Published last month, Walnut Wines & Truffle Groves: Culinary Adventures in the Dordogne by Kimberly Lovato recounts the tasty treats encountered by the author on her travels in the region she describes as “France’s best kept culinary secret.”

According to a review in American newspaper The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the book is “part travelogue” and “part cookbook.” Lovato’s experiences in the region’s restaurants, fêtes, cafés and village markets are interspersed with recipes from her former travelling companion, the chef Laura Schalmost, who operates a culinary tour company in the US.

The book proper details some of the best delicacies available in the region, such as the titular walnut wine. Otherwise known as Vin de Noix, this alcoholic treat is among the adaptable recipes provided by Chef Schalmost alongside Ms Lovato’s descriptions of her experience with the drink she describes as a “combo of port wine and prune juice..very smooth, with no overpowering alcohol taste.”

Other recipes include regional dishes featuring the Dordogne’s famous gourmet produce, the black perigord truffle, as well as the rich stews and roasts of Occitan cuisine.

Throughout the book Ms Lovato describes both the best food on offer in the Dordogne as well as the best places to pick up local delicacies. As well as featuring the region’s seasonal markets and village festivals, the book lists some of the region’s finest restaurants and even briefly touches upon non-edible attractions such as the idyllic countryside and the majestic châteauxs which litter the valleys.

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The festival started in France in 1982 and was instantly popular. This has led to it being celebrated in more than one hundred countries around the world including Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago and Australia.

The festival takes place on the longest day of summer each year and this year’s celebrations on June 21, will be the 29th time the event has taken place. Organisers say the theme of this year’s festival will be ‘Women in Music’ and nine young dancers from Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, are set to travel to France for the event.

A cultural project was organised by the Beaconsfield Twinning Association, which saw Beaconsfield twinned with Langres, a town in the Dijon region of France. The group of girls aged between 11 and 15 will perform three dance pieces created by their ballet teacher as part of the celebrations in Langres.

Teacher and choreographer Annik Coatalen, was cited in the local paper Bucks Free Press as saying:”The girls have all worked very hard to pull together a demanding and exciting programme. We are very excited to have the opportunity to show what we can do before an international audience.”

Whilst in Langres, the girls from Baylins Ballet Barn, will stay with local families in the medieval walled town.

 Beaconsfield Twinning Association chairman, Deborah Sanders said: “The Twinning Association has a long history of promoting cultural exchanges and youth exchanges and this is a wonderful opportunity to do both.”

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Hosted online at The Independent’s website, the article gives a brief overview of the area’s appeal as a rural retreat from “Europe’s big cities” before delving into the particular attractions found along the rivers and valleys of the Dordogne-Perigord region.

According to writers Michael Pauls and Dana Facaros, the Dordogne’s modern tranquillity belies a rich history of military strife. There are 1,001 medieval castles in various states of repair throughout the region, a legacy from the Hundred Years War and several civil conflicts. Many of these were renovated during the renaissance to the elegant château’s which can be found to this day, leaving a “collection of these to rival the Loire valley.”

The writers also touch upon the Dordogne’s system of limestone caves, where temperatures stay at a constant 2°C and geological phenomena such as stalactite grottoes or the abyss of the Gouffre De Proumeyssac draw as many people as the Vrze valley – the “World capital of prehistory”.

Outdoor activities are not neglected either with a brief description of the opportunities for riverside activities and the dense network of long distance footpaths and cycle routes. Turning to food, the authors recommend the region’s fatted duck as the “unquestioned totem animal of the southwest and most of its restaurants.” However their praise does not stop there with a detailed exploration of the many culinary delights, seasonal festivities of culture and smaller heritage sites found throughout the region.

The article is well worth reading for anyone planning a French holiday who has yet to visit the Dordogne and will likely reveal new attractions even to the experienced.

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In France, local administration is handled at a regional level through the system of 94 different departements such as the Dordogne or Lot. The system has been in place since 1790, when the revolutionaries divided France into roughly square areas twice the size of an average English county in an attempt to establish a central form of control over the country’s historical provinces.

The Departements were as much a political strategy as an administrative one. Although their size was dictated by the distance a state official could rise on horseback from the border to the capital, their names were chosen to remove the provincial loyalties of the old regime and replace them with neutral identities taken from local rivers. A useful example of this is Paris – located in the Seine department – or the Dordogne, with replaced the historical Occitan province.

Now this historic system could be abandoned, as the Daily Telegraph reports that French parliamentary committees are considering how the modern government could implement “territorial reform.”

According to the newspaper, this was first attempted in 2008 when President Sarkozy set up a committee to “liberate growth” by slashing bureaucracy.

