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The gite is about 2kms north of the pretty market town of Duras. The gite is situated on top of a hill in a pretty little hamlet, surrounded by rolling hills and vineyards. The gite is part of an old stone garonne barn with the owners living in the main farm house.
Duras has three bars, 3 restaurants, a weekly market selling all the local delicacies like fois gras, regional cheeses, magret de canard, Agen prunes, Bayonne ham, walnuts, truffles and beautiful fresh vegetables.
Duras is well known for its delicious red, white and rose wines. It also has its fair share of summer fetes. A visit to the Chateau de Duras is a must, not only for its architecture but also for the high tech media explanatory show. There is also a Museum of Parchment and Illumination.
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 Wine tasting is of course one of the main attractions of this area with numerous vineyards offering free degustations (tastings).
Many of the local red, rose and white wines can be bought in 5 or l0 litre boites (boxes) for as little as 10E for the 5 litre box! There are too many vineyards to mention but we are particularly fond of Berticot (1 minute drive away) and Domain Amblard and about 10 minutes drive away Chateaux Richard can be highly recommended for his excellent organic wines.
If you wish to visit any of the local vineyards whilst here for wine tasting we can organise this for you.
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 Markets:
There are so many local markets that you could visit a different one for each day of the week. Our favourite are the weekly Monday Market at Duras, Monsegur (famous for its Jazz festival in July) on a Friday and the hugely popular Saturday morning market in St. Foy Le Grande. The night market at Eymet on a Tuesday is very popular as is the Sunday morning market at Issigeac. If you wish to make a day of it a Sunday morning visit to the Bordeaux market is a must with a detour on the way back via the famous town of St. Emillion.
Cycling:
There is a very well equipped velo hire (cycle) shop in Duras. There are many places in the surrounding area to bike and for that matter walk. We can supply maps for you. During the summer months the local velo club usually cycle up the very steep hill by our house with all the locals in the hamlet encouraging them on!
Golf:
There is a very good 18 hole golf course about 20 minutes away from us – Chateau des Vigiers (Par 72). There are also 3 nine hole courses each about ½ hour away in Castelnaud (Par 27), Marmande (Par 35) and Tombeboeuf (Par 36).
Tennis:
There are three hard tennis courts in the pretty village of St. Sernin about 5 minutes drive away. Opposite the courts is a local bar run by a charming French couple ready to serve you a cold drink after a hard game!
Canoeing/Boating:
There is canoeing about 10 minutes away in Allemans du Dropt a pretty medieval village with some excellent examples of fine timber built houses. There is also canoeing on many parts of the Lot and Dordogne. In Bergerac you can take a boat trip down the Dordogne, seeing all kinds of bird and wildlife as you go.
Restaurants:
Again, to numerous to mention one by one but on arrival at the gite you will find an information book suggesting various restaurants to eat at, all tried and tested by the owners! If however, you fancy a break from cooking or eating out, we can offer gourmet cooked meals. These have become very popular in the last two years and we already have bookings for the 2008 season. We use local produce and fresh vegetables and herbs from the garden, and all of this can be brought to your own private terrace. Example menus can be viewed on page one of this website.
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As mentioned before there are many beautiful villages around us :
