Everybody should write such a balanced report but, you know, we all hesitate to include the downs as well as the ups lest we sound like we're too demanding. You didn't bash, you didn't complain, you gave the place a fair trial.

Your list of what you did is far longer than ours would be for the same length of time.

It does come down to different personalities, different travel styles, what each person wants out of a vacation, whether a place strikes us as too crowded or creepily empty. The weather, good or bad, can trump anything else.

MelJ,

My sister-in-law lives in the Poitou Charente region, Vienne departement near Civray.

She or I might be able to help with questions. They live almost equi-distance between Poitiers and Limoges, bit closer to Poitiers.

Some thoughts from a resident of the Perigord Noir
First, you were here in the least sunny spring in history - literally. Record breaking bad weather this year, and so while you might have enjoyed yourself more with sunny weather, you didnt have the chance.

Second, St Pompon would not have been my first choice to stay, but of course that is not immediately obvious. It's not a part of the area that appeals as much to me as a little further east. And of course there are many villages now that have no restaurant/shop, etc.

And of course, for a North American, or a city dweller from many places, it is not easy to adapt to French country closing hours. Many people say they love the 'French way of life' which in the country means that people stop working at noon, and dont work SUnday afternoons, etc. It's always a shock to us to go back to Canada and experience wide open shopping hours, as it's not whate we are now used to. (Most supermarkets around us are now open on Sunday mornings though, unlike in the past.)

I'm surprised that you think there were not enough activities for children, as it seems to us that there are. Because of the extended period of bad/rainy weather there would not have been any canoeing, but there are outdoor activity centres for kids, and lots of people cycling on back roads around us.

I do have to agree with you about Sarlat, which is becoming more and more touristy. It's wonderful on a cool evening with the gas lights on and not too many people. But I was there in the afternoon last week, and noted that once again there were more stores aimed at tourists, rather than locals, and jsut a general touristy atmosphere. Too bad, as it's a lovely town.

The Perigord Noir - and the rest of the Perigord is a rural area, and you do need to understand and appreciate that. I, who had never been interested in the country in Canada, fell in love with the region, and this weekend we are celebrating our 19th anniversary of living full time in France. But our current guest, who says it is one of the most beautiful places he has ever seen, also says he couldnt imagine living here. We obviusly don't feel that way, but can understand why others do.

Thanks to everyone for your comments. For Carlux and others who have property in Perigord Noir, this area works for them and my intent was not to criticize those who prefer a more relaxed, laissez-faire lifestyle. I will be the first to admit that DH and I find it an incredible challenge to simply sit back and relax.
This holiday caused us to reflect: our best vacations have been when we were on the move. We have stayed in gites (or equivalent) throughout the world and invariably we are bored within a few days. Large centres are the exception, including our time in Villefranche sur Mer where we were attending classes during the day. For us, we need to be busy and structured. I realize that this is not the case for most, but it works for us.

Perigord Noir is lovely and rural. We did not appreciate how rural it was until we arrived. We met many Aquitaine blondes (cows) near our gite and they really were beautiful. As for children's activities, they may well exist in abundance for locals who know where to look, but a casual tourist waking up on a rainy or overcast day will have a challenge in locating activity centres and other options for their kids. The experience of a tourist passing through the region for a few days and of those who have chosen to live here is markedly different.

I am happy to have visited Perigord Noir. The weather was cool but not completely unpleasant and it really did not impact significantly on our experience (other than the pollen and DH's hayfever). We have learned that we are more urban than rural, but we will still return to France and structure things diffently next time.

Thanks to all for your input in planning our trip. I hope that our experience may be useful to others.

pirouette

Could you tell me more about your classes in Villefranche s/mer?

Thanks.

(rain and more rain here)

Thanks for this TR, pirouette.

Cathinjoetown, check out the other thread on language schools. I posted there a couple of days ago and there are other suggestions too.

<<As for children's activities, they may well exist in abundance for locals who know where to look, but a casual tourist waking up on a rainy or overcast day will have a challenge in locating activity centres and other options for their kids. >>

I very much appreciate this candid report, but I vehemently disagree with this statement. It's hard for me to imagine a European venue that has more things for children to do and enjoy than the Périgord Noir. Though I do have to wonder what an "activity centre" is...certainly not something I ever sought out in decades of travel with kids.

There are several 'adventure centers' outside Sarlat - zooming through the trees, etc. which seem to be very popular with families.

Oh yes, we've done the zip lines and such in St-Vincent-de-Cosse and elsewhere; I just didn't relate that to "activity center."

The perspective of a "local" and that of a passing tourist are sometimes very different. There are certainly activities for children in the Perigord Noir and most are best enjoyed in good weather. Indoor options for kids are not described in most of the tourist brochures or travel boards.

Certainly there will always be activities for children to do or enjoy however I would respectfully suggest that there are many other areas of Europe (and beyond) that offer more for kids than the quiet and rural Perigord Noir. Those Fodorites who have homes in this region-it is obviously a good fit for you. It is wonderful to find a piece of the world that you truly love. We are all different however in our needs, expectations and travel experience. Indoors or outdoors, this region would not have worked for my kids for more than a couple of days.

