Brantôme

Brantôme is in the northern Périgord, which is greener and quieter than the cliff-and-castle country of the south, and I arrived on a morning so still that the river was a mirror. The Dronne curves around the island on which the Abbey of Brantôme stands, and the reflection was so complete — stone walls, bell tower, the cliff face behind the abbey from which the monks’ cave cells were cut — that the image in the water was as convincing as the building above it. I stood on the Renaissance bridge for a long time before moving.

The abbey’s history runs to the eighth century, when Charlemagne reportedly donated relics of Saint Sicarius to the Benedictine foundation here. The current buildings are largely eleventh century through Renaissance, though the cliff behind them goes back further than any written record: the cave dwellings carved into the limestone were occupied before the abbey existed and continued to be used by the monks long after. You can walk through some of these cave rooms — dark chambers with rough stone walls and niches cut for candles, a silence so complete it feels acoustic — and they carry a quality of habitation that the polished abbey buildings don’t. These were workplaces, storage rooms, prayer cells. The monks lived in the cliff.

The town that clusters around the abbey is small and self-conscious about its charm, which is forgivable given how much charm it actually has. The main street runs along the river with mill buildings and water gardens and restaurants with terraces over the Dronne where local trout is served in half a dozen preparations, none of them complicated. The trout from the Dronne is exceptional — clear cold water, fed by underground springs — and the regional dish of truite farcie aux fines herbes, trout stuffed with herbs and butter and baked in foil, is the thing to order if it appears on the menu.

Rent a canoe from one of the outfitters in town and paddle the Dronne upstream. Within a kilometer the abbey disappears behind the willows and you are in a landscape of meadows and limestone bluffs and herons standing in the shallows with the patience of something that has never been in a hurry. The Dronne is smaller than the Dordogne, calmer, and the paddling is effortless. I was out for two hours and didn’t want to come back.

When to go: April through June when the Dronne is clear and the riverside gardens are in bloom. September is excellent for the autumn light on the limestone and the river still warm enough for swimming. Brantôme works as a day trip from Périgueux or as a base for exploring the northern Périgord, which is often overlooked in favor of the river valley to the south.