the major attraction within an hour’s drive.
The 2,470-acre lake is dotted with beaches where you can swim, hire motor boats, yachts, pedalos or windsurf. You can also rent bicycles and pedal around the lake, fish, hike and horse ride, or take a leisurely pleasure boat ride.
The Limousin region is divided into three departments – Haute-Vienne, Creuse and Correze – and is littered with lakes of all shapes and sizes. Vassiviere is one of the largest, but there are plenty more – my gite had its own lake, complete with a rowing boat.
Limousin is also dotted with attractive small villages that can trace their history back to the 12th century. The most visited, Collonges-la-Rouge, in Correze, claims the title of ‘prettiest village in France’ on account of the red sandstone houses that gave the village its name.
This region is largely a Brit-free zone as UK holidaymakers tend to pass through on the way to the Dordogne, about 90mins drive to the south, and packed with attractions that make a good day out.
Top of the list is Rocamadour, a 12th-century pilgrim town which climbs steeply up a cliff. There are 216 steps to the top which repentant people once had to crawl up on their knees. Visitors these days prefer their feet or the lift to ascend from the town to the top of the cliff. There is also a miniature train running from the car park in the valley to the masses of gift shops and restaurants in the town.
Other attractions include the town of Sarlat, which dates back to Roman times but today plies a thriving trade in pottery geese – this is foie gras country and the goose is king before it is eventually eaten.
Also worth visiting are the Gouffre de Padirac caves, 338ft below ground level. A tour of the caves includes a ride in a flat-bottomed boat along an underground river, and a chance to brush up on your language skills, as the commentary is in French.
A knowledge of the language heightens the experience of a gite holiday. The hosts invariably prefer to speak their own language – although that did not prevent the owner of our gite making us feel welcome with gifts including a pot made from the white porcelain for which Limoges, the capital of Limousin, is famous.