Читать книгу Walking in the Dordogne. 35 walking routes in the Dordogne - Sarlat, Bergerac, Lalinde and Souillac онлайн

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A variety of cereal crops are cultivated, and around Sarlat you will still come across a few fields of tobacco and the long wooden barns where the leaves were hung to dry. This was once the largest tobacco producing area in France, although very little has been grown since 2013 when farmers stopped receiving subsidies for growing it. And of course there are the famous vineyards around Bergerac, where the countryside is flatter and the gentle slopes are covered in vineyards as far as the eye can see.

In addition to the variety of trees and crops, the region hosts an abundance of flowers. In springtime you will find primroses, violets, periwinkles and wood anemones, as well as early flowering bulbs such as snowdrops, wild daffodils, small yellow tulips and white Star of Bethlehem. Later in summer the woods are full of tall white asphodel lilies, and the open fields carpeted with ox-eye daisies, purple sage and aquilegias. The banks of rivers and streams are bright with yellow irises and marsh marigolds, with delicate fritillaries, water avens and a variety of tall rushes. On the rocky cliffs above the river bloom creeping plants such as saxifrage and stonecrop, and in the limestone areas of the warmer south you will find lavender, thyme and rosemary. The flowers continue into autumn, when you will frequently come across carpets of tiny pink cyclamen in the woods, and autumn squill in open areas.