Guardian - Immerse Yourself In Rural France

Immerse yourself in rural France Benji Lanyado The Guardian, Saturday 18 April 2009 larger | smaller

French Jura is a bucolic green wedge coated in pasture and vineyards. Photograph: Joerg Lehmann/Getty Images/StockFood French Jura In between Burgundy and Switzerland, French Jura is a bucolic green wedge coated in pasture and vineyards - wine buffs will impel you to look out for squat bottles of the vin jaune, a punchy yellow wine made from the local Savagnin grape. The lakeside La Grange à Nicolas in the tiny village of Baume-les-Messieurs is prime middle-of-nowhere territory, and has four double bedrooms in an 18th-century farmhouse, as well as a stone cottage that sleeps seven. • lagrangeanicolas.com (0033 3 84 85 20 39), doubles from €90 B&B. Lons-le-Saunier from London from £113 return with Railbookers (0844 482 1010, railbookers.com). Gers With acres of undulating countryside and hilltop villages that are famous for their markets, it's no surprise that the south-western district of Gers (once Gascony) is often referred to as the French Tuscany. But you won't find yourself surrounded by British aspirants here, nor any holidaying former prime ministers, just in-the-know Parisians on rural escapes, and epicureans on armagnac and foie gras pilgrimages. The town of Lectoure is a great place to base yourself, perhaps in the extravagantly-named Hôtel de Bastard, or at the nearby Castelnau des Fieumarcon, where the 12 stone houses form a stronghold that was built by

local feudal lords in the 13th century. • hotel-de-bastard.com (+562 68 82 44), from €50 room only. lagarde.org (+5 62 68 99 30), from €90 a house. London-Agen from £99 return with Railbookers. The Drôme A high, rural swathe of land running from the Rhône at Valence to the Haute-Alpes, the Drôme is a lesser-trodden section of France's south-east. The valleys of the interior are dotted with dusty medieval villages and centuries-old oil mills, stretching down to the southern vineyards that fall under the Côtes du Rhône appellation. But the region's north-east, bound by the reaches of the Vecors nature park, is a different world: pitted with caves and gorges that sheltered Resistance fighters during the second world war. • See the Rhône-Alpes section at france-voyage.com/en for accommodation. London-Valence from £99 return with Railbookers. Limousin The rolling hills of Limousin have historically provoked some heady emotions - Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre were once busted indulging in some heavy petting near her family's country pile, although family records indicate they were merely "reading philosophy". Perhaps. Either way, the district is frequently overlooked by tourists in favour of the neighbouring Dordogne and Lot valleys, leaving it unspoilt for those wanderers who fancy tramping down country lanes and dipping into farms to sample freshly-churned cheese. You'll find a range of holiday cottages and caravans on limousinlets.com. For a taste of true isolation, base yourself in Creuse, the most sparsely populated prefecture. • London-Limoges from £89 return with Railbookers. Forêt de Compiègne The string of forests north of Paris were once the favoured hunting grounds of French royalty, and the Forêt de Compiègne is no exception. The magnificent Pierrefonds castle on the forest's eastern fringes was home to Napoleon. Hiding in the middle of the 36,000 acres (146sq km) of beech and oak is the fortified village of Saint-Jean-aux-Bois, where the Auberge à la Bonne Idée has stylish bedrooms set in an old woodcutters' house and converted stables. The surrounding forest is crisscrossed with miles of walking paths and bridleways, and a handful of small lakes, but most of the visitors come here for the food - the in-house restaurant is locally-famed. • a-la-bonne-idee.fr (+344 42 84 09), from €80 room only. London-Compiègne from £83 return with Railbookers.

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