Excellent review, and very helpful for those planning a visit here. Lots to be learned.

Knowing well there may not be a "next time" for you, here are two hints for anyone considering the Dordogne river valley in springtime, and who thinks they might have a similar travel style to pirouette:

1. LOCATION: Study the map carefully and choose where to stay based on its proximity to most of the sites you plan on visiting. St. Pompon is quite far out in one direction, and to my recollection does not even have a small grocery store (I could be wrong). Starting and finishing every day's adventure with a minimum 20-minute drive would certainly be fatiguing and irksome. On top of that, you picked some destinations that were pretty distant, even if you had been staying in the heart of the Dordogne Valley, or in Sarlat. St. Pompon is deep into an area full of D-roads, very small country lanes. Some people love that, but when the fastest you can travel is about 40 km/hour, it can be frustrating when you're trying to get to a market a half-hour away, just before closing, for a pint of milk for your morning coffee the next day.

2. It sounds like you enjoy the freedom of a self-catering unit, and they can often be a real deal when compared with hosted stays. What you're missing out on, though, is a true local connection. Consider staying at a B&B or small hotel rather than renting a gîte, particularly one in such a small, non-touristic village. Choose one with good reviews about helpful hosts. A local host can advise you up front on grocery shopping, activities that are fun and amusing for young people, indoor destinations for rainy days and outdoor ideas for good weather days. When you say you tend to be bored when you stay at a gîte, I'm getting a clue that you're not having the chance to engage with someone local who would really like to give you guidance and support and direction. For someone like you, who really wants to be "doing something" all the time, it's nice to have a friendly host. They have a vested interest in helping you have fun!

Spring travel is great for economy, but if you're not in a big city, many opportunities that are happening full bore in the summer time are not up and running yet in May, the month of holidays. Restaurants are still on part-time and irregular schedules, some farms and other interesting sites aren't open for visitors until June. The Dordogne is often running too high and too fast for the canoes to go out, particularly this recent May (but not always).

Cities can be great in rainy weather, but the countryside? Not so much.

This has been a great posting, pirouette, and I think a lot of people will learn something about this beautiful region before they visit. It's very balanced and on point.

@ La_Tour_de_Cause I will be traveling there solo in June, 2016. I like the idea of staying at a B&B or a small hotel, so as to be able to interact with the locals. And I have had good experiences traveling this way in SE Asia.

What I want is relatively modest: clean, shower, kitchen (at least for coffee), small refrigerator, washing machine, WiFi.

I have been looking at places in Eyzies, as that seems to be centrally located for the caves, which are my main interest, and I want to get around by bike.

But -- using airbnb or tripadvisor -- I am not having much luck:

On airbnb I get the impression there are a few locals that are "representing" places in town, but it is not clear that they are actually IN the places they are representing. The more modest places lack washing machines and WiFi, which suggests to me that they are not actually being lived in..
TripAdvisor shows more expensive, larger hotels..

Any suggestions for other places to look?

The last place I would stay in the Périgord Noir is Les Eyzies, a one-street tourist-centered highly congested town where everything outside of winter is geared to tourists and hence overpriced and bad value. Apart from getting my hair cut there, I stay away from May until October unless I am visiting Font-de-Gaume and Les Combarelles, Le Pôle, or the Musée National de la Préhistoire, all of which are excellent.

Look in Montignac, St-Géniès, Tamniès, Audrix, St-Chamassy, Le Bugue, Meyrals, St-Cyprien, Allas-les-Mines, Castelnaud, Limeuil, Belvès, Monpazier, Siorac, Le Buisson, Cadouin....there are a thousand towns far more interesting and less crowded.

Trip Advisor doesn't seem to know much at all about the Périgord Noir. I ate lunch at a restaurant in Limeuil today that got raves on TA (from Americans), but it was decidely overpriced and, while good, nothing to write home about. AirBnb is not much of a presence here. You'd do far better to go online to the websites of the local towns, and the websites of the local tourist offices, and look up possible accommodations. Here in Le Bugue we have scores of nice B&Bs and gîtes, and that's just one town - but I doubt people around here would advertise on AirBnb. You have to dig a lot deeper than TA and AirBnb.

We stayed in gites when we had young kids and other family members. For a couple of adults, it is not an ideal way to travel. And then you really do have to be careful to be close to services, shopping, other people.

for us, we found the mattresses to be a potential problem. Some mattresses in rural gites give no support and you just sink into the bed like a stone.

You'll be able to interact with many locals in this area, since the majority of them who live nearby will be waiting tables and working in shops, here. Don't be too disappointed by the large number of tourists - not everyone who wants to live here permanently has the ability to do so, and not everyone wants to live in a tourist hotspot.

If you are really intent on immersing yourself in local activity, you would have to go far away from Le Perigord, and far away from any other places mentioned on travel websites. But if you did so, you'd find out that not much happens wherever you did end up, and there's really nothing much to do, because normal people are just not that exciting. You could compare this to a trip to a distant, rural suburb where you live - and ask yourself why on earth would anyone want to spend their vacation there? This isn't meant to be critical, it's just the facts.

Whatever you do - make certain to plan your trip so that you avoid Sunday, Monday and make certain to Google French holidays (which often include a 3-day weekend).