Tarn-et-Garonne, Occitanie The ancient province of Quercy truly is a land that time forgot, where you will find, hidden away in sleepy backwaters, some of the most attractive rural architecture in France. Fortified towns known as ‘bastides’ (taken from the…
Preparing your pool for the winter is an essential task that will keep the pool and equipment in good condition ready for quickly re-opening the pool in the spring. Here is a guide to the procedure that should be followed…
The latest addition to our property finders network is Patricia Williams in Lot & Quercy. She first fell for France some 40 years ago on a road trip in a hired VW camper. Since moving here from the Scottish Highlands, Patricia has…
In a new series of features, we will be looking at some of the ingredients popular in traditional cooking in the Limousin and SW France in general. One of the foodstuffs most often associated with France is the humble garlic bulb or ‘ail’ so this is where we will start.
Image not found.Do you love the South of France?
Do you struggle a bit with the language and administration?
Need a helping hand to “sort things out”?
“Help in Quercy” are at your service.
Although the property market in France is quieter than usual, some agents are suggesting this is actually a good time to buy. There is a huge range of choice available and many sellers are willing to negotiate on price which can more than offset any recent changes in the exchange rate. The current slow down is not likely to last forever and once things pick up again prices can only increase.
The medieval city of Cahors has a wide variaty of delightful eating place from the grand (and expensive) for that special occasion through to the simple Bistro that will provide a substantial lunch for under €10 per person. The listings are grouped by type of restaurant from Gastronomique to Pizzerias…
This is a delicious accompaniment to roast goose, duck or turkey. Every ingredient can be sourced locally in the Quercy, and the famous Agen prunes can be found worldwide if you happen to be elsewhere…
We recently caught up with Nicole Killick at Books and Company in Gourdon and she told us about their popular and expanding reading groups and the Christmas social event in the shop which has the added bonus of a 5% discount on any books purchased.
Has summer finally arrived? September may be a bit late, but the sunshine is more than welcome. Peace is settling back on the Lot, the main bulk of the summer visitors have gone, and the traffic has become a bit saner. Time to look hard at the woodpile in readiness for chilly evenings to come…
A new year and a new start – just what do you do in the garden in January? The answer is probably not a lot, certainly when it is wet underfoot. That’s the time for reviewing what went on last year, what worked and what didn’t…
The days are getting longer and the woods are full of catkins and lime-green hellebores. The breezes are softer and the sun warms your soul. Spring is in the air. The soups and casseroles of winter are banished for another eight months. Or are they? How can you construct a decent salad with the sort of half-ripe, totally flavourless tomatoes available at this time of year…
Image not found.Having a house built to your own specification in rural France is an increasingly popular way of realising the dream of French property ownership. But is it really as simple as the Immobiliers, Builders and Architects make it sound? Stephen Leitch presents a first hand account of the many pitfalls to be avoided.
Belle, Buster, Bazil and Nounours arrived on 27th April 2006 from Lascabanes in the Lot department. The four kittens were just 1 week old and had been found in a field by a farmer who would have cut them to shreds had he not seen them…
Every year sees sharp rises in cats abandoned at our gates and those cruelly dumped in rubbish bins. Statistics say that less than 5% of cats and kittens abandoned in this way are ever found….
Every region of France has it’s own classic stew or casserole. The most famous, and certainly the most abused beef stew must be Boeuf Bourguignon, closely followed now by the increasingly popular Provencal Daube…
The Tarn-et-Garonne based cat charity association Chats du Quercy has launched a brand new web site in both English and French. www.chatsduquercy.com offers a wide range of cat health and welfare information, notably to encourage neutering in order to create a smaller but healthier feline population, especially in rural areas. …
Not content with buying their own vineyard in the Quercy, nor with winning medals every year for their Coteaux de Quercy wine, David and Sarah Meakin have teamed up with Stuart Jones and set up their own brewery…
If you’ve gone to the trouble of making your own mincemeat, you don’t want to let the side down by buying the pastry do you?
The secret of a good short, pastry is to use a little more butter than you normally would…
This is unashamedly an Anglo-French recipe. Taking all that’s wonderful, and quite impossible to give up, from an English Christmas whilst using classic Quercy ingredients.
Figs can be used in a variety of ways; they are quite delicious served fresh for breakfast with a thick yoghurt or crème fraiche. They are equally delicious poached with sugar and lemon juice and served in the same way. But I like them best when …
This isn’t really a regional recipe, it’s my own. However there’s a good reason for the name. The black walnut is ubiquitous in this area and was supposedly introduced to England – and widely planted in the Quercy – by that most adventurous of Queens, Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Peter Mayle described Provence as a cold country with a high rate of sunshine and a place where the summers are consistently hot. Both of these comments are also said to be true elsewhere in the South of France – the Lot and Quercy region, but let’s look at some actual figures…
In the second of two articles, Lindsay Nixon takes up the tale of her garden with the selection of flowers and vegetables that will be able to grow in the unpromising soil and harsh climate of the Causses du Quercy.
Everyone’s heard of Salade Niçoise, it’s eaten at a million tables all over the world every summer. However if you come a little inland you’ll find another regional speciality just waiting to be discovered…
There are many versions of this Quercy staple. One can stuff the birds merely with the chopped liver, breadcrumbs and perhaps a little leftover Toulouse sausage, the way a frugal countrywoman would.
In this region of the South of France the splendid goose has been King for a thousand years. Although perennially popular, goose is expensive and revered and so generally used only for feasts and special occasions…
