Exploring the region

With 7 restaurants with a mention in the Michelin Guide, and another 2 with actual Michelin Stars, Limoges and surroundings is a great place for foodies! Two of our favourite haute cuisine haunts are within a 15 minute drive of our house. And if you’re looking to prepare your own Michelin-star food - try the Central Market Hall in Limoges for the best and the freshest ingredients (and it’s a gorgeous building too). The kitchens in our holiday homes are ready for your cook-off!

Close to the charming town of Donzenac slate has been extracted for over three centuries. Unique in Europe, the Travassac slate quarries, with their spectacular and vertiginous steep walls over 100 metres tall, is a place where you can learn all about the slate-quarry worker's trade on an amazing walk. The guided tours offered on site will enable you to get up close to the high cliffs and admire their impressive walls shaped by human activity. 

Just across the border to the Dordogne are the rapids of the Auvézères river.  It's a rocky trek past this beautiful river that runs through a fairytale forest.  Short and long routes begin & end at the church of charming Saint-Mesmin. A gorgeous place to cool off on a hot summer day.

Limoges boasts a beautiful medieval city centre, amazing food, porcelain shopping and few great museums that are worth a visit. Explore the cathedral and its beautiful grounds and take a peek at one of France's most beautiful train stations.

Limoges is famous for its porcelain, and walking in its curved streets, alleys and passages will not let you forget it. They used to call it the red city, because of the way the sky turned red at night from the many fires burning to bake the clay. You can buy porcelain straight off the factory at Le Pavillon de la Porcelaine, or just wander in the Place Motte area and around the old medieval town where you will find most of the shops. And there are plenty more factory shops in the countryside around Limoges & Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche.

They call this beautiful town The Pearl of the Limousin. Explore it's medieval streets, its chateaus & its rich history. It's also a great place from which to explore the Massif des Monédières for hiking & mountainbiking. 

This gorgeous lake is the perfect place to get active. Enjoy beaches, boating, waterskiing, and a water adventure park for the kids. But you can also hike along the lake, explore the mountain bike trails or the tree climbing adventure park.

The Limousin is a hotspot for geocaching. Never heard of geocaching? It's basically hunting for treasure with the help of an app. And it's a really fun way to explore the beautiful natural surroundings. Terra Avontura is a French organization which have set out hundreds of treasure hunts - short & long - throughout the region. It's free and all it takes is an app and a pair of good shoes ready to trek into the wild. This is a great activity to do with kids - adding a little magic dust to going for a walk.

Only 20 minutes away from us is a beautiful and intimate zoo. This park is serious about wildlife conservation and is home to over a 140 species. 

The river Dordogne carves through deep gorges and there are great short and long hikes with stunning views. The Roc du Busatier is a favorite viewpoint of ours along one of those hikes. 

In the 12th century, our region was home to King Richard the Lionheart. Richard fought endless battles to defend the borders of his empire - and the Haute Vienne was his battleground.
Pictured is Chateau de Montbrun. One of the many forts lived in, fought over or commandeered by the Lionheart. You can visit all of them on the Route Richard Coeur de Lion - many less than 20min away from us. And if you're up for a challenge, you can cycle the 200km route.