Dordogne in Sept -have a few practical questions

[Myneaux]

We have booked to stay in Sarlat in the Dordogne on 1st September for a week with DS who is 3. We are staying on a chalet in a medium sized campsite with swimming pool, playground etc - hopefully this will keep our very energetic DS entertained in between day trips.

So just a couple of questions for any Dordogne experts out there !

Food - I love eating out and trying local food but despite my best efforts DS has turned into a very picky eater...not even a fan of pizza or pasta (how did this happen?). Although I will be absolutely mortified to do so...is it possible to get kids food that is closer to fish fingers than foie gras?. We are self catering so intending to BBQ a fair bit...can we get sausages which are fairly similar to english ones ? - If all else fails he will just have to eat bread and frites all week !

How warm will it be the first week in Sept (have found average monthly temps but not really helpful)? and how predictable is the weather? I find it so difficult to pack anyway but wondering if we will need to take layers for on a night and waterproofs etc. We are flying rather than driving.

Also does anyone know of any cheaper local hire firms? A weeks car hire from Bergerac airport seems to be coming in at £170 which was a bit pricier than I was expecting.

Many thanks in advance

Hi there, we love the Dordogne and Sarlat is a wonderful place to wander around.

There are a number of restaurants with childrens menus in the square. Thankfully although DS is a fussy sod he does like pizza and pasta, but I do seem to remember they offered chicken nuggests and chips. We are going in a few weeks time so I will try to remember to look at the menus for you and post when I get back, or you could also try posting in the travellers forum on trip advisor. Not sure about the "britishness" of the sausages as DS won't touch them, we had a hard time two years ago when he took against all things french and we had to pretend that we had brought all the bananas in the plane with us from home.

Weather in the Dordogne can be very unpredictable, we went in June and had hailstones and rain, then scorching sun in July. It probably won't be too cold in September but I would definitely bring a waterproof and some jumpers ( which hopefully means you will have glorious sunshine)

Car hire is dear from Bergerac, not sure why it just is, its a small airport so there isn't a lot of choice which may be the problem. You might want to get a Collision damage waiver policy in advance as it is cheaper than getting it when you arrive. Tripadvisor warn against europcar as they have long queues

Many thanks for the info....and for looking at the menus for me. Anywhere that does chicken nuggets will be ideal !

I am sure we will manage somehow as we do plan to eat at the chalet a fair bit so I can always knock up a few meals for DS and then he can sit with us when we eat proper food and munch on the bread. He loves things like curry and chilli but you dont usually get too much of those things on french menus !

I do remember commenting (pre DS) that there was no way any child of mine would be a fussy eater. I really did have visions of him tucking into everything so not sure how we have ended up at this point.....am hoping his taste improves with age !

have a lovely time on your hols

Just back last night from the Vendee, cant say about eating out as we never did and self catered all the way! I didnt mind as we had our own cottage with decking with a gorgeous view beside a river.

Theres no need to be mortified, for a lot of people being on holiday is trying new food and experiences but for our kids I prefer to spend money on food they will actually eat!

I would think the local supermarkets will be similar to the ones in the Vendee e.g Intermarche, Super U and E.Leclerc and I found sausages similar to UK ones in them all - they were longer and thinner and called porc chipolatas but tasted lovely. You can buy fishfingers and other frozen foods if you have a cooker to cook them on. I was in the Dordogne a few years ago and certainly think the amount of these type of sauasges have increased since then. The supermarkets also do burgers - look out for fresh or frozen "steak haches". I also took ingredients with me that I use to make a lovely chicken satay marinade and then bought chicken, they were delicious on the BBQ!

As shesariver said chipolatas are the most similar to British sausages, but with more meat in them (good thing). There is a brand of good quality burgers called Charal available in all supermarkets or you can buy from the butcher.

Every now and then on French Tv there seems to be a documentary about how British the Dordogne has become, and stories of British shops, schools and everything else sprouting up all over the place. I assume it is partly exaggeration, but would guess that you will be able to find at least one place nearby that caters for the British expats. Will be more expensive than buying French food though.

You might find, however, that your fussy eater isn't as fussy as all that when you're on holiday, and might be open to trying new things. Even foie gras - DD loves it :)

Phew - DS loves chipolatas !...never thought that my biggest concern on a holiday would be how to get hold of fish fingers! But agree that I would rather pay for food he will eat than have us all get upset over the inevitable battle

I would love to think DS would be a bit more adventurous on holiday but he seems to be at that really picky stage. We went to Spain in May....DS favourite food is rice and chicken, great I thought...he will love Paella....all I got was 'my dont like that rice' and no amount of persuading would get even a morsel near his lips

I cant wait though.....I love french food. I think we will try and feed him a few times before we go out and then try and have a nice meal (sans fish fingers !) later on. As he managed to stay up til 11pm last time we were on holiday we should have plenty of time to do both !

Most butchers / supermarket meat counters do ready breaded turkey / veal escalopes as well - most children seem to like those, and they are quick to fry up while you're doing something a little more adventurous for yourselves.

