Perouges

Perouges made linen until machine weaving killed the trade in the nineteenth century, after which the village emptied: from around fifteen hundred people it fell to under a hundred, houses collapsed, and in 1911 the council proposed demolishing what was left. A committee of local figures stopped it and began buying and restoring houses instead, which is why the village survives with its ring wall, two gates and streets of round river cobbles laid in patterns. It has stood in for medieval France in many films. The local speciality is the galette de Perouges, a flat sugar-and-butter tart served hot in the square.

What you actually see

• The cobbled lanes - round river stones laid in patterns, hard underfoot.
• The ring wall and gates - the surviving fortified circuit.
• The Place du Tilleul - a square with a lime tree planted in 1792.
• The galette - a hot sugar tart served in the village restaurants.

When to go

April to October; the village is compact and busy on summer weekends with day visitors from Lyon. It is quiet on weekday mornings. Winter is largely closed.

Honest expectations

It is very small, walked in half an hour, and heavily restored rather than untouched. The cobbles are genuinely awkward for wheels and unsteady feet. Most premises are shops or restaurants.

Nearby

Lyon lies southwest; the Dombes ponds are north.