Pont de Fournil Camping

A good place to get your bearings is at the tourist info office in Mussidan (10 minutes' drive); there's also a weekly market here on Saturday mornings. Stick with the riverside antics at historic Moulin de Duellas (10 minutes), an old watermill where visitors can take a boat ride along the River Isle (the highlight for many being the passage through the manual lock). Bathers seeking safe and sandy freshwater beaches for a dip should head to Lac de Gurson or Lac Jemaye Regional Park (both 25 minutes); sailing types can also hire dinghies here. For a touch more history, aim for elegant Château de Montréal (20 minutes), or the tumbledown charm of Château de Barrière (25 minutes). Further afield, Périgueux (with its cathedral, Roman ruins and winding medieval streets) is 40 minutes away, and it's well worth the journey out to Bordeaux (an hour and a quarter), a UNESCO World Heritage Site.