The chipolatas aren't the small cocktail sausages that are called chipolatas in the UK - they are normal sausages. I was at a BBQ in my early days in France and the host came over to ask me how many chipolatas I wanted. I didn't look, just assumed they were the two inch sausages like in the UK and asked for 6. The host was a little and I didn't understand the weird expressions on people's faces until I was given six huge sausages on my plate.

You can get the big chipolatas from Sainsburys so I often get them for DS

tbh - he could probably eat six of them without coming up for air

Oh OK I haven't shopped in the UK for years so only remember them as being little things.

We've just come back from the Dordogne. It rained a fair bit - and could be cool in the evening, so pack a few jumpers/waterproofs. Pretty much every place we ate out had a childrens's menu which were all something like steak hache (burger), chicken nuggets, ham and chips, or pasta. My dd is very fussy too but we managed. The local Intermarche will definitely sell both chicken nuggets and fish fingers.

We loved it there - I have already started planning our return next year.

Sarlat is great for children. Last time we were there they had bands and entertainers in the main square in the evening so DS was more than happy to stay up late and watch them.

Know what you mean about having a fussy eater as a child. I'm a real foody and love to try new things it's very annoying that DS is such a creature of habit but don't let it stop you eating out. How about crepes do you think he might like those DS developed a flavour for them in France ( only with chocolate sauce on though) ?

We went to the Sarlat area in September and it was roasting- 35 ish for a fortnight. The gite owner told us the 2 weeks before it rained non-stop. I think like everywhere it is hit and miss. I know a fussy eater who survived for 3 weeks just eating ham or cheese baguettes. Every bar seemed to do them.

Thanks rookiemater and albertswearengen.

Am really looking forward to Sarlat...we are only 3 km away so intend going a few times in the evening (may even splash out on taxi's to allow for a few vino's too).

DS demonstrated his ability to stay up late this weekend at a festival when he didnt go to bed til 11pm (but annoyingly still manager to get up at 6 the next day0...so I am sure he will enjoy it too.

We will definitely eat out too....DS likes chips, bread and ham so even if we are desperate we will find something and we can always feed him something healthy before we go out and then let him share our food stuff him with biscuits so we can enjoy a meal later on.

Gosh - that kind of weather makes packing difficult...and Im rubbish at packing

Ok so we are back from Dordogne, had a lovely time although weather was hotter than expected.

I did my due dilligence round all the childrens menus for you. The standard offering for the childrens menus was ham/hamburger and chips or duck legs and chips so as your son likes ham then you may well be ok.

There are a couple of places in Sarlat with chicken nuggets on the menu - in one place however the childrens menu was 11 Euros which I think is a tad overpriced for that sort of thing. It is also possible in many places just to get a plate of chips for 3 or 4 euros.

This time we did canoeing, visited the Grottes de la Cave - good but Padyrriac is better, Beynac castle - eat at the top rather than at the bottom, Jardins de Marquessac (sp?) which is a nice day out for young children as they have play areas and a childrens maze - childrens menu there is ham and crisps but you might be able to sneak a picnic in.

There is no shortage of chicken nuggets or fish fingers in the supermarket. They do not however stock the "right" sort of yoghurt ( frubes) or innocent smoothies which caused a certain amount of consternation over the week.

Have a great time, if you have any other questions give me a shout.

thanks so much theoriginalandbestrookie...I trust you didnt eat your way round the childrens menus .....am happy for DS to live on chips and bread for a week so think we will be fine (might also be able to convince him that duck is chicken !).

I have been keeping an eye on the weather and it does look much hotter than expected but it is still 2 weeks to go so may get cooler for us.

Great tips for the caves, jardins etc - all are on the list

getting excited now !

I really enjoy looking at menus so this time I had a valid reason to linger at them

Have a great time.

Parc Jacquou http://www.jacquouparc.com/ here- not far from Le Bugue - is like a funfair place with a little water park with slides. That was dd's favourite day out - though the rides were a bit tame for me

The aquarium in Le Bugue is quite good too and there is mini golf next door and a reproduction village called Le Bornat which has people doing craft demonstrations etc. Definitely 2nd a visit to Les Jardins de Marqueyssac - the views from there are stunning. Castelnaud is also worth a vist. Domme is another nice town with great views. We were told that the Gouffre de Padirac was the cave to see, but we ran out of time. We went to Rouffignac, where you go down on a little train to see real cave paintings.

Um, the dinosaur parc at St Leon de Vezere was quite good fun. There is a Prehistoparc near there too, with models of cave men etc.

Thanks for the tips.....really wanted to go to the Parc Jacquou, it looks exactly like some of the theme parks I went to as a kid, but it closes the first weekend in September so we may miss out unless we go on the first day.

Definitely fancy Les Jardins de Marqueyssac and Domme, also planning a boat trip from La Roque Gageac to Castelnaud (DS currently pirate mad so will probably deafen other passengers with shouts of 'ooh aarh').

Do you think DS would enjoy the caves?....I wouldnt want to visit the Dordogne without seeing them but he is a bit of a wimpy 3 yo and is often quite scared of new experiences....might like the Rouffignac one if it involves a train tho.