Autoire

This pretty Autoire promenade is about an hour's drive from your gîte in Cabreretsin the north of the Lot.

Autoire, the Little Versailles

Close to the Dordogne Valley, on the border between the Lot and Corrèze departments, Autoire is one of the pretty villages to visit in the Lot, in the north-east of the department. It nestles in the impressive Cirque d'Autoire, surrounded by cliffs 300 metres high.

Once known as the "Little Versailles", Autoire is a small, harmonious village with a dozen or so beautiful houses. 16th century noble housesThese are all set against a backdrop of dark stone barns and characteristic steep brown roofs.

It's not for nothing that Autoire has been classified as one of the Most Beautiful Villages in France.

The Autoire waterfall

The biggest waterfall to visit in the LotIt can be reached from the village in almost half an hour.

You have to earn this beautiful a waterfall over 30 metres high.

In particular, you can borrow this a 2.7km loop trail from Autoire.

The English castle: La Roque d'Autoire

The "Château des Anglais (another one!), on the side of a cliff, is also a must-see. It offers superb views over the valley.

These are the ruins of a Semi-troglodytic defensive fortress dating from the 100 Years War, barely visible along the rock face!

It dates from the end of the 12th century, when the castellany of Saint-Céré, including Autoire, passed into the hands of the Viscounts of Turenne. It was built by the Baron de Castelnau-Gramat, a vassal of the Count of Toulouse.

Thanks to its strategic position, the castle of the English at Autoire provided a long-range lookout for attackers, and was protected from above by the cliff itself.

At the end of the 13th century, the King of France ceded the castle to the King of England. Armies of mercenaries in the pay of the English passed through here as they criss-crossed Quercy, pillaging it relentlessly.

In the 16th century, the Protestants took over Autoire and its Roque. It later reverted to the Viscount de Tourenne, who had it restored.

The site was then abandoned, and in the 18th century villagers began to plunder its stones. Nature then took over again, until the castle was listed as a Historic Monument in 1925.