What do we see? A land of forests, green hills and fields, cut by rivers and overlooked by cliffs — the whole apparently purpose-designed for mellow wellbeing. The countryside remains defined by old- fashioned farming, speckled with villages and small towns that testify to the understanding between man and landscape.
Time has, though, also given the region a tougher texture. The Hundred Years’ war and later religious unpleasantness both blasted this way: the abundance of castles was not thrown up to enhance the view. The Dordogne was for years an impoverished backwater, prey to peasant revolt and unreason. It’s barely a century since villagers at Hautefaye bunged a local noble on a bonfire, roasted and then ate him.
But isolation also ensured that the place