Mortagne au Perche

This is the largest town in the area and is the hub of all sorts of French cultural activity. There are numerous art galleries, restaurants, traditional French shops and lots of antiques. It is however small enough for everyone to know each other. There is a huge open and covered market every Saturday selling flowers, local produced cheese and the local delicacy, Boudin Noir (black pudding). The town is the capital of Boudin Noir and has an annual competition which takes over the whole town. Mortagne au Perche is only 2 hours from Paris and so is a week end retreat for Parisians, many of whom now reside in the Perche Nature Park and bring with them a variety of cultural and artistic skills which are on display. There is good quality bed and breakfast accommodation available from farmhouse to Chateau. A great area to explore: see the New York Times article at: http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/travel/tmagazine/03well.perche.t.html