French Toast

Dotted with medieval towns, the French countryside east of Bordeaux offers more than just superb wine, writes Tess Paterson

- Tess Paterson

We’ve settled in at our self-catering gîte near the town of Margueron in south-west France. It’s a restored barn with a cherry orchard for a garden and the sort of bucolic farmy surrounds that would have put Cézanne in a tizz. This is my kind of getaway, not so much a village as a hamlet, where a tractor trundling past is a notable event. Shutters are painted lilac; courtyards are gravel covered and clematis trails effortlessly over stone walls. More importantly, there’s duck confit on the menu at the local bistro.

Using the gîte as a base, we’re intent on discovering some ‘new’ territory. A few years back we’d explored the chateau country – the Dordogne and its attendant bastide towns that lie to the east of Bergerac. This time we’re on the west, roughly half way between Bergerac and Bordeaux. It’s flatter here, levelling out towards the Atlantic and those hallowed wine regions that flank the Garonne and Dordogne rivers. We’re four wine novices, three of whom were born in the Karoo, and after months of anticipation, are tantalisingly close to legends like Latour, Pétrus and Lafite Rothschild. The much-fêted Saint-Émilion is just an hour away; if you’re after a good red blend this is pretty much the place to be.