My Village: Flaujagues, Gironde

Travel entrepreneur Doni Belau found her tranquil haven in Bordeaux wine country – where river views, local flavours and village charm create the perfect retreat…

We didn’t choose the village, we chose the house – in 2009 after looking for four years due to its spectacular location right on the Dordogne river and its proximity to St-Emilion. We divide our time between our flat in Paris, our home in New Orleans, our sailboat, and our French home on the river, which we call Le Priolet, in Flaujagues in the Gironde department. It was a priory for monks back in the 18th century, hence the name. It is in the traditional Girondine-style of cream-coloured limestone, mostly symmetrical with terracotta roofs. They have a classic feel with large windows and wooden shutters.

Small-town life in France is simply lovely. What I enjoy most is the peace and quiet I feel when we sit on our terrace and look out at the river. All we can hear is birdsong. During the summer, we have a few night markets, which are basically an excuse to walk into town, buy some local food, and sit down at long tables and commune with the neighbours while drinking the local Bordeaux wine. They also do a very nice Bastille Day celebration.

Tons! St-Emilion, which is about 15 minutes away, is a Unesco World Heritage site. It not only produces incredible wine, making wine tasting and winery visits a must, but the underground church carved best is probably the Ste-Foy market in the Dordogne on Saturdays, when the whole of the region seems to descend on the ancient bastide town, and it becomes as much about catching up with friends as it is about shopping. As we are on the river, kayaking in summer is a delight, plus we also have two guinguettes (waterside open-air cafés) nearby, which are a hoot in the season. There are many châteaux and castles nearby, but very close is the writer and philosopher Michel de Montaigne’s château, which is never busy and quite impressive. Further afield is Bordeaux, which is a spectacular city, the Dordogne, and the Atlantic beaches.

Intermediate. It still is. In Paris, you hardly need it, but you do a lot more in the smaller villages. I get a little better with each stay. I’m convinced that in order to become fluent, I need to stay for six months, taking lessons. But due to the nature of my travel business, I am not in one place for long enough.

They are terribly friendly and a nmoda also a decent number of expats, more English than American. I’ve met French women after joining the Bordeaux Women’s Club, which is open to anyone who speaks English, as well as English, American, Swedish, Asian and more.

Luckily, I can work wherever I am, be it France or Japan. Our online travel business, Girls’ Guide to the World, takes women on tours all over the globe. This year, we have presented 65 tours to 40 countries, but France is where we started, so we have more trips to France than we do to any other country. People in the hospitality business in France, as in most other places, are congenial, but working in France in general takes some understanding of the cultural differences between the way we do things in the US versus France. In addition, our villa has been a good moneymaker for us; we rent it out when we are not here. I often encourage others to buy in France because you can have a home cost free, or an investment property.

Absolutely. The oysters, which the farmers sell every Sunday in every small town in our area, are raised in the Arcachon basin, just over an hour from our home. They are superb, juicy and briny, making them everything you want in an oyster. This is also where I first had seaweed butter, which is delicious on brown bread alongside the oysters.

They also make a duck burger in the area – ground duck with a prune inside wrapped in a web-like type of duck fat. Put one of these babies on the grill and you’ll be in culinary paradise! They’ve also started producing caviar locally, and it is excellent.

How friendly the people are, and how tranquil the lifestyle is. I’ve been a lifelong Paris fanatic, but I alsmost prefer the quiet of the country as I get older – another thing we’ve learned from living there. Nothing, and I mean nothing gets in the way of closing at noon sharp for lunch. You could have a thousand dollars to spend at the local hardware store, but they won’t ring you up even one minute after noon because lunchtime is sacred!

I love it when they say this at a restaurant when they serve the main course after the starter: “bonne continuation”, meaning happy continuation of your meal. There is nothing like it in the English language.

To find out more about Doni’s online travel business or rent her historic property, visit girlsguidetotheworld.com

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