The committee recommended that the departement system should be entirely abolished over the next 10 years and their administrative powers over municipal services transferred to the 22 regional authorities. At the local level, services would be organised by 6,000 ‘super-communes’, drastically cutting back on the existing 36,682 such bodies currently in the country.

However the plans met with fierce opposition from local politicians in both the French Left and Right. They argued that the historic organisation was a crucial form of local identity and reform would damage the heritage that draws people across Europe to take a French holiday in some of the country’s more rural areas.

Sarkozy quickly backed down – but The Telegraph reports that the then set up another committee, careful to avoid any mention of abolishing the departement. Instead the new proposals would see the creation of a ‘territorial councillor’ who would sit on both regional and departemental councils – eventually replacing the role of local politicians and, in the words of former prime minister Balladur, have the end result of the “Evaporation of the department.”

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In last week’s article, “Europe’s 10 best cycling holidays” the Mail journalist listed some of the continents best destinations and routes for cyclist hoping to see the sights from their saddle. Covering Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Sicily and Croatia, the article begins by describing one of France’s most popular and picturesque cycle routes – from Dordogne to the Lot.

This route is one of the bigger cycle routes in France and is extremely popular within the Dordogne region. Beginning at the vineyards of St Emilion near Bordeaux, holidaymakers and locals alike travel via quiet D roads along the bank of the Dordogne river to Bergerac, continuing onwards through medieval villages and onwards to the Lot.

Porter warns readers that due to the number of opportunities for gourmet cuisine, “you could more weight than you lose on this odyssey”. The route, which takes cyclists some 170 miles across the bucolic countryside, is unlikely to be suitable for inexperienced cyclists due to its length but those with stamina should manage without too much effort. According to the writer, it begins easily then becomes “moderately demanding” as it travels south through the Vers valley and towards the ‘wine capital’ of Lot.

Among the stops recommended by Porter are the historic medieval villages of La Roque-Gageac, Beynac and Sarlet, as well as the village of Rocamadour.

Once a key part of the pilgrimage routes that attracted faithful Catholics across Europe, Rocamadour is located atop a granite hillside and is described as “one of the most dramatic settings for a pilgrimage.”

This cliffside village on the edge of the Lot-Dordogne border has attracted visitors since the 11th century due to its legendary associations. Chief among these is the wooden statue of the black Madonna (a depiction of the Virgin Mary with black skin), reputedly carved by St. Amadour. A broken sword located in the church terrace also attracts many visitors as legend maintains it is a fragment of the sword Durandal, wielded by the legendary hero Roland – a French medieval figure with many parallels to Britain’s Arthurian legends.

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As British schools break up for half term this week people across the UK will be heading across the channel to take a French holiday. Many more family holiday makers will be packing their cars or their caravans in preparation for the long summer holiday.

The report looked at the safety record of many of the roads commonly used by British tourists on a French holiday, using the safety rating system pioneered by the European Road Assessment Programme. This star rating system assesses the risk of the most common hazards on the road, with one star indicating a safe road and four stars indicating

France is the biggest holiday destination for British tourists who plan on travelling via car. Nearly 20 million people from across Northern Europe take a motoring holiday in France, making its major roads one of the busiest motorway systems in the continent.

97% of the roads most commonly used by British tourists scored 4 or more stars for safety compared with just 50% of the motorway network in the UK. The autoroutes – the French motorway system – carry nearly a quarter of all of the traffic in France but only 6% of all road fatalities have occurred there.

“The results are the most consistently good we have yet seen for motorways anywhere in Europe,” said Dr Joanne Hill of the Road Safety Foundation in an accompanying statement. “French autoroutes do not have some of the ingrained flaws in standards of run-off protection that we see in Britain.”

“British drivers can revel in safer roads, lighter traffic and fewer junctions.”

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As airports slowly resume to normal, French rail and ferry companies are hoping to turn the sudden rush of business, into prolonged growth, cashing in on the cynicism of flying.

Paul de Rosen, Lines Director for the biggest passenger ferry operator out of the port of Marseille, SNCM, told the BBC: “Normally, 10% of our customers are totally new to our database, which means they haven’t gone on a ferry of ours for at least six years. Now, in the weeks since the end of the ash cloud crisis, that figure is 20%.”

Mr de Rosen believes that even the threat of the returning ash clouds is enough to stop consumers using air travel to reach destinations. He said to the BBC: “Totally new customers are booking on ferries for summer holidays, because they want to travel with their car, which they believe is a way to maintain their autonomy on holiday if something should go wrong.”

