Signature Trips

Seven days in the real Dordogne behind Martin Walker’s beloved Bruno novels, with Martin himself joining you for a day of market, history, and wine.

For readers of Martin Walker’s Bruno novels, the Dordogne is not fiction; it is the market at Le Bugue, the châteaux above the river, the quiet villages where his Chief of Police, Benoît Courrèges, keeps watch over St. Denis. This seven-night journey, offered twice in April 2027, moves through that real landscape, based entirely at Les Cordeliers, our 1870’s maison de maître in the heart of Sarlat’s medieval village.

The week travels through prehistory at Lascaux, a Saturday market beneath Sarlat’s stone arcades, a hands-on cooking class with Chef Ian Fisk, the gardens of Eyrignac Manor, and the châteaux of Milandes and Beynac. At its center, a single day hosted entirely by Martin Walker: an open-air market tour, the historical sites that shaped his books, a wine tasting at Julien de Savignac, and lunch with the author himself at his private home.

Seven days in southwestern France, built entirely around the kitchen and the cellar; four hands-on cooking classes, four guided wine tastings, and two mornings threading the stalls of the Sarlat market, all from a single boutique hotel base in the heart of Sarlat’s medieval town.

Some trips are about seeing the Dordogne. This one is about tasting it. The Périgord has been feeding people well for a very long time: this is the region that gave the world foie gras and the black truffle, whose walnut groves have carried a protected designation of origin since 2002, and whose vineyards around Bergerac have been quietly making wine since the Romans first planted vines along the Dordogne. Hosted jointly by Les Cordeliers and CookDordogne at Le Chèvrefeuille, this seven-day week is built to hand you all of it, fork and glass in hand, with two departures each summer: July 19–25 and August 23–29, 2027.

The week unfolds through four hands-on cooking classes led by Chef Ian Fisk, four guided wine tastings led by wine educator Stephen White alongside expert local wine merchants, and two mornings browsing the stalls of the Sarlat market, the same medieval streets that have hosted market day since the town’s earliest years, and where truffles, walnuts, and foie gras still change hands much as they always have. An afternoon at the Lascaux IV cave replica rounds out the week’s one non-culinary excursion. On Friday, the kitchen is entirely yours: design your own menu, prepare it at CookDordogne, and sit down to enjoy what you have made.

Every evening returns to Les Cordeliers, our boutique hotel in the heart of Sarlat, for an apéro before dinner at home or at one of Sarlat’s gastronomic tables.

Could France be your next home? Spend a week in the Dordogne getting a real sense of the area; the mechanical side of a move, from property to financing, and the human side, the language, culture, and daily rhythms that make a place feel like home. Hosted by Les Cordeliers & the Adrian Leeds Group.

The week is hosted by an American couple who asked themselves the same question not long ago, and in-country subject-matter experts, based entirely at a single boutique hotel in the heart of Sarlat. In January 2025, Susan Buchanan and Stephen White sold their inn and restaurant in the Green Mountains of Vermont and became the owners of Les Cordeliers, a boutique hotel in the heart of the Dordogne. Along the way, they navigated visas, banking, healthcare, real estate, insurance, driving, language, and culture: everything that comes with building a new life abroad.

Les Cordeliers welcomes guests from around the world, especially from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Drawing on the riches of the Dordogne, our own passions, and the professionals who have become our partners, we have crafted a collection of weeklong experiences, this French property-focused week among them.

Based at a single boutique hotel, the setting puts you in close proximity to people who are genuinely in the know, an exclusive opportunity if you are seriously considering a move of your own. Daily “Welcome to France” sessions on property, administration, and culture, led by the Adrian Leeds Group, are balanced by real property viewings and some of the Dordogne’s finest sightseeing, from Les Plus Beaux Villages de France to the medieval châteaux and sculpted gardens.

Eight days. One French valley. Writers’ workshops by morning, châteaux, bastide towns and hanging gardens by afternoon, all from a single boutique hotel base that cultivates a quiet, distraction-free environment for a small-group writing retreat in the Dordogne.

Once a year, a small group of writers gathers in Sarlat, France, for eight days that unfold at the pace of the Dordogne itself: unhurried, richly layered, and built around a single boutique hotel base, Les Cordeliers, our 1870’s maison de maître in the heart of the medieval old town.

Mornings mostly belong to the writing workshops. Afternoons move through the region that inspired it: the Saturday market beneath Sarlat’s stone arcades, the bastide town of Domme, the Hanging Gardens of Marqueyssac, Château de Beynac and the replica cave paintings of Lascaux IV. A craft talk from your workshop instructor and a full afternoon with a guest author round out the week’s writing side.

Every evening returns to Les Cordeliers, where wine and grazing boards precede dinners at Sarlat’s gastronomic tables.

Eight days. Nine gardens. One boutique hotel base in the heart of Sarlat. This luxury garden tour of the Dordogne Valley moves from the clifftop hanging gardens of Marqueyssac to the birds-of-prey demonstration at Château des Milandes. This is a French garden retreat built for travelers who want to see the region’s finest gardens without ever changing hotels.

Some regions are known for their history. Others are known for their beauty. The Périgord is known for both, and nowhere is that clearer than in its gardens. This eight-day journey is based entirely at Les Cordeliers, our boutique hotel in Sarlat’s medieval old town, and moves through nine of the region’s most celebrated gardens and estates.

The week begins at the Hanging Gardens of Marqueyssac, perched above the Dordogne Valley, before continuing to the bastide town of Domme. The days that follow bring the panoramic gardens of Limeuil, the water gardens of Carsac-Aillac, and Château des Milandes, home to the American entertainer and French resistance leader, Josephine Baker, and a birds-of-prey demonstration to match. Further north, the poetic Jardins de l’Imaginaire in Terrasson and the storied grounds of Château de Losse await, before the week closes with the permaculture-inspired Jardins de Cadiot and the sculpted garden rooms of Manoir d’Eyrignac.

Local guest speakers, a Saturday morning at the Sarlat market, and daily wine and grazing boards back at Les Cordeliers complete each day, with dinners at some of the region’s finest tables.

Eight days. Golden hour, market light, and château shadows: one boutique hotel base for photographers chasing the Dordogne the way its painters, and at least one very famous photographer, always have. This small-group photography workshop is built around the hours the region photographs best.

Twice each summer, a small group of photographers gathers in Sarlat for eight days built around a single boutique hotel base: Les Cordeliers, our 1870’s maison de maître in the heart of the medieval old town.

Mornings mostly belong to technique: composition, light, and the particular challenge of photographing stone and shadow in the Périgord Noir. Afternoons and evenings move through the region at exactly the hours photographers chase: the Saturday market under Sarlat’s stone arcades, a morning over the mist-hung boxwood of Marqueyssac, a golden-hour shoot beneath Château de Beynac, the panoramic light of Domme at dusk, and a full day with a visiting guest photographer for a final masterclass.

Along the way, a stop at La Gare Robert Doisneau, a former train station in Carlux now devoted to the photographs Robert Doisneau took canoeing the Dordogne in the summer of 1939, sets the week’s work against nearly a century of photographers who’ve chased this exact light before.

Every evening returns to Les Cordeliers, where wine and gourmet grazing boards precede dinners at Sarlat’s finest tables.