Out and about

Le Serpen is within easy reach of a myriad of tourist sites: chateaux, medieval villages and bastide towns, vineyards, caves, museums, churches, gardens - the list goes on!  The famous sites of the Dordogne, including the prehistoric caves of Lascaux (1 hr 40 mins) and Les Eyzies (1 hr 30 mins), the cathedral city of Perigeux (1 hr 10 mins), the castle and gardens at Beynac (1 hr 20 mins), Sarlat-le-Caneda (1hr 35 mins), and many more, are all potential day trips. 

If you want to be active, there is canoeing and kayaking on the nearby river Dropt as well as on the Dordogne, and if you don't want to propel yourself, boat trips on the Dordogne are available in Bergerac just 25 minutes drive away. Bergerac is a sizeable town with excellent shops and restaurants and a range of amenities including an aqua park and go-karting. We are five minutes away from a lake, Lescouroux, with cycling (cycle hire available in July and August), walking trails, canoeing and paddle boarding (July and August), and fishing (with a permit). Lougratte near Castillones has a lakeside beach with facilities. There is a first class golf cours, Chateau du Vizier, 20 minutes away, and a nine hole course, Golf de Barthe, at Tombeboeuf (30 minutes). Parc-en-ciel is about an hour away and Accrobranche is even closer.

But if you just want to relax away from it all in peaceful surroundings with beautiful views, perhaps with a glass of the local wine, Le Serpen is also ideal for that.

Our village, La Sauvetat du Dropt, has a well-stocked shop, and a cafe and tobaconnist within walking distance (15 to 20 minutes). It has an interesting history and there is a guided walk with historical details in both English and French. It is famous locally for its hugely successful soirées gourmandes - food evenings with live music on Fridays throughout July and August where you will find an excellent range of foods at reasonable prices and a very convivial atmosphere.

A nearby hilltop village, Soumensac, has panoramic views - you can see the Pyrennes when conditions are right - and a couple of interesting museums of tools and dolls. It too holds food festivals during the summer months on Sunday lunchtimes. Highly recommended.

The nearest town, Eymet (ten minutes by car), has a variety of shops, restaurants, bars, and a tourist information centre, as well as a thriving market every Thursday (and Tuesday evenings in summer).

If you are interested in wine, there are endless possibilities for wine-tasting. St. Emilion, Sauternes and Monbazillac are all within easy reach, and Bordeaux is an hour and a half away. We are close to the Bergerac wine area with its white, rosé and red wines, including the famous Pecharmant. Our local wine is Côtes de Duras and there is a local vinyard producing excellent wines and offering wine tasting just minutes drive from us. Duras is an historic village with an impressive chateau and an excellent wine centre 17 km west of us. Wine tours are available at St Emilion (St Emilion Petit Train Wine Tours) and Bergerac (Bergerac Wine Tours).

There are plenty of interesting towns and villages with their chateaux, markets and summer fairs all within an easy drive of Le Serpen. Chateau Monbazillac with its distinctive sweet wines and the chateau Bridoire with its furnished rooms and courtyards full of games are both twenty minutes away. The medieval village of Issigeac with its large Sunday market is half an hour away and Monpazier, one of France's most beautiful villages, and the nearby chateau Biron, 40 minutes. The beach resort of Arcachon with the largest sand dune in Europe is just over a two hour drive away, as is the famous town of Rocamadour in the opposite direction. 

These suggestions merely scratch the surface of all the possible things to see and do during a stay at Le Serpen.