Gargilesse-Dampierre: Holiday apartments and holiday homes

Gargilesse-Dampierre has been one of the villages classified as “Plus Beaux Villages de France” since 1982. In the village, the houses stand close together; their steep roofs are covered with brown tiles.

Hiking

The Sentier des belvédères (“Promenade autour de mon village”) is a permanently marked hiking trail 5.8 km long, with a stated duration of 1 hour and 30 minutes. The Sentier des Gorges de la Gargilesse (“la Gargilesse secrète et sauvage”) is also permanently marked, 11.4 km long, and has a stated duration of 3 hours.

Culture

The Église Saint-Pierre de Dampierre preserves walls of the nave dating from the 12th century, a fine west portal and a choir dating from the 13th century, as well as a 15th-century chancel vault. The Romanesque church of Notre-Dame de Gargilesse has a remarkable series of sculpted capitals featuring fantastic animals and biblical scenes, a crypt decorated with frescoes, and a small Romanesque stained-glass window from the 12th century.

The Château de Gargilesse is a medieval fortress whose origins date back to the 10th century. Among other features, it retains extensive 12th-century fortifications with curtain walls and a monumental gate flanked by two cylindrical towers.

The Maison de George Sand, Villa Algira, is a museum dedicated to George Sand, displaying household and everyday objects, natural history collections, and drawings by her son Maurice. The Musée Serge Delaveau is dedicated to the painter Serge Delaveau (1911–1999) and displays around fifty works in an extension of his former studio. The works on display are changed every year for a new exhibition.

The Poteries de Dampierre have belonged to the Baudat family for generations. Because of a royal edict that has not been revoked, the family is permitted to extract ochre-coloured clay of high plasticity in Bazaiges, at a place called “La terre aux pots”; the clay resists fire and weathering.

Further local pages: Cluis, Baudres, La Châtre-Langlin, Villedieu-sur-Indre, Rosnay, Chaillac, Saint-Aigny, Bonneuil.

To the higher-level travel overview: Indre.