The Retreat @ Le Grand Bois
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B&B, Pool, Gite, Park & Gardens
Trip To Sarlat & Domme
We recently took a day off from our busy schedual, & went to visit a couple of places of great historical interest & beauty; firstly the beautiful market town of Sarlat, & secondly the Knights Templar's Bastide & stronghold of Domme, just slightly to the South of Sarlat.
The good thing about both Sarlat & Domme, there were plenty of places open for lunch, or to have a drink or get a coffee, even on an out of season Sunday in the middle of March.
Sarlat
One of the many sunny Squares in the Medieval centre of this beautiful Perigordian market town, every corner & alley way is just waiting to reveal yet another architectural gem, below you can see just a few of these wonderful buildings & alley ways that are on offer.
A Typical Merchants House in Sarlat
The are many styles of archtiecture in Sarlat, this one is almost Flemish in its style, similar to the ones I've seen in the old Square in Antwerp, Belgium.
A Door Surround & Spiral Staircase
This aincient ornate door suround, & the spiral staircase beyond are all carved from limestone, although the Sarlat area has beautiful yellow Sandstone it, is not as duravle as the hard Limestone found in other nearby areas, which is very similsr to Portland Limestone; the most well known hard Limestone found in England, which was also used to build many of the famouse Georgian Terraces of London & Bath.
Sarlat Maison
Here this Medieval house was constructed using the local golden yellow sandstone, & a typical Norman style timber frame.
Sarlat Maison
I could put dozens of photos of the buildings we photographed on the day, but here is just a selection
Sarlat Maisons
Sarlat Maisons
Sarlat Maisons
The World Famous Bastide Of Domme
Just one of the many typical street & view scenes from this pretty & very historical Knights Templar hilltop Bastide of Domme. The Bastide's were built by both the French & English in the 12th, 13th & even the 14th centuries, & were a form of fortified town or village, where the outside wall of the villade or town was formed of houses, & where the shutters could be close as well as the gates to protect the inhabitants. They were usually formed in a square, with typically 4 or 8 arched gated entrances.
View Of Baynac-Et-Cazenac From Domme
This View looking from Domme over the Dordogne Rive Valley shows just how stratigeckly important such bastides were in those far off days when the English & French were constantly sqaubling for domination of the region. Which was part of the English Crown lands for 299 years, from the time when Henry II married Elenor of Aquitaine
The earlist form of Bastide was actually round, which is disputed by some village tourist offices in the Dordogne, square being the norm, but which are open advertised as such in nereby departments, these early round Bastides are so similar in format to the later square Bastides, they are obviously an evolutionary stepping stone in the formation of fortified towns & villages, & in essence were the new towns of their day, building was encouraged by the Kng or local Lord with the enducement of not having to pay taxes for the properties.