La Mouy

La Mouy is a 5-star restored stone farmhouse in the heart of the Périgord Noir, Dordogne, a former walnut farm with a private heated pool, sleeping eight across four air-conditioned, en-suite king bedrooms. It stands among fields of wild orchids, walnut trees and soft green hills in the commune of Mauzens-et-Miremont, in the Vézère valley country, overlooking a quiet valley where the morning begins with coffee and a slow sunrise. Atout France has classified it at the top of its scale: a traditional French farmhouse given Scandinavian light and a pared-back, sophisticated simplicity.

Inside, the old stone and the original proportions remain, lifted by large windows that carry the sun from room to room across the day. The four bedrooms each have their own bathroom and their own air-conditioning; the 240 square metres hold the calm of a building restored with patience rather than haste. Materials are honest and the palette is quiet, the kind of interior that lets the valley outside do most of the talking.

Outdoors, a private heated pool and its terrace open to the rolling landscape below, with a pool house and summer kitchen for long lunches that drift into evening. The garden is fully fenced and the parking is generous and private. Dogs are as welcome as the children who run the lawn. Days here are unhurried: a swim before the heat, a walk among the walnut trees, a glass on the terrace as the light goes gold over the fields.

La Mouy sits a short drive from Les Eyzies-de-Tayac and Le Bugue, about 25 km from Sarlat-la-Canéda with its Saturday market and golden-stone streets. The Vézère prehistoric sites, Lascaux and the painted caves at Les Eyzies, are close by, as is the Dordogne river for canoeing and riverside villages. It is a base for the whole of the Périgord Noir: a place that is easy to settle into and slow to leave.