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 Beau Séjour, 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.
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.
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