Limeuil, Dordogne - A historic meeting place .........

Limeuil is an extraordinary, well-preserved medieval stone-built fortified village. Its history rests on its important strategic riverside position - a walled hillside village rising from the edge of the Dordogne River at the broad confluence created by the meeting of the Vézère River with 'La Dordogne'. Rivers were the highways for all trade - and invaders! Nowadays, this meeting of two great rivers provides probably the most impressive setting of any of the beautiful Dordogne villages.

High above, the Chateau Park dominates the skyline - and offers an enclosure of peace and tranquillity, with an outstanding panoramic view of the river valleys stretching away for miles - take your camera!

This park overlooks the heart of the village - the 'Place du Port', the riverside area once bustling with boatmen and their cargoes of wine, walnuts, fruit, tobacco and grain. Today you will enjoy a riverside bar, the 'Chai' restaurant, a traditional bakery, and a group of artisans' shops which include a silversmith's studio, an ironworker, a glassblower, and a brewer. But - pass through the old stone archway into the inner walled village (gasping at the record of historic flood levels carved into the stonework), and you ascend the old lane past former artisans' cottages intermingled with important houses, up to the higher village where you can lunch under the ancient wisteria-covered terrace of the 'Au Bon Acceuil' restaurant. After lunch a stroll takes you to Ste. Catherine's church (the patron saint of boatmen, dating from the 14th century) and one of the four original gateways that protected the community. Interestingly, there is also a second church, down in the valley, outside the walls - the Chapelle St. Martin, built by King Richard 1 (the Lionheart) as an earthly recompense for the murder of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in 1194.

Limeuil is the perfect base to explore the abundance of interesting sites (and sights) in the Dordogne. Within about half-an-hour of the prehistoric caves and settlements, Sarlat, Domme, the great fortified Chateaux - and to the west the vineyards of Bergerac, St. Emilion and Bordeaux. Truly something for everybody!

Written by Michael Patterson - Owner of Property 12252 in Limeuil, France