In 2012 the village of St.Cirq Lapopie was voted " France's  most prefered village ".
 We feel very privileged to live so close to this beautiful, historic village. It is totally unspoilt...exceptionally pretty & with plenty of restaurants, art galleries and little shops selling everything from Foie Gras to  pottery...even fabulous clothes & handbags !

Have a look on the "Gallery "  to see more photos of this lovely place.



Here is some info on the village taken from the French connections web site.

St. Cirq La Popie is steeped in history. Named France's most beautiful village, it has narrow streets lined with local artisans' homes where they sell their work ranging from leather goods to jewellery. The village abounds with cafes and restaurants where you can relax and watch village life go by before making your way to a vantage point and view the river below and the panorama of the area.

The village is accessed through great stone gates in the fortified walls and has the remains of three chateaux, and a fine 15th century roman-style church (four feudal dynasties lived here in the middle ages, hence all the chateaux!). The narrow cobbled streets of St Cirq Lapopie contain a lovely mixture of medieval houses - some in colombage (half-timbered) and some in stone, with small terraced gardens adding to the beauty of the place.

Next to the river, below the village, are an assortment of old mills and buildings testifying to the activity of the village in centuries gone by.

St Cirq Lapopie  played an important role in the Albigensian crusades, the Hundred Years War and the Wars of religion. It lies on one of the important pilgrimage paths to Santiago de Compostelle that cross France.

Nowadays St Cirq Lapopie is home to numerous artists and artisans, a trend started perhaps when Andre Breton made his home here and declared that he had, as a consequence, 'stopped wanting to go anywhere else".

St Cirq Lapopie is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Lot region, and should not be missed if you are in the region. As with many of the 'most beautiful villages' it is best seen early in the morning - for the better light, and for the smaller numbers of tourists bustling around.

Nico & Caroline, a young couple from Normandy have just bought the farm down the road at Nissac.
It's their first enterprise and even with baby Nino around their ankles..have started to produce some  great cheeses which they sell direct from the farm and also in our village of St. Martin Labouval on Saturday mornings.
I believe they have some other markets lined up..I'll let you know.

 They were kind enough to let us have a look at the sheep and goats a few weeks back who were busy producing their lambs and kids in the large cosy barn next to the dairy.

Below is a plate of cheeses we bought this weekend...a pyramid of goat's cheese coated in ash....round cheeses coated in various herbs & spices...and the traditional small sheep's cheeses....all absolutely delicious and very reasonably priced.

We will definitely be serving these to our table d'hôte customers and of course our guests can go to the farm to buy their own !

Maintenant, nous pouvons acheter du fromage de brebis et de chèvre juste en bas de la route!

18/04/2012
Nico & Caroline, un jeune couple de Normandie viens d'acheter la ferme sur la route à Nissac.
C'est leur première entreprise et même avec un bébé Nino autour de leurs chevilles .. ont commencé à produire quelques délicieux fromages qu'ils vendent directement à la ferme et aussi dans notre village de Saint-Martin Labouval le samedi matin.
Je crois qu'ils ont d'autres marchés alignés .. je vous le ferai savoir.
  Ils ont eu la gentillesse de nous laisser jeter un oeil à la brebis et de chèvres il ya quelques semaines, qui étaient en train de produire leurs agneaux et les chevreaux dans la grande grange confortable à côté de la laiterie.