RESTAURANTS

Le Lavalette, Villebois Lavalette (05.45.61.71.37)

First class food from a very varied menu in an elegant restaurant or a more relaxed atmosphere on a nice day at one of the tables in the shelter of the Covered Market. The restaurant is only about 100m from the House of Villeboisien. For pictures and sample menus see www.LeLavalette.com. The bar is a popular meeting place of many local people. Closed on Mondays, open all other days for lunch and on Thursday-Saturday for dinner (in the summer, the opening times may be extended).

Le Beauséjour, Monsec (on the way to Brantôme, just past Vieux Mareuil, about 25 km)

Excellent place for the regional food of Aquitaine. The friendly proprietress, Madame Biche, is always ready to ensure that everything meets her high standards. A little bit far from Villebois—the journey takes 20-25 minutes—but well worth the trip. The restaurant is one of our perennial favourites. It is open every day for lunch and dinner.

Laffont Claudia (05.45.78.62.30) , Paillaud (15 km South of Villebois on the road to Riberac)

Excellent food—the the proprietress, trained in some of the star Parisian restaurants, succeeds in marrying traditional local and seasonal cuisine with a touch of Parisian sophistication, yielding superb results, both for the palette and the eye; some dishes are certainly on a par with that served in the best restaurants in the world! At the moment the restaurant is open for lunch every day but only on Fridays and Saturdays for dinner. In nice weather, eat in the garden under the parasols and enjoy a leisurely meal en plein air.

Le Forge, Torsac (11 km on the D81 towards Angoulême)

Good regional food in a friendly atmosphere. The restaurant is popular with English expatriates in the area. Open for dinner every day except Tuesday.

Les Tourbieres, Vendomes (on a side road from Gurat, about 8 km)

For an unusual dining experience visit this restaurant! The kitchen is in a shack and dining is either outside or in a covered terrace. To reach the restaurant, one must drive down a lane at the side of a corn-field, with the restaurant hidden at the end. Next to the restaurant is a lake and often the resident otter (although some people have said it’s a coypu or a muskrat—I’m no expert and prefer to think it’s the native animal not an American import!) will come alongside for handouts of bread. The food is a limited selection of regional dishes.

Le Moulin Vieux (05 53 60 74 74), Vieux Mareuil (on the D939 in the direction of Perigueux, about 22 km)

A training restaurant for restaurant staff, including would-be chefs. The restaurant is different to a normal vocational school in that the trainees have troubled backgrounds. Since it is a training establishment, service can occasionally be a little sub-par but usually both the food and the service are good and sometimes outstanding. it's often worth taking the chance and supporting this restaurant that provides more than just a service to its clientele.

In Angouleme (a little over 20 km), there are a large number of restaurants, covering most cuisines of the world: French, Italian, Spanish, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese, Algerian, Moroccan, Turkish and I’m sure, many more! If you find yourself in the town close to a meal-time, the problem is not finding a good place to eat but rather deciding what type of food you want. The area around the town hall, at the top of the hill, has a very high concentration of restaurants.

SHOPPING

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Groceries

There are two boulangeries in Villebois. One at the market place at the top of la Grand’ rue, about 100m from the house, which is open every morning and afternoon except Mondays, and the other about another 100m down la Grand’ rue, which is open every day except Thursdays. Both, as well as a good selection of different breads, have croissants, cakes and other goodies to take home to enjoy with coffee or tea sitting on the loggia or in the garden.

On Saturday mornings, also on Wednesday mornings during the summer, the open-air market is filled with vendors of  fruits and local produce—vegetables, some meats, cheeses, eggs and delicious jams. There is also fresh fish and sea-food—after all, we’re only 100km from the Atlantic Ocean. A particular favourite are the fresh oysters. On Saturday mornings, you’ll always find people stopping at the boulangerie for a baguette, picking up half-a-dozen oysters and consuming them at one of the tables in the market place, often with a glass of wine from the Le Lavalette restaurant’s bar or the Café de la Reunion, both next to the market place.

Most groceries, including a selection of such English necessities as Weetabix, custard powder, Roses lime juice (what would a hot day be like without a lager and lime?) and real marmalade, are available at the SuperU supermarket in Villebois, less than a kilometre from the house. For an even wider selection of groceries, as well as any household needs, visit Carrefour on the D939 towards Angouleme, about 20km away.

A few favourites for visitors to take home with them are: pâte de foie gras, a regional speciality, which can be found in the SuperU, at the market, or in many shops in Angouleme; walnut oil, which is delicious on salads, or walnut vinegar (even walnut wine!), a reflection of the many walnut trees in the region; the special wine Pineau des Charentes (mentioned below) and many products from duck. And don’t forget truffles—the underground mushroom type not the chocolates!

Wines, liqueurs and spirits

SuperU carries a wide variety of wines and a few liqueurs and spirits. For an even more extensive selection, go to Carrefour. If you’ve never visited this part of France before, be sure to taste the local speciality, Pineau des Charentes. Local people drink it both as an aperitif and as a digestif. It’s presence in an area between the great wine-region of Bordeaux and Cognac, which is in Charente is no surprise considering how it is made:  the fermentation of wine is interrupted by the addition of cognac. The result is a delicious sweet fortified wine. Most market days there are two or three producers of Pineau at the market-place selling their wares.

With Bordeaux being only about 100km away, and the Bordeaux wine region starting much closer, a visit to a vineyard is a very popular outing. You will not only learn about viniculture and the wine-making process, but also have the opportunity to sample some excellent examples of the wines of the area before deciding on your choice to take home with you. Similarly, a fascinating outing is to visit one of the grand cognac houses to learn about and sample the world-renowned cognac. It’s only about 60km to the town of Cognac and Villebois is almost on the edge of the official Cognac wine region.

Souvenirs and regional crafts

Angouleme has many shops devoted to serving the tourist. But don’t ignore some of the smaller nearby towns. Brantome (about 30km from Villebois) is a beautiful small town and has a selection of shops where souvenirs can be found; Riberac, at about the same distance, is another choice for a visit. Most weekends during the summer, one of the nearby villages will have some form of “vide grenier” (literally “empty attic”), where local people will be selling second-hand goods. While not everybody’s idea of a source of souvenirs, one can often find items demonstrating local craftsmanship.