Oh so ochre — Saint Jean de Côle

Saint Jean de Côle

With its ochre-colored, colombage houses and (award-winning) tiled roofs, Saint Jean de Côle in the northern Dordogne, certainly deserves its les plus beaux villages de France designation. Even on the rainy day of our recent visit, its charms are apparent. Nothing is open and no one seems to be around, so I can imagine Saint Jean de Côle to be the setting of a fairy tale or roman du moyen-âge.

The Côle river is running fast this morning and we spend some time admiring the view from le petit pont bossu on the edge of the village.

Bridge in Saint Jean de Côle

Dating from the 12th century, Château de la Marthonie, dominates the village. According to the town’s tourism website, one of the château’s most famous residents was Mondot de la Marthonie, “first president of the Cour de Parliament de Bordeaux and then of Paris. He was also the queen mother’s councellor when the king went to Italy.” Château de la Marthonie can be visited during the summer.

The 15th-century part of Château de la Marthonie in Saint Jean de Côle
is on the right; the wing built in the 17th century with its series of arches
is to the left.

Église Saint Jean-Baptise was built in 1083 in an unusual semi-circle. Its dome was damaged in the Hundred Years War, was rebuilt twice, collapsed twice, and finally built again using modern construction techniques.

Église Saint Jean-Baptise and covered market in Saint Jean de Côle

Outside the church, the exposed beams in the ceiling of the covered market catch my eye.

If I happen to find myself in area the weekend of May 9-10, 2015, I’ll be among the expected 10,000 visitors for Saint Jean de Côle’s annual flower fair. I’m marking my calendar — are you?

Un joli passage in Saint Jean de Côle