Archive for February, 2010

A public garden located in the Dordogne has been awarded second-place in the national competition for “Garden of the Year 2010.”

Femme Actuelle (‘Real woman’) magazine reports that Albadere Gardens in Saint Cybarnet, a commune in the south-east of the department, has been recognised by the French Journalists Association of Garden and Horticulture (AJJH).

The garden was given the prestigious “coup de couer” award. This is named after a popular French expression that, like ‘Deja vu’, has no simple English translation. Effectively, it translates to “love at first sight” or an impulsive fondness for something based on nothing more than first impressions. The phrase tends to be used more often for impersonal objects and is a popular expression for French language tourism guides.

Albadere Gardens impressed the jury with the organic farming methods used by the resident gardeners, married couple Brigitte and Serge Lapouge. These green-thumbed Gaelic’s have been responsible for the upkeep and design of garden, which covers around two acres.

The jury of gardening journalists and horticultural experts were impressed by how Mr and Mrs Lapouge had made use of organic compost and mulch and for their ability to suit their plants to the range of climates that can sweep through the Dordogne valley over the course of a year. According to Femme Actuelle, the plants in Albadere gardens thrive in the dry soil of summer and still manage to survive the frozen sub-zero temperatures of winter.

According to their website, the Albadere gardens has been a welcome challenge for both gardeners. Committing themselves to reviving a “land almost barren”, the Lapouges have shaped their terrain from “dry, poor, stony limestone” to a fairer landscape that can handle the “cold winters and warm dry summers” .

Now, ‘Jardin d’Albadere’ contains areas such as an orchard, an ‘English garden’ of lavender and biannual flowers, a main garden of summer flowers,  an enclosed garden and a ‘wild garden’ of sculpted bushes that mixes with the neighbouring woodlands.

Music fans with diverse tastes may be interested to know that tomorrow night, Bartola in Perigueux will be hosting a performance from Paris group We Insist, famous for their eclectic mix of influences.

The performance has been organised by the Produkt association, who regularly arrange for concerts in bars in the Dordogne. Often these are free to attend, though at most there is a cover charge of up to 5 euros – around £4.30.

Bartoli, a popular bar in Perigueux is the latest venue to host a Produkt gig. Tomorrow night We Insist will perform from half ten, supported by local music trio Resound.

According to Sud-Ouest.com, the band’s music is extremely diverse. They cite At the Drive In, Shellac, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, John Zorn, Magma, Fugazi, The Police, Alice Cooper, Talking Heads, Jeff Beck and Tom Waits as just “some” of their influences.

The band’s latest album, ‘The Babel Inside’, was published last year by German label Exile on Mainstream. It is their fifth album in their fourteen years of performing as a group, gaining coverage from both French national media and independent, underground publications.

Sud-Ouest reports that the band’s members mix musical genres in their performance but disdain the fusion genres that have become increasingly popular in France over the past decade. Instead they describe themselves as ”metal to free jazz, punk to avant-garde”, bringing the “curious listener down little explored musical paths”.

Passenger numbers at Bergerac airport in the Dordogne have risen twenty times over in the last six years, according to an article in The Connextion.

The rise in visitors to the region has been attributed in part to the airport’s director, Olivier Gribelin, who has planned a 3.4m Euros extension to the old arrivals and departures lounges. A new ultra-modern glass and metal structure is to be built and will be better equipped to cope with the 300,000 visitors that the region receives each year.

Mr Gribelin commented on the development, saying: ”I’d like to think I’m like many of my British passengers – pragmatic… In 2002, we had 16,000 passengers; in 2008, we had 292,000 so we really needed to update our facilities.”

”I want a modern airport but I’m keen to maintain an atmosphere of tranquillity – busy airports can be stressful.”

The airport has been renamed to Aeroport Bergerac Dordogne Perigord to reflect its importance to the region, with the building work expected to be completed before the Summer’s peak season.

Once a German military base during the second world war, the airport is currently served by low cost airlines such as FlyBe and Ryanair who transport passengers to and from the UK, as well as to destinations like Charleroi in Belgium.

