Been wanting to do this castle boat tour for a while now. Very much enjoyed the experience. I only…read morewish it lasted longer! The tour is in French but your can get an audio guide for free in English. Headphones are 50 cents (unless you carry your own like I do.)

I really enjoyed my tour of Chateau de Puyguilhem two weeks ago. The grounds were beautiful and…read morethe chateau beautifully maintained. This chateau is a renaissance castle and has an interesting history. The chateau is much like the renaissance castles in the Loire valley. The Chateau de Puyguilhem is more "modern" than a medieval castle but still has considerable gothic influences. All of this was pointed out and explained by our tour guide. Our tour guide was excellent and was very well informed about the history of the castle and made our tour very special. She was perfectly bilingual and gave the tour in French and English. If you are touring the Perigord area this is definitely worth a stop.

The Puyguilhem Castle was built during the First Renaissance and is a fine example of a Francoise…read more1st castle. Puyguilhem was built for Mondot de La Marthonie. A lawyer and President of Paris Parliament, he helped Louise of Savoy, the king's mother, during the first Italian campaign when the king was kept far from court Chateau de Puyguilhem is located to the South East of Nontron and just 1 km from Villars, in the Northern part of the Dordogne department. It is the setting of the castle that makes it so special, with the forests of the Northern Dordogne closing in on the back of the chateau and open meadow to the front it was this open view to the front that give the original, medieval, castle on the same site its defensive strength. Chateau de Puyguilhem was constructed in the 16th century and it is a fine example of a Renaissance castle. There are many features in this chateau that are typical features of a castle of this type grand fireplaces, an impressive spiral staircase and perilously steep slate-tiled roofs. The style has more in common with the castles of the Loire Valley (far to the north) than it does with the majority of the Dordogne castles, most of which avoided the 16th-17th century renovations characteristic of the castles of the Loire. Inside the castle you can see their impressive collection of armour, furniture and tapestries, while outside the grounds of Chateau de Puyguilhem have been attractively restored, and contain some smaller buildings of note, such as the pigeonnier. The entry fee is relatively small (a few euros) and information booklets are provided in a number of languages. There are guided tours available, however these are only in French (hence the booklets). The Chateau is well worth a visit and should be incorporated into a visit of the nearby Grotte de Villars, a prehistoric cave dwelling with original prehistoric cave paintings.