Home of one of the great families of Quercy in the Middle Ages, the old part of the village of CARDAILLAC , about 10km to the north of Figeac off the N140, is gathered on the tip of a steep ridge above wild wooded valleys, an organic pile of houses, primitive machinery and crumbling fortifications of such antiquity you wonder that they are still there. The village has created what they call a musée éclaté, consisting of a tour of several old houses and giving an insight into the lifestyle and practices of yore, like bread-making, drying chestnuts and preparing prunes (July & Aug daily except Sat 3-6pm; otherwise by arrangement on tel 05.65.40.10.63; donation expected). An additional plus point is the minute but delightful, simple hotel Chez Màrcel , on the through road (tel 05.65.40.11.16, fax 05.65.40.49.08; €24-34; closed two weeks in Oct & two weeks in Feb, also Sun evening & Mon out of season), with a first-rate restaurant offering such delights as a gigot of lamb from the causse and the regional offal speciality, tripoux (menus from €12.20).
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