Twenty-nine kilometres northeast of Lyon on the N84, PÉROUGES is a pretty little town of cobbled alleyways, whose charm has not gone unnoticed by the French film industry – historical dramas like The Three Musketeers and Monsieur Vincent were filmed within the town walls – nor by some of the residents, who have fought long and hard for preservation orders on its most interesting buildings.Local traditional life is also thriving in the hands of a hundred or so workers who still weave locally grown hemp. No particular monument stands out, but the central square, the place du Halle, and its main street, the rue du Prince, have some of the best-preserved French medieval remains. The lime tree on place du Halle is a symbol of liberty, planted in 1792. The place both to stay and eat in Pérouges, if you can afford it, is the Ostellerie du Vieux Pérouges (tel 04.74.61.00.88, www.ostellerie.com; €100–125), in a medieval town house on place Tilleul; its restaurant serves traditional mountain dishes of rabbit and carp, with menus from €28. CRÉMIEU, to the south on the D517, is less compelling, despite its local sausages (sabodet), monumental architecture and early origins – the city can be traced back to 835 AD. It was once an important commercial centre, as signified by the fourteenth-century market buildings on rue du Lt-Col-Bel, and a border-post of the kingdom of Dauphiné; a number of imposing doorways are all that remain of the medieval fortifications. Alternate spellings:: France, Pérouges, Pérouges, Perouges
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