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FOURQUE

For visitors to Southwest France who are eager to explore the historic and recreational opportunities of the Dordogne Valley, and to do so from a charming Périgordian home with a host of modern comforts, JUST FRANCE is pleased to propose Fourque, a four-bedroom house with stone walls and red shutters near the little town of near Siorac-en-Périgord. The property occupies a peaceful and verdant two-hectare (five-acre) terrain with 220 m (240 yards) fronting directly on the Dordogne River, which flows serenely through this rich agricultural region until emptying into the Garonne near Bordeaux.

Fourque is a drive of less than 25 minutes from Sarlat-la-Canéda, a picturesque and painstakingly maintained medieval town with art galleries, a variety of restaurants and many stores featuring the products for which the region is famed, chief among them foie gras and the sturdy red wines of nearby Cahors. Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, famous for its prehistoric caves and several fine restaurants, including Le Centennaire with two Michelin stars, is a similar distance to the north. Hiking opportunities abound in the region.

The two-story stone house dates to 1648, and at some point in its history was occupied by a family that operated a bac, or ferry service, across the Dordogne. (The box that housed the cable used to pull the ferry still exists on the riverbank.) The structure is typical of older houses in the Dordogne, and in the main room visitors can still see the meurtières, small windows where the ferry operators took payment and oversaw the coming and going of the bac on the river below.

Upon being acquired by its new owners in 2000 the house was stripped to bare walls and entirely restored with all new flooring, woodwork and mechanical systems. The result is a house of great charm where exposed stone walls, beamed ceilings and solid hardwood finishes combine to create a comfortable home with a countryside ambiance and 21st-century comforts.

Fourque is reached by a small country road that winds through fields and woods to a small hamlet of houses on the riverbank. Around the house and its stone barn are woods, groves of walnut trees, grassy slopes and a small formal garden. For outside dining there is a stone terrace with a good-sized table and built-in barbecue. Near the pool, on the grass under a weeping willow tree, is another table where four can have lunch with a view of the river below. The natural greenery of Fourque - the soft grass, shade trees, bosky woods and the lushness of the foliage - provide the ideal setting for a country home in the Périgordian style.

The principal space on the ground floor is a large and handsomely furnished living-dining room with exposed stone walls and, along the north side, wide windows that look out onto the river. At one end of the room is a huge stone fireplace with a sitting area, and at the other, nearest the kitchen, an attractive farm table with eight ladder-back chairs. A door concealed in wood paneling opens to a guest lavatory.

Beyond the main room is a cozy sitting room with two sofas arranged before a cabinet that houses a television and VCR, and a stereo system. One of the sofas may be converted into a 140 cm (55" across) double bed. Throughout the common rooms are beautifully finished hardwood floors with area rugs, their rich tones enhanced by little spotlights discreetly mounted on the ceiling beams.

The well-equipped kitchen, brilliantly illuminated and finished with antiqued cabinets and Burgundian stone counters, is fitted with top-quality appliances, among them a six-burner semi-professional gas stove with two ovens. The stove, like the two-door refrigerator with icemaker, is of stainless steel. There is a microwave oven as well. The dishwasher is concealed behind a cabinet door. Cooks will appreciate the generous counter space, which includes a built-in cutting board, the many cabinets and the variety of cookware and utensils. For informal meals there is a pretty breakfast alcove with windows overlooking the Dordogne. From the alcove French doors open to a little outside terrace with a table for four.

The final room on the ground floor is a guest bedroom, charmingly furnished and decorated in soft rose colors, that opens off the entry hall and has a view of the courtyard. This room, which has a queen-sized bed and an ensuite bath with an oversized tile shower and WC, is ideal for guests who prefer not to climb stairs.

A staircase of polished walnut leads to the upper level, where there are a sunny reading area with a sofa and bookshelves, two more cheerfully decorated guest bedrooms and the master bedroom suite. One guest bedroom, which looks onto the courtyard, has a single bed with a trundle bed below that may be used as another single, or combined to form a king-sized bed. The other guest bedroom has a 140 cm (55" across) double bed and a view of the Dordogne. These bedrooms share a bathroom with a shower, and a separate WC that are both accessible from the hallway. As in all the bedrooms at Fourque, there are bedside tables with good reading lamps, ample closet space or armoires, and top-quality bedding with firm mattresses.

At the end of the upstairs corridor is the luxuriously appointed master bedroom suite. The suite is entered through a large and sumptuously appointed bathroom with a dressing area of closets and drawers finished in teak. There are an oversized Jacuzzi bathtub, independent WC, and an exceptionally wide stone stall shower with twin showerheads.

The bedroom, which has a queen-sized bed, is a luminous and attractively furnished room with beamed ceilings, exposed stone walls and wall-to-wall sisal carpet. As it occupies virtually one entire side of the upper floor, guests in the master suite have complete privacy and enjoy north-south views over the courtyard and river.

The irregular-shaped chlorine-free swimming pool, approximately 11 m (36') long and 5 m (16.5') from one side to the opposite overflowing edge, is in a beautiful setting atop a grassy knoll about 25 meters (a meter is about a yard) from the house. The chlorine-free pool, which can be heated at additional cost, has a stone deck on one side and is surrounded by soft grass. From the knoll there are views over the river at the bottom of the hillside to the surrounding countryside.

Other amenities at Fourque include a basement laundry room with an American-style washing machine and separate tumble dryer, window screens on the ground-floor windows, telephone outlets in all bedrooms, and a security system. Two portable cribs are available. The new central heating system makes the house comfortable in all seasons.

Fourque is well located for both commerce and sightseeing in the verdant Dordogne Valley. The little community of Siorac-en-Périgord, a five-minute drive from the property, has a variety of stores as well as an excellent supermarket, post office and a restaurant well known in the region, Fourque à Quatre Feuilles. Saint-Cyprien (8 km) hosts a colorful open-air market every Sunday morning. Most of the great medieval towns that lie along the Dordogne River or in the immediate area, among them Trémolat, Belvès, Biron, Monpazier and Les Milandes, have restored châteaux that are open to the public.

NOTE: A single-track commuter rail line that connects towns along the Dordogne River lies about 80 meters (a little over 85 yards) from Fourque. Five electric-powered trains pass daily, the earliest around 7:30 AM, and the latest around 9 PM. The noise caused by the passing trains lasts only a few seconds and causes no appreciable disturbance at the house. The rail line is in a sunken roadbed and does not pose a hazard to children.