A wildflower meadow near Nontron

I have no idea if these were edible but I liked the way they had grown around eachother

The chateau at Jumilhac

The Perigord lies beneath heavily used air routes and the sky is often riven by vapour trails

The chateau, Jumilhac

I am no expert on fungi but I think this is a type of ink cap

Sunflowers are grown on a commercial scale over most of middle France but it is rare to find them still in flower in September or October

Abbaye de Boschaud

Woodland with fungi

Petite randonnée after rain

The chateau at Montbazillac

Polished floor, Chateau de Montbazillac

Maison de vin, Bergerac

Geese on the river at Bergerac

A spot of fishing on the Dordogne Riviere

Some years ago I found a CD of early sacred music partly recorded here at the Abbaye de Chancelade. It has the most remarkable acoustic. You could hear that fabled pin drop along the whole length of the building

Vielle Ville, Bergerac

Standing timber

Grim wall paintings. Rocamadour

Hugging the hillside and dominating the valley. Rocamadour

Archway, Rocamadour

Central courtyard, Rocamadour

Rocamadour

In a tiny hamlet off today's beaten tracks I came across this simple and bautifully looked after Templar church

The airfield at Perigeux

A tiny village near Thiviers hold a pumpkin festival each October

The ingenuity shown by the villagers is remarkable

In the orchards, the apples.........

.........In the village square the apple press. The juice was dark and rich and began to naturally ferment in 24 hours

Limousin cattle graze in the typical hedgeless fields

Red for danger

Market place, St Jean de Cole

Legend has it that it was in the siege of the Chateau de Montbrun that Richard Coeur de Lion received the arrow wound that eventually proved fatal

No wonder the St Emilion area produces such fine wine

On the higher ground above Montagne St Emilion

A corner of the Musée du Vin in Montagne St Emilion

Vinyard, Montagne St Emillion

Chateau Bellevue, Montagne St Emillion

Diners relax after lunch in the central place in St Emilion

In a corner of a big poughing contest there was a vintage section which caught my eye

Is the beret keeping the cigarette dry?

I wonder what our Health and Safety experts would make of this

A massive tractor-hauled apple press

People were crowded around their pen but the were sound asleep

Young cattle waiting to be judged at the annual Commice Agricole at Thivers

A tobacco drying shed in the Midwest, yes. But of France, not the USA

Just occassionally a photographic accident works in my favour. I thought I was far enough in the shade to keep the sun off the lens of the little compact camera I was carrying that day. Fortunately not!

This very young Edible Dormouse had got itself lost in the middle of a lane. The buzzard hovering high above it clearly thought it was edible.

I could not resist a little tweaking of this photo of a stubble field

Doing it the hard way

Waiting for the first train of the day

In the cathedral, Perigeux

St Therese has clearly been of great help to the people of Perigeux over the years