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Our
recently restored gîtes, situated in a beautiful
Auvergnat hamlet in the Livradois Forez National
Park, are immaculately presented.
Each comes with
every convenience for the perfect French ‘vacance’.
The village, Le Vernet la Varenne is a five minute
car ride or fifteen minute bike ride away and boasts
a butchers, bakers, small supermarket, doctor,
dentist and two bars, it also has a pretty
bathing lake with a life guard and pedaloes. Le
Vernet has Monday morning market, ideal for savouring
French village life.
Those of you familiar with the award winning
film Être et Avoir, may find your surroundings familiar,
the school which features in the film is only 3
kms from La Vachere.
Within easy striking distance
of our hamlet there
are numerous excellent restaurants. La Bergerie
de Sarpoil is one of the best restaurants in the
Auvergne and is a 10 minute drive away. Not only
is the food and service excellent, the menu covers
every price range. The Civadoux is a real country
auberge, beautifully situated, again at most a
10 minute drive. The auberge serves excellent regional
food and is very reasonably priced. Worth noting
is the fact that the Civadoux serves some very
tasty artisan beers which are, of course, brewed
in the Auvergne. The town of Sauxillanges 10 kilometres
away has some fine restaurantes and a tuesday morning
market. Nearby are the villages of Usson and St
Genès la Tourette. Usson is a hilltop village
that has been awarded the title of "one of
the most beautiful villages in France", and
is worth a visit, has a very good restaurant "Auberge
de Margot (phone - 04737 19792). In nearby St
Genès la Tourette is Bar St Thomas run by
John and Julia Scannell, it has a very welcoming
atmosphere and serves meals at the weekends (phone
- 04737 12831).
The principal town of the region,
Issoire is a twenty minute drive away and has a
pretty pedestrian
shopping centre beside the beautiful Romanesque
church of St. Austremoine which is well worth a
visit. Issoire has an excellent regional market
every Saturday. The range and quality of local
produce is superb; not surprising since the Auvergne
is home to more appellation controlle cheeses than
any other region of France.
As well as the Saturday
market, Issoire has several small specialist
shops dotted about the medieval
town and three large and very well stocked supermarkets.
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