Regularly hailed as ‘the prettiest village in France’, Collonges-la-Rouge (21 km SE of Brive-la-Gaillarde via the D38) is built of red sandstone and distinctly rouge. Its hotch-potch of jolly 15th-l 7thC houses, decorated with turrets and outbreaks of brilliant green vines, gathers around a 12thC church and timber-framed covered market on the main square.