Visitor Information

Maugein Accordéons de France, Z. I. de Mulatet. A visit to the Maugein accordion factory is a fascinating experience, both for players of the instrument and anyone with an interest in craftsmanship and the enduring French fascination with accordions.

Manufacture Saint-Jean, Aubusson. Founded in 1762, this is the oldest tapestry manufacturer in Aubusson. See the design and creation of new commissioned works, as well as the painstaking restoration of historic pieces whose quality made the town world-famous.

Musée de la Tapisserie, Aubusson. Created in 1981, the museum celebrates 500 years of tapestry production the Aubusson/Felletin area. Many of the huge works are breathtaking, and the large halls allow them to be displayed to perfection. There's also a photographic archive/display, plus a lively arts centre, boutique and a brasserie.

Le Comptoir du Chocolat, Treignac. Visit the truly sumptuous boutique or take the guided tour. Here you need no excuse to throw yourself wholeheartedly into a shameless tasting session. Learn how to distinguish all manner of exotic creations - education was never so enjoyable.

 

Maison Denoix, Brive-la-Gaillarde.
This traditional distillery was founded during the early19th Century and remains in the hands of its original family owners. The interior is also largely unchanged, and visitors can take a guided tour, learn about the history and processes involved in the production of the celebrated range of liqueurs. Enjoy un dégustation, and then take home your preferred tipple from the boutique.  
www.denoix.fr

Les Pans de Travassac, Donzenac. Les Pans de Travassac lie East of Donzenac, which is clearly signed off the A20 Autoroute between Uzerche and Brive-la-Gaillarde. Unique in Europe, these ancient slate quarries are an essential visit when in Limousin. Three hundred years of working the vertical lodes have left a series of yawning chasms between stone pillars rising into the landscape like sky-scrapers. Follow a signed trail or take a guided tour, then watch traditional craftsmen working the slates as they have done for centuries.

Limousin Love Affair

Mention the name Limousin to most people and chances are it won't ring too many bells, apart from the famous cattle breed. But this relative anonymity could now be about to change, after A Place In The Sun gave millions of TV viewers a taste of what those of us who were already familiar with the region had long known. Naturally, a bargain buy only makes sense if affordable property prices are combined with the kind of qualities which actually make life in your new surroundings a genuine pleasure, so let's dig a little deeper and discover just what Limousin is really all about.

The region shares its borders with the ancient kingdoms of Berry and Périgord, and was itself subdivided in 1790 into three administrative départements: Corrèze (19), Creuse (23) and Haute-Vienne (87) . City-wise, it's no-contest, with bustling Limoges convincingly upstaging both Guèret and Brive-la-Gaillarde in terms of both population and commercial activity. It could hardly be otherwise, of course, with the name of Limoges being internationally synonymous with the fine enamelled porcelain which has been created in the area since rich deposits of high-quality china clay were discovered in Saint-Yrieix in 1768.

Not that plenty hadn't already happened to Limoges long before the arrival of the ceramics industry. One of the earliest survivors is the eight-arched Pont St Etienne, constructed from tough local granite and effectively a scaled-up pack-mule bridge. Opened in 1210, for centuries it provided a much-needed safe way across the broad waters of the Vienne, but now slumbers peacefully while the Pont-Neuf keeps modern-day traffic at arm's length. The medieval crossing provides access to a grassy footpath of the rive gauche, ideal for a quiet picnic with classic views of the cathedral of St Etienne. One of the undisputed jewels of French flamboyant Gothic, the 13th Century cathedral shows its Limousin credentials by being constructed entirely in pale granite. Away from the medieval quarter, the city's more recent architectural wealth reflects its longstanding influence and prosperity. Not to be missed is the Gare SNCF des Bénédictins, a dazzling chef-d'ouvre of Art Déco created in 1929 on the site of a Benedictine convent.

The countryside northeast of Limoges provides ample support for Limousin's green image, with narrow lanes, mature woodland and tiny villages waiting to be discovered along the Circuit Puys et Grands Monts. Typical is Jabreilles-les-Bordes, a little-known gem, whose modest 13-15th century église topped with a lop-sided, timber-shingled belfry is enough to stop you in your tracks. Look more closely and you'll discover not only an unexpected Gothic jewel-box interior, but also an early inscribed stone known as the 'Stèle d'Epona' and dedicated to a Gallo-Roman goddess.

When a Wednesday morning market is in full swing beneath the giant pollarded plane trees bounding the Place du Mail at Bourganeuf, whatever the weather, the range of fresh produce on offer is astonishing. The effect on this unchanging ritual is heightened by the dramatic backdrop of a mighty chateau constructed during the 12th Century by the Knights Templars. Much later, in 1886 Bourganeuf achieved brief celebrity when it became the very first in Europe to be lit by electricity, a feat which it followed up two years later by installing the first municipal hydro-electric system at the nearby Cascade des Jarrauds.

In the upper Creuse valley, the historic town of Aubusson, has been producing tapestries for over five centuries. Today the tradition is upheld by a small band of specialist craft-workers in the Manufacture St Jean, an atmospheric old factory creating new commissioned works as well as patiently restoring the historic tapestries with which the name of Aubusson became internationally renowned.The town centre's narrow, cobbled streets lined with three- and four-storey stone and slate buildings are a timely reminder to me that the Auvergne is close at hand. Further south, below the gentle Gourbillon valley, comes another, as the road slips across the border into Corrèze and climbs through woodland towards the wild Plateau de Millevaches. The name may be derived from a combination of the Gallic mela (high place) and the Latin vacua (empty), or simply 'a thousand springs'. Either way, the mood here is more serious than the name suggests. With fewer than four inhabitants per square kilometre even today, and an altitude of almost 1000m, life here has always been a struggle.

