Limoges

Limoges was the birthplace of Auguste Renoir, the fastest of all the impressionists, who always managed to paint ladies just as they were getting out of the bath. The run-down centre of Limoges was rebuilt in the nineteenth century because it had become a notorious locale for prostitution and chicken-eating contests. It's tragic how often those two vices seem to run together.

In the department of Haute-Vienne you will find the Château de Rochechouart, built around 1200 by Aymeric VI. While Aymeric was away (presumably massacring heathens,) his lovely wife Alix was accused of adultery by the castle's evil janitor. Poor Alix was thrown into the lion's cage (no, I didn't know they kept pet lions then either) but the lion, sensing her innocence and purity, rolled over and asked to have its tummy tickled. Alix' innocence thus proven, the janitor was thrown into the cage and the lion, sensing his duplicity and protein-value, ate him.

Meanwhile, in the neighbouring department of Corrèze, you'll find the Château de Bity. Despite its architectural and historical insignificance, the Château was granted Historic Monument status in April 1969. Coincidentally, it had been bought only a month previously by the then Secretary of State, Jacques Chirac.

 La Résidence - THE French Property People