Most of the passengers through the airport are British, with many of the passengers permanent residents in the Dordogne region, according to chamber of commerce figures. Prior to the popularity of the airport, most residents were over 50 retirees, buying and renovating local property. However, with rapid investment in the region, the profiles of those ex-pats living in the Dordogne have changed.

Alexandra Thevenet, project manager for Périgord Développement commented on this changing demographic, saying: ”Britons who couldn’t afford the property they wanted in the UK or were fed up of long working hours decided to relocate. Suddenly, we saw lots of Brits in their thirties coming over, many wanting to start a business.”

Two exhibitions based around the theme of recycling and conservation will be on display this month in the town of Issigeac in the Dordogne.

“Frames of Life” by Karim Broucker and “Marions-les” by Emily Mazeau-Langlais will be exhibited at the Issigeac Tourist Office until the 28th of February. SudOuest.com reports that their work was chosen by the president of the Office of Tourism for the Martine valley, based on their shared ‘green’ theme.

Karim Broucker’s “Frames of Life” blends the artist’s love of photography with materials recycled from the suburbs of Marseille, where he lived for fifteen years. A professor of literature, he says that he is currently pursuing a “monastic life”, focusing on his art.

Emilia-Mazeau Langlais has created a rather different piece of artwork however. Adopting the fashions of the court of Louis XV, she has created cardboard furniture that is almost indistinguishable from the traditional wooden product. Her dressers, chairs and tables are reportedly sturdy constructions that boast classical and harmonious lines of design. In Sudouest‘s words, her technique shows the “full potential of recycling”.

The village of Issegiac is a popular destination for many on a French holiday who are exploring the rich heritage of the Dordogne department. Located 20km to the southwest of Bergerac, the village hosts a number of festivals and events throughout the year and boasts a thriving farmers market every Sunday. Visitors are drawn to the village’s medieval town plan and to the remains of the 13th century town walls, as well as the vestiges of medieval half-timbered designs that can still be seen in many of the village buildings.

For the fourth year running, a hundred restaurants in the Dordogne will help bring romance to Valentine’s Day by delivering a rose alongside every order of locally produced rosé wine, ‘Rosette’.

Rosette is a local brand produced by several small vineyards located just outside of Bergerac. Described as “soft”, “very fruity”, “tangy but not honeyed” by SudOuest.com, Rosette’s rosé wine has been a staple of Valentine’s Day in the Dordogne for the past four years.

According to Nicole Mauvry, one of the vineyard owners, the ‘Operation Valentine’ promotion has brought new customers every year since 2007. She hopes that this year will continue the trend and help build new relationships between wine lovers and their pink wine.

Mauvry says that rosé has become increasingly popular among young, modern winemakers who are producing for a younger market of customers who are less concerned with classical vintages. She says that over recent years prejudices around Bergerac and the Dordogne-perigord region against rosé has fallen, with the initial reluctance of restaurateurs and wine merchants overcome by their customer’s increasing demand for the light red wine.

In France, rosé sales have actually outpaced those of white wine and though the biggest producer of the blend is in California, the small local vineyards of areas like Dordogne are commonly regarded as among the best. Sudouest reports that unlike some producers who simply blend red with white wine to impart colour, the Rosette vineyards produce a clearer, sweeter tasting wine by ensuring that the ‘tannin’ which is distinctive to strong red wine is removed.

A new organic supermarket built with an environmentally friendly design is to open in the Dordogne this summer.

Bio co-op, a company that already has two organic supermarkets in the Dordogne, is to open a brand new store in the centre of Trellisac, called the Maurillioux after one of the town’s famous historic families. The store features in Sudouest.com, the regional news provider for the south-west of France, who describes the building as an “elegant wooden cube”.

The exterior of the building is covered in slats of wooden beams of around 9.5 metres, interconnecting to form a shell that covers the entire exterior. Architect William Dalix says that this design will help to conserve energy for the development, which will provide around 900 square metres of sales area when finished. According to Sudouest, the key aspect of the design is the curved ‘green’ roof.

Construction on the shop began in September 2009 and is expected to finish by the end of the second quarter of 2010.

“Our customers aren’t just bearded ecologists” said Dalix “but also families who want to eat and live better.”