South of the Plateau the forests give way to the distinctive slate rooftops of Meymac, one of the region's best preserved historic villages. Here narrow, steeply-sloping streets lined with ornate façades hint at a prosperous past, when the village was an unlikely wine-trading centre and its markets filled with mountain folk keen to trade their cheese, wool and chestnuts for produce from the milder, more fertile plains lower down the valley. The 19th Century covered market hall is convincingly upstaged by both the vast Hôtel-Dieu completed in 1681 and its neighbour, a cavernous abbey church celebrated for its exceptional Romanesque decorative sculptures and mysterious 12th century black Madonna.

To the west of Meymac lies the valley of the Vézère. Sheltered by surrounding hills and forests, its lakes are now popular for outdoor activities, including fishing and windsurfing. It's just as well, for a little further south lies Treignac, home to le Comptoir du Chocolat, where Bernard Besse upholds a long family tradition using fine cocoas from such exotic sources as Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, Venezuela and Madagascar. Visitors can take a conducted tour to view the fabrication processes before enjoying the essential dégustation . After such decadence it's hard to appreciate that only a generation ago the village was awarded the Croix de Guerre for the heroic exploits of the local French Résistance during WWII.

Continuing south brings us to Tulle, which can trace its origins back to a temple dedicated to the Roman goddess Tutela . Later an abbey was built on the site, around which the town gradually developed. Historic statuary, early wall paintings and tomb figures still survive in the 13th century cloisters of the cathedral of Notre-Dame. Tulle's real treasures, though, are to be found in the narrow backstreets winding up from the busy boulevards to the relative calm of the old town, where old traditions like the point de Tulle (or 'Tulle stitch') are kept alive in small ateliers producing lacework.

Very different but unmmistakably-French artistry is also practiced in the Maugein accordion factory. Founded in 1919, the company transferred to a modern production unit on the outskirts of town in 1984. During working hours visitors can take a conducted tour, and there's a good chance that someone from the constant stream of visiting musicians will be putting the company's wonderful instruments through their paces among the display cases in the company showroom.

At Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne it's not only the presence of the river which proves that we've reached the Dordogne, but the style of the pale sandstone church of St Pierre. The surrounding streets, too, thread their way between medieval, distinctly Périgordine -looking half-timbered façades. Beaulieu is well-named, and the classic view of it is from the water's edge, beside the 12th century Penitents' Chapel, not far from the ancient departure point for barges ( gabares ) laden with cargoes of timber from the local chestnut forests.

Take it from me, this really is la France profonde , and a real treasure trove for lovers of historic villages. King of them all (or at least 1200 of them, plus a number of abbeys) was Turenne, which, until 1738 was effectively an independent state under the rule of the La Tour d'Auvergne-Turenne family. Echoes of this illustrious past are visible in the feudal château overlooking the little village, whose narrow streets straggle down a steep hillside. More unashamedly picturesque still is nearby Curemont, which is officially listed, along with the much-photographed red sandstone village of Collonges-la-Rouge, as one of the most beautiful villages of France. Not far away lie the vineyards of Branceilles, proving once and for all the existence of fine red wine from Limousin.

Other, very different local alcoholic confections are produced in the busy market town of Brive-la-Gaillard, at la Maison Denoix. It would be hard to think of a better name for anyone producing eau de noix and other liqueurs, but it actually turns out to have been that of one of its founders, Louis Denoix. To the north of the town another ancient trade still flourishes not far from the village of Travassac (see below) . This is slate country, and has for centuries been exploiting the seams in the local hills for splitting and cutting into high-quality roofing slate for such important buildings as Limoges cathedral. What makes the site an absolute must-see attraction is the startling appearance of the old, worked-out sections. At Travassac the slate seam runs not horizontally but vertically, between solid rock. Centuries of extraction have seen the quarrymen working ever deeper, leaving vast pillars of rock rising sheer between the deep, often water-filled shafts. The effect is jaw-dropping, and visitors can follow marked trails around the site, before watching highly-skilled craftsmen at work.

By now we're on the final leg of what has amounted to a circular tour, moving steadily northwards back to Limoges and the north-eastern part of the region. Soon we pass the old, walled town of Uzerche, whose Porte Bécharie fortified gateway for centuries provided access to the town of stone tourelles and grey slated rooftops.Further north come Coussac-Bonneval, with its fairytale French château and Lanterne des Morts , and St Yrieix-la-Perche, which has a porcelain museum and a collegiate church (not to mention master patissier Andre Beaudou). Continue and you'll discover productive fruit orchards around Le Châlard, the Route of Richard the Lionheart (who met an untimely death in 1199 from a poisoned crossbow bolt during the siege of the château de Châlus), and much more. All of which should by now have convinced you that there's very much more to Limousin than merely a property opportunity.

There's room to breathe and clean air to ensure you won't be afraid to do so. True, it may not have the dream climate, but the seasons here have real meaning and witnessing their effect on the unspoilt landscapes brings its own rewards. Living in a place like this could change your life.

© Words and pictures Roger Moss
The full version of this feature first appeared in everything France magazine Issue 35

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