Midway between Villars and Thiviers on the main Périgueux–Angoulême road, ST-JEAN-DE-CÔLE must rank as one of the loveliest villages in the Dordogne. Its ancient houses huddle together in typical medieval fashion around a wide sandy square dominated on one side by the huge church of St-Jean-Baptiste, built in the eleventh century, and the rugged-looking Château de la Marthonie (not open to the public) on the other. The Château, first erected in the fourteenth century, has acquired various additions in a pleasingly organic kind of growth.The tourist office (June–Sept Mon–Fri 9.30am–12.30pm & 2.30–7.30pm, Sat & Sun 2.30–7.30pm; tel 05.53.62.14.15, www.ville-saint-jean-de-cole.fr) is also on the square, as well as an attractive restaurant, the Coq Rouge (tel 05.53.62.32.71; closed mid-June to mid-Sept Tues & lunchtime Wed; mid-Sept to mid-June Mon–Wed; mid-Nov to mid-Dec & mid-Jan to mid-Feb every day), whose excellent menus start at €20. On the main road through the village you can also eat at the wisteria-covered Hôtel St-Jean (tel 05.53.52.23.20; €30–40; restaurant from €11, closed Sun eve); the hotel also has a few simple but clean and comfortable rooms.
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