When the Marilloux opens it will offer fruits, vegetables and other fresh groceries from small producers in the Dordogne area. The bio co-op also plans to expand its range of organic alternatives, such as organically produced wines or cosmetics. Local butchers will also be invited to stock the delicatessen counter.

A new shopping mall is to be built in the Dordogne that will offer 10,000 square meters of shops.

The new retail development aims to compete with other retail centres in the Dordogne and neighbouring departments, such as Poitiers Cordeliers in Limoges or the ’Grands Hommes’ mall in Bordeaux. It will be called ‘Le Montaigne’ mall, after the place in Perigueux where it is being constructed – currently a car park.

According to Sudouest, the Mayor of Perigeux believes that the development will help draw national retail chains into Perigueux. A new underground parking lot will replace the surface car park currently standing in Montaigne place.

The mall will have three levels of shopping outlets and was designed by Jean-Pierre Buffi, a renowned architect who designed the National Museum of Prehistory in Les Eyzies. The €30 million mall is predicted to open in 2014, with construction beginning over the next year.

Sudouest reports that currently the project is behind - held back by debates among locals about how the new development will accommodate a memorial to the French resistance that is currently installed in the Montagine car park. Some people object that moving the cenotaph would mean it had been moved for a second time.

The development of the mall in Montaigne may also stimulate private development of Perigueux’s public spaces. Sudouest reports that a cinema may be opened at the site of the town’s old bus station.

Last week the Perigueux municipal council debated a topic that could affect many of those on holiday in the Dordogne as well as the young people of the region; when should bars have to close?

An audience that included the prefect of the Dordogne heard Phillipe Cornet, leader of the opposition party in Pergieux, argue the case for the local bars and drinking establishments. Earlier this week, Sudouest.com reported that letters had been sent to several licensed businesses in the area warning them that some establishments would no longer be able to stay open until 0200 on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night.

Previously, bars in the area had been given a waiver for these nights, an extension on the standard closing time.

Phillipe Cornet criticised the municipal authority for sending “these disturbing letters without a world of explanation, which have shocked the whole area”. Sudouest reports that he has advocated an even later opening in the past, as “patrons of bars are anxious to see [regulations] removed” and “many institutions are on the razor’s edge – the weekends are very important to them”

Speaking at the council meeting, he said that a solution must be reached between the bars and the municipality that respects neighbourhood and traffic safety as well as the “economic aspect” of the businesses. “The bar owners have worked hard” said Cornet, “and we must think of the vibrant city that includes many students”.

Earlier this month, the popular French culture magazine, France Today, explored the “gray gold” of France – the country’s caviar industry.

The English language publication begins by providing a potted history of the caviar industry and sturgeon (the species of fish that produces caviar) farming in France and Europe, as well as the source of the luxury foodstuff’s popularity among Europe’s upper class in the early 20th century.

After this broad overview of sturgeon farming and caviar production, writer Agnès Lascève discusses four of France’s biggest sturgeon farming companies, located on the tributaries of the Dordogne river and the nearby Girone Estuary.

Intriguingly, Lascève reports that each of the four companies claims to be the oldest. The caviar producers that can be found in the Dordogne include France’s largest, the appropriately named Sturgeon. They produce some 11 tons every year and market several different brands of the luxury delicacy from different species of the fish.

The Dordogne river is also the home of the second largest French caviar producer, Maison Prunier. They produce six tones annually and own two gourmet restaurants in Paris, as well as several boutiques in the city’s airports. They have several varieties, including the exclusively priced Paris selection which is available for only three months a year.

Perhaps the most rarefied producer of caviar in the Dordogne though is L’Esturgeonneire. They too own a renowned Parisien restaurant and reportedly set the benchmark for high quality caviar. Its house-label variety, Perlita, can be found in shops throughout France – but its reputation stems from a more unique product. Through a small company called Bellorr, L’Esturgeonneire produces fresh caviar filled with flecks of gold leaf, building the luxury of the delicacy to new levels.

Finally there is Caviar Gironde, which produces only one ton a year but is said to place quality above quantity. According to France Today, they were the first company to produce farm-raised caviar in 1993.

The full article can be found on the France Today website at http://francetoday.com/articles/2010/01/06/french_caviar_gray_gold.html.