Blog : Tourism news from our region

Did you know that our region has often attracted many directors to shoot part or all of a film in a natural setting? I can tell you that Cahors has been used as a location for films such as "Un amour de sorcière" by René Manzor, starring Jean Reno and Vanessa Paradis, and "Jeanne d'Arc" by Luc Besson, starring Milla Jovovich. Actress Juliette Binoche has once filmed in the Lot. It was for André Téchiné's film "Alice et Martin" (1998), with Mathieu Amalric and Roshdy Zem.

Closer to the Moulin du Boisset, in our little commune of Saint-Denis-Lès-Martel, scenes from a superb film were shot. In 2003, Jean Becker filmed parts of his "Effroyables jardins" around the station, with a dream cast including Jacques Villeret, André Dussolier, Thierry Lhermitte , Benoit Magimel, Isabelle Candelier, Suzanne Flon... Synopsis: Lucien, a fourteen-year-old teenager, doesn't understand why his father, a serious and respected teacher, makes a fool of himself in an amateur clown act. One day, André, his father's best friend, reveals the origin of this vocation...

Did you know that just 10 minutes from the Moulin du Boisset, you can board a time machine? At the old station in Martel, you can take the Train Touristique du Haut Quercy and take a fantastic trip back to the early 20th century, to the heroic days of steam rail travel.

The karstic landscapes that characterise our region have created places of unimaginable splendour. There's what's visible - the meandering rivers, the visible traces of water flowing over the cliffs and resurgences - but the most impressive thing is what you can't see: what's underground. Everywhere it is tortured by the erosion that over the millennia has forged galleries, caves and chasms. It's an immense Gruyère explored, in tiny parts, by courageous speleologists, who offer you a grandiose and unique spectacle in the places where they have been exploited.

Today, on an unseasonably warm and sunny February day, we decided to move a little further away from the Moulin. The Lot department is criss-crossed by 2 rivers, the Dordogne to the north, which we know well as it flows just 5 minutes from our house, and the Lot to the south, which we know much less about, flowing through the department's prefecture, Cahors. So we headed south to Bouziès, just over an hour's drive away, which would be the starting point for our walk. The road is winding, but passes through the superb Causse landscapes that characterise the karstic relief typical of our region, with exposed limestone rocks, groves of oak trees and low stone walls demarcating the plots.

We were passing through Saint-Céré, a pretty little town 25 minutes from the Moulin du Boisset, whose town centre, like many of the Lot's villages, is rich in heritage, and we decided to take a walk in a nearby forest. I can't remember how or where, but I'd learned that a special feature of the forest was that it was criss-crossed by a path strewn with works by local artists. So we headed for Latouille-Lantillac, 5 minutes from Saint-Céré, the starting point for this unusual 'exhibition'.

It's been -3°C for a few days now. The cold is dry and the sun is shining. Well wrapped up in our down jackets, hats and scarves, we're ready for our favourite hike. Near the Moulin du Boisset, the village of Autoire, one of the "Most Beautiful Villages of France", lies in the middle of a natural circle with the region's highest and most beautiful waterfall at its far end. As usual, we decided to set off from Autoire and head in its direction, taking the little path through the woods. Without their leaves, the oak trees give us an unobstructed view of the sun-drenched cliffs.