Eight kilometres south of Monpazier, dominating the countryside for miles around, is the vast Château de Biron (early Feb to March & Oct-Dec Tues-Sun 10am-12.30pm & 2-5.30pm; April-June & Sept daily 10am-12.30pm & 2-5.30/6.30pm; July & Aug daily 10am-7pm; €4.57), begun in the eleventh century and added to piecemeal afterwards. You can take a guided tour (in French only) or borrow a written translation in English, which means you can wander at will around the rooms and the grassy courtyard, where there is a restored Renaissance chapel and guardhouse with tremendous views over the roofs of the feudal village below.

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A single street runs through the village of BIRON , past a covered market on timber supports iron-hard with age, and out undear an arched gateway. Well-manured vegetable plots interspersed with iris, lily and Iceland poppies lie under the tumbledown walls. At the bottom of the hill, another group of houses stands on a small square with a well in front of the village church , its Romanesque origins hidden by motley alterations. The Auberge du Château , back near the market hall, serves a good-value lunchtime menu at €9.15-10.67 (tel 05.53.63.13.33; closed mid-Dec to mid-Feb & Sat Oct-April).  

West of Biron, the bastide of VILLERÉAL was founded a decade or so earlier than Monpazier by Alphonse de Poitiers in an attempt to check English expansion in the Dordogne. It failed to do so and was taken by the English during the Hundred Years War. Its most outstanding feature is the oak-beamed halles in the central square, which dates from the fourteenth century. You can stay at the Hôtel de l'Europe , place Jean Moulin (tel 05.53.36.00.35; €24-34; closed two weeks in Oct; restaurant from €10.67), or at one of the many nearby campsites , the closest of which is the Camping du Pesquie Bas (tel 05.53.36.05.63; closed Oct-April), off the D207 to Issigeac and Bergerac.

Some 25km further south in the direction of Villeneuve-sur-Lot, pretty MONFLANQUIN , founded by Alphonse de Poitiers in 1256, is just as perfectly preserved as Monpazier, less touristy and even more impressively positioned on the top of a hill that rises sharply from the surrounding country and is visible for miles. It conforms to the regular pattern of right-angled streets leading from a central square to the four town gates. The square - place des Arcades - with its distinctly Gothic houses, derives a special charm from being on a slope and tree-shaded. The fortified church is also worth a look. The tourist office is on the place des Arcades (July & Aug daily 10am-12.30pm & 3-7pm; rest of year Mon-Sat 10am-noon & 2-5pm, Sun 2-5pm; tel 05.53.36.40.19, fax 05.53.36.42.91, This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it ), and can furnish you with lists of chambres d'hôte . There's a campsite (tel 05.53.36.47.35; closed Oct-May) just outside town at COULON on the Cancon road.

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