Camping in the Dordogne: the river on one side, local producers on the other

People come to camp in the Dordogne for the water. No one would deny it: the campsite’s riverside beach, a swim in the late afternoon on the way back from a walk, or the canoes gliding past the foot of the châteaux. But after three days here, something else happens. You end up knowing the name of the farmer who delivers goat’s cheese to the campsite on Tuesdays; you come back from the market with two kilos of strawberries and vegetables you don’t yet know how to cook, and you leave with a Nontron knife in your bag. Wherever you are in the Dordogne, the campsite team will be happy to recommend local producers where you can sample delicious Périgord specialities, or the region’s finest artisans so you can take home a souvenir of the Périgord.

Campsites right by the water, just ten minutes from the farms

The Périgord’s geography is a great help. Most campsites are lined up along the two valleys – the Dordogne and the Vézère – between Limeuil, Saint-Cyprien, Vitrac and Cénac, with direct access to the river and a lifeguard-supervised beach in July and August. Further north, in the Périgord Vert, they are nestled amongst rolling landscapes traversed by the Dronne and Auvézère rivers.

Yet these very same valleys are home to walnut groves, duck farms and market gardeners. A waterside campsite in the Dordogne is almost always less than a quarter of an hour’s drive from a farm selling produce directly to the public. Campsite managers have long recognised this, and local produce has become just as much a draw for visitors as the swimming pool or the kids’ club. People still choose a campsite in the Dordogne for its swimming pool and access to the river, but also for the local produce available nearby.

The evening market: a Perigord camping institution

The farmers’ market held on the campsite grounds itself is undoubtedly what has changed the most over the last ten years. The concept is simple: one evening a week during the high season, four or five producers set up their stalls in the heart of the campsite. Foie gras and confits, goat’s cheese, melons, field-grown vegetables (often organic), wood-fired bread, and bottled Bergerac or Pécharmant wine. You buy your food, sit down at a long table, enjoy it on the spot, and the children go off to play between courses.

Many of these evenings adhere to the specifications of the ‘Marchés des Producteurs de Pays’ scheme – the label managed by the chambers of agriculture – which requires the seller to be the actual producer. This keeps out resellers of mass-produced sausages and changes the nature of the conversation: you ask how the walnut harvest is going this year, and you get a genuine answer.

For a camper, the benefits are obvious. After a day at the beach, nobody fancies getting back in the car to go shopping fifteen kilometres away. It’s also a chance to chat with locals, who are often a wealth of information about places to visit around the campsite.

Village markets: another way to make the most of your holiday

Almost all campsites provide a small guide to the region’s markets, and it’s well worth keeping it on the table in your mobile home or under the awning of your tent. Sarlat on Saturdays, in a historic town built of pale stone that’s well worth a visit in its own right. Périgueux on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with its market halls and, in winter, the truffle market. Brantôme on Friday mornings, along the river, next to the Benedictine abbey and its troglodyte caves. Issigeac on Sundays, in a medieval village built in a spiral shape where it’s tricky to get around – and that’s just fine.

Our tip for campers: get there early. By eleven o’clock in August, there’s not much left on the strawberry stalls, and it’s already hot.

Crafts and arts and crafts: the campsite shop, then the workshop

The campsite shop has long been all about swimming rings and sun cream. Some campsites have added other items: pottery from Le Bugue, soaps made in the Bergerac region, wicker baskets, boxwood turned objects, and sometimes a few pieces by a local glassblower. Nothing spectacular, but it’s direct sales and a far better alternative to a key ring made on the other side of the world.

Above all, the Dordogne is a department where you can go and watch craftspeople at work. The cutlery workshop in Nontron, the oldest in France still in operation, is open to visitors: there you can watch the production of the pale boxwood handles and the branding with a hot iron, and the shop is right next door. The town is also home to a centre dedicated to the arts and crafts, within the Périgord-Limousin Regional Nature Park, where artists in residence work with wood, clay and glass. Elsewhere in the region, you’ll find potters, basket weavers, clog makers, upholsterers and bookbinders.

Many campsites keep an up-to-date list of workshops open to the public, complete with opening hours. This saves you having to travel forty kilometres only to find the doors closed on a Monday morning – something that’s happened to us more than once.

What’s on the menu at the campsite restaurant

Campsite snack bars used to have a bad reputation, sometimes for good reason. Things are changing. At quite a few campsites, the menu now lists the names of the suppliers: Périgord lamb, trout farmed on the Vézère, Périgord PDO walnuts in the salad and in the cake, Périgord PGI strawberries for dessert from June to September, and Sarladaise potatoes cooked in duck fat sourced from just fifteen kilometres away.

Some campsite restaurants work with just two or three farms and adapt the menu to what’s available: the vegetables of the day depend on the market gardener, the desserts are homemade, and the wine comes from a local estate rather than a central purchasing organisation. It’s less practical to manage, but you can really taste the difference. Ask where the duck breast comes from: if the owner answers without hesitation, that’s a good sign.

The ‘short supply chain’ also comes into play at breakfast. Many campsites have a bread delivery from the village baker, and some sell produce from a neighbouring farm at reception: eggs, honey, jams, apple juice and a few cheeses. It’s the little things, and that’s what you remember.

Visit the producers yourself

The best thing is to go there yourself. A morning of exploration fits easily in between breakfast and an afternoon swim.

The duck farms of the Périgord Noir open their doors in summer and explain the process of making foie gras, including the aspects that are the subject of debate. The Moulin de la Tour, in Sainte-Nathalène, still presses walnuts the traditional way using a stone millstone, and the smell of warm oil lingers in the car for two days. In Sorges, the truffle eco-museum tells the story of truffle farming in the Périgord, with demonstrations of truffle hunting in winter. As for the vineyards, the wine cellars of Bergerac and Monbazillac offer tastings just a quarter of an hour’s drive from several campsites. Add to that the craft breweries, saffron farms and snail farms, which offer guided tours by appointment.

Between swims: castles, caves and gardens

The local terroir doesn’t take up every day either, and other attractions are within a thirty-kilometre radius of most campsites. Indeed, this is the department’s main selling point for families: few places in France offer such a concentration of nature, history and decent restaurants within such a small area. The châteaux of Beynac, Castelnaud and Les Milandes look out over the valley from their cliffs. The caves of the Vézère Valley tell the story of Cro-Magnon man, with Lascaux, Font-de-Gaume and Rouffignac among the most visited sites. The gardens at Marqueyssac and Eyrignac are perfect for a family visit at the end of the day, when the light is fading and the box trees retain the warmth of the day. Saint-Amand-de-Coly Abbey, the fortified house at Reignac, the village of Saint-Léon-sur-Vézère, and that of Saint-Jean-de-Côle: these are one-hour stops, not full-on excursions. And on the way back to the campsite, there’s always a ‘farm shop’ sign somewhere.

One last practical tip, and this is important to us: take a cool box. Between the campsite, the river, the markets and the farms, you’ll end up with more things than you expected, and the August temperatures in the Dordogne won’t be kind to any goat’s cheese left on the boot floor of the car.