurant from €10). Make sure you take a look round the old village and place des Armes, with its old pillared market and the tourist office (mid-June to mid-Sept daily 10am–1pm & 3–7pm; mid-Sept to mid-June 10am–12.30pm & 3–6.30pm Mon–Sat; tel 05.53.29.10.20, www.perigord.com/belves). The nearest campsite is at Les Nauves (tel 05.53.29.07.87; closed Oct to April), 4.5km off the Monpazier road, and there's a small camping à la ferme called Le Bon Accueil (tel 05.53.29.08.49; closed Oct to April) at the hamlet of Gratecap near St-Amand-de-Belvès.

VILLEFRANCHE-DU-PÉRIGORD lies 20km further south in the midst of wooded country above the River Lemance. Built in 1261 in lovely warm-coloured stone, it retains much of its bastide layout. At the end of the main street, whose medieval halle is splendid, is the good-value Petite Auberge (tel 05.53.29.91.01, fax 05.53.28.88.10; €40–55; closed Sat noon & Sun; restaurant from €15), set among gardens 500m out of the village.