Autumn rains and the mushroom harvest in the Perigord

It rained hard when we were in Bordeaux the other night. And i think it must have done so here in Monpazier as well. We arrived in this beautiful spot after a lovely drive through the Bordeaux wine country on little country roads. The cloud formations were stunning.

Once we got to our darling little cottage (more about that later), we headed into the village through the arched gate. The village is a perfectly preserved 12th Century town organized around a main square.  There we many happy-looking French people Leaving the square carrying big wooden boxes full of enormous beautiful mushrooms arranged on green ferns.  I think the rain brought on the mushroom harvest. This was the weekend of the seasonal marche des cepes, the mushroom market.

Today after a drive to the stunning Chateau de Biron, we returned to the central square and the market was happening again. There was great excitement as people gathered around vendors with their cars full of boxes of cepes. The French just love their food so much. I cannot imagine this level of excitement in Canada over mushrooms.

As for us, we weren't up for bargaining for the mushrooms, but we did enjoy a delicious veloute des cepes last night at dinner at Chez Minou in the village.

Here are a few pix of the village and our little cottage. Don't you agree they are darling?