The 'Cotswolds Of France' Is A Storybook Countryside Getaway Full Of Cozy Shops And Tasty Food

If you've visited Britain's Cotswolds, then you'll know it's renowned as a patchwork of bucolic countryside views punctuated by beautiful manor houses and some of the prettiest villages in England, with scores of pubs, restaurants, and quaint shops to peruse between hikes. But if you tilt this a little bit to the south — crossing the English Channel into Normandy — give it all a French accent, replace the pubs with wine shops and the quaint English tea shops with dusty brocante (vintage stores), what you have is Le Perche (The Perche): A very French answer to the classic English countryside getaway.

Just like in the Cotswolds, there's a cosmopolitan sensibility here, with charming restaurants, antique shops, and hotels in villages like Mortagne-au-Perche and Bellême, making the steady stream of Paris and London weekend vacationers feel nothing if not at home. Hotels vary between manor houses oozing history and classic style, and modernist conversions, ideal for weekend getaways. The restaurants are eclectic and traditional, with almost none of the tourist trap restaurants you might find in Paris.

You'll find The Perche on the map as Parc Naturel Régional du Perche, owing to its status as a national park. The region is a short 87-mile jaunt southwest of Paris, and the easiest train station to reach is Nogent-le-Rotrou, the capital of Le Perche. The journey from Paris' Gare Montparnasse by train takes 1 hour and 40 minutes, while the road route is a tad longer, at 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Le Perche is painted across a large area of land shared between Normandy and the Loire, with hills folding into oak forests, ideal for countryside walks. The main attraction, however, is arguably the series of charming villages filled with shops and restaurants, al fresco terraces, and atmospheric vintage stores. As the local capital, Nogent-le-Rotrou is a good place to begin exploring. History lovers will adore the collection of abbeys and churches, as well as the Saint-Jean Castle, with its striking mix of architectural styles, including a somewhat boxy-looking keep dating back to the 11th century and a more attractive 16th-century addition with storybook-style Renaissance curves. Inside, there's a local history museum, useful for learning more about the region's storied past.

For a taste of a more typical Le Perche village, Bellême should suffice, with its wonderful antique shops boasting everything from 20th-century fine art and vinyl to taxidermy. Hikers should consider making pretty Bellême their base, as it's a good starting point for multiple hikes in the region (like the circular Herse Pond trail) and it's a perfect base from which to explore the vast Bellême woodland. 

Nestled between rolling hills and whisper-quiet hiking trails cutting through old woodlands, you'd be forgiven for being more than a little surprised to accident upon the magnificent Chappelle de Montligeon, a vast Neo-Gothic cathedral with twin spires reaching far above the tree line of the nearby Réno-Valdieu forest. It is, for the most part, a pilgrimage and place of worship, and the little village that surrounds it has little more than a few stone houses, but it's worth the journey to see the wonderful stained-glass windows.

Bellême is arguably one of the best villages for a self-contained trip into The Perche. Stay in the chic townhouse home to family-run Hôtel de Suhard, and you'll have doorstep access to local hikes and the village's brilliant collection of dainty wine shops, restaurants like La Dinette Gourmande (serving unfussy traditional cuisine), and the renowned chocolates of Chocolaterie Bataille, just a few minutes away. A more rustic option for a night in the countryside, however, is D'une Ile, a beguiling property with rooms scattered across numerous outbuildings within a 20-acre forest and a bijou restaurant serving foraged vegetables from the national park.

French foodie delicacies are a legendary part of the world's culinary map, but so too is French bread. Mix the two, and you have Baguette du Perche, a relatively modern, sustainable take on France's iconic baguette. Baguette du Perche can only be made within the national park from local ingredients and is only available across select bakeries, like Aux Douceurs du Perche in Mortagne-au-Perche.

While wine is ubiquitous across France (France has the world's largest museum dedicated to wine, after all), a more local tipple to try is the Normandy cider. You can try it in many of Le Perche's wonderful restaurants and bars, but to learn a bit more about local cultivation techniques and to get into a beautifully verdant corner of the region, visit a cidery like Cidrerie du Perche and its 54 acres of apple orchards.