Girls' Road Trip - Bergerac, France 12th-27th of June, 2026

We escape!

We were up, showered, dressed and ready to leave the house by 8:00am this morning, in an attempt to beat a little of the forecast heat! To be on the safe side, we packed a large bottle of water, hats, and sunscreen. When we set off, the temperature was about 23 °C, but it soon climbed... and climbed!

We took the A89 towards Périgueux, and it was an easy journey. Around Périgueux itself, it became quite busy with commuter traffic, and we revised our plan to go there, as it looked a lot bigger than we had thought. It had three junctions on the autoroute! Large towns and heat do not suit us!

We turned off the A89 at junction 17 and stopped in the beautiful village of Saint-Rabier for a coffee we'd made earlier, and a bowl of granola and yoghurt. We parked overlooking fields, and we heard the constant mooing of cows. It sounded like they were being kept inside because of the heat, and I don't think they were happy about it!

From Saint-Rabier, it was a pleasant nine-mile drive to Chateau Hautefort along empty roads and through pretty villages with some gorgeous houses. As we neared our destination, we spotted the chateau perched on its promontory. It looked stunning!

The chateau opens at 9:30am, so we were right on time. We parked in the shade of a row of trees and took a photograph before walking up to the ticket office.

It cost us 13 euros to enter the castle and the gardens, which I thought was a bargain. We walked up a long gravelled drive to the gardens, which we had been advised to visit first. There was a lot of topiary in the formal part of the gardens, with fantastic views of the Périgord countryside.

The village of Hautefort below us

By now, it was already very hot, and the sun beat down on us relentlessly. We walked around the grounds and then back to the front of the chateau, where we entered via the portcullis. 

The tour started on the left-hand side of the building, with information boards on the chateau's history. We called Keith while we were here, and he was fine, albeit a little hot, like us!

We then walked down the long covered part of the courtyard and went up to the first floor via a set of wide, shallow stone steps. From here, we had access to several beautiful rooms, including the former bedrooms, a gorgeous sitting room, bathrooms and an area for making tisanes.

One of two walnut fireplaces, each weighing four tonnes!

I loved this fireplace!

The tour looped around the rooms, and we found ourselves back in the long hall. We saw that a presentation was underway, so we waited until it finished. When we went into the cinema room, it was beautifully cool! This was the immersive experience about the terrible fire that had swept through Chateau Hautefort in 1968, when a cigarette was carelessly discarded in the attic rooms. We learned about what had happened and heard first-hand accounts from the inhabitants of the village and the Baroness de Bastard, who had spent the last forty years restoring the chateau. She had been entertaining guests who had wanted to see the attic rooms, and this is where the fire started. After the fire, she set about restoring it to how it had been, with generous donations.

This room was used for the shooting of the film, The Death of Louis XIV

When we went into the next room, we were astounded to discover that one of Sophie's favourite films, Ever After, was filmed at the chateau as well! In fact, there have been numerous films using the chateau as a location, including Plenty, starring Meryl Streep and Eye of the Devil, starring Sharon Tate in 1966.

We descended the stairs to the kitchens, where "staff " were working.

The holograms were great!

After the visit, we walked to the gift shop and bought a soap (of course!), a Christmas decoration for our Scandi tree, a postcard and two bottles of water.

We drank all the water (it was scorching hot by now) and then decided to do a tour of the rooms again! We had enjoyed walking around so much, and we both wanted to go into the cinema room again and be cool for a few minutes!

By now, the restaurant was open, and although we had talked about eating at an auberge in the village, we decided to eat at the chateau. The restaurant was called Le Dix-Sept, and we took a table under an umbrella overlooking the courtyard.

We ordered chicken fillets coated in crispy cornflakes in a Romesco sauce, served with potato wedges. A large bottle of water and a pichet of rosé accompanied the meal. Of course, as soon as we sat down, others followed, including a family group of ten who had three young children with them.

The food was very good, and we were given a basket of bread to eat with the meal. It was lovely sitting and gazing out over the views and enjoying our lunch. We managed to find room for dessert and ordered two Périgord traditional desserts - Cajasse and Cambedouilles. We loved the Cajasse; it was like a Yorkshire pudding stuffed with walnuts and apples and served with ice cream. Delicious! The  Cambedouilles were long fried doughnuts topped with icing sugar and drizzled with chocolate sauce. We had never heard of them before!

Insane heat!

We were now stuffed, so we paid the bill, a reasonable 66 euros, and staggered back to the car. It was now insanely hot, and on the way across the main apron of the chateau and along the winding drive, we tried to conjure up winter scenes to keep cool! I then realised in six months it would be Christmas Eve!

Luckily, the car felt cool as it had been parked under the trees, and we set off for the village and a brocante shop that Sophie had spotted. We parked a short distance from the shop and saw another one, but this was closed.

We walked back to the one we'd seen and went inside, where it seemed to be even hotter, if that was possible! The shop was full of secondhand clothes and shoes, but Sophie found three lovely vintage glasses that she bought for 5 euros.

By now, I was beginning to feel overheated, and I really don't think our meal was helping! It wasn't a long walk back to the car, but both of us now felt very uncomfortable. As soon as we got in the car, we turned the aircon on and sorted out the directions back to the A89. The route took us back on the lovely D704, which was even quieter. The sunbaked fields shimmered in the afternoon heat, and nothing moved, with the houses shuttered up against the sun.

On the A89, I realised that there was no shade at all, and I was hugely relieved when the journey was over. I have never felt this way about the heat at all, but the strength of the sun and the 42c temperatures really did bring it home to me how dangerous this was.

Back at the house, we changed into our swimsuits and gratefully sank into the pool, which now felt like a bath! I remember at the start of the holiday we had to really steel ourselves to get into it as it was so cold!

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent relaxing in the house, and we decided to watch What Women Want on Netflix. Halfway through, we cooked a box of chicken nuggets to eat with some bread and butter. We sat outside for a little while before bed. I will never get tired of the view from the terrace!