Train operators are also optimistic that their recent business boost is here to stay. Michel Leboeuf, head of long distance projects at SNCF, the French national train operating company believes the high- speed TGV train is an effective competitor with planes, so those with French holidays booked need not worry.

One passenger told the BBC “It’s easier to get to the station than the airport. It’s fast, easier to work on board and more relaxing, usually with fewer delays.”

The European Commission admits that the ash cloud caught them out. “We saw that when one transport mode went down, passengers found it hard to shift to rail and boats. Anything we can do as regulators to open up options, for instance, make it easier to take a train instead of a plane we will be trying to do as an urgent priority,” said Helen Kearns, spokeswoman for transport at the Commission in Brussels.

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Available from the official website of the French Government Tourist Office (Uk.Franceguide.com) the apps are generally available in several languages as well as English. The iPhone specific apps can also be found on the iTunes apps store, whilst the Android tools can be found on the Android Library site.

The tools aim to help people navigate their way around France, find the best food and wine, get a guide for their trip, easily find places with maps, access the weather through the French met office, as well as a variety of useful tools and easily accessible transport information.

Although some of the tools are exclusively focused on Paris and the subways, airport and other such services, many would be useful to those visiting elsewhere in the country. Some of the tools which would be particularly useful for visitors to the Dordogne include:

• The World Heritage app: This allows users to see satellite pictures, Google map positions and wikipedia articles on all of the sites designated by UNESCO as World Heritage sites – such as the Lascaux caves or the prehistoric settlements of the Vezere Valley.
• Hachette Wine Guide/Wine Guide app: These tools – for the iPhone and Android devices respectively – provide a insight into more than 700 French vintages and give the user a comprehensive glossary of viticultural terms and areas. The iPhone app is only available in French however.
• Meteo France: Only available in French unfortunately but one of the most useful tools on offer – this gives a direct and real-time link to the French met (meteorological) office, giving the most accurate information available on weather predictions across the country.
• Currency Converter: Great for whenever you want to work out just how much you’re spending in terms that you’re naturally familiar with.

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Attended by nearly 120 people and dozens of officials, the meeting laid out the concerns of many of those involved in the regions tourism industry. A key concern for many is the competition between local tourism offices and internet sites that market the regions attractions, such as the prehistoric artwork of the Lascaux caves or the many country and river side activities throughout the Dordogne’s idyllic valleys.

During the course of the meeting though several interesting figures were published – revealing just how popular the Dordogne is as a tourist destination. Each year nearly 2.9 million visitors visit the region, placing it firmly in top place for the position of Aquitaine’s most popular department among tourists.

The area’s natural beauty appears to attract visitors from France as well as those from further afield. Some 60% of these 2.9 million annual visitors are from France itself, demonstrating the rare beauty of the unspoiled and historic department.

The popularity of the Dordogne is largely responsible for keeping Aquitaine in the coveted position of Frances fifth most popular tourism area. In the wider region there are 179 tourist offices and 280 tourist sites, many of which are open all year around. Each year some 35 million euros is invested in the tourism trade by regional authorities, helping to develop and maintain the many attractions and keeping the countryside and towns in a state of picturesque perfection.

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If the idea of seeing the rich heritage sites of the department or the idyllic scenery of the rivers, valleys and gentle hills isn’t enough to get you on a French holiday to the area then maybe another foodie treat will be. It turns out that the Dordogne isn’t just famous for its fine fungi – it’s also well known for its strawberries.

Starting this week, the Dordogne’s towns and village markets will be dominated by the Fete de La Fraise – in other words, the “festival of the strawberry”. Throughout May the region’s historic medieval marketplaces will be dominated by the scarlet red of the beloved fruit, with stalls laden with baskets of fresh produce sitting alongside offerings of seasonal cuisine.

From simple strawberries and cream to pies, tarts and cakes, these French festivals will offer some stiff competition for the iconic English summertime dish. Visitors should keep an eye out for local variations on the Eton Mess – or for the annual attempts at the title of “World’s largest strawberry tart.”

The current holder of this proud title is the town of Beaulie-Sur-Dordogne, whose own Fete de la Fraise takes place this weekend on the 9th of May.

Still, the competition is fierce in the region; last year in Vergt, organisers managed to construct a tart that measured a staggering four metres in circumference and used nearly 240kg of strawberries. Cleverly, each segment or ‘slice’ of the pie used fruit from different areas of the Dordogne, offering a taste of the different varieties found in the local fields.

This year Vergt’s strawberry festival will take place on the 16th of May. Many other towns will also be hosting their own markets and festivals throughout the month.

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