Most people who buy in the Dordogne buy in the Périgord Noir — the southern stretch that runs from Sarlat to Les Eyzies. Golden medieval villages. Cave paintings. Foie gras and walnut oil. It is, justifiably, one of the most famous landscapes in France.

It is also, increasingly, crowded. The villages are beautiful. The car parks are not.

The other Dordogne

The Périgord Vert sits above it — the northern quarter of the Dordogne department, running up toward the Limousin. It takes its name from its colour: an intense, rolling green of oak forest, river meadows and hedgerow country that looks, in high summer, like someone has turned the saturation up to maximum.

This is not a consolation prize. It is a different experience entirely — quieter, more personal, less marketed. The villages here don't appear on the tourist itineraries. The markets are for locals. The restaurants don't have English menus. The roads are empty.

Why property values are rising

For decades, the Périgord Vert was overlooked by international buyers precisely because it wasn't on the radar. That is changing — and changing in exactly the way that creates value for early movers.

Three things are driving demand. First, post-pandemic buyers increasingly want space, privacy and authenticity over resort amenities — and the Périgord Vert delivers all three in abundance. Second, the rise of remote working has expanded the pool of buyers who can genuinely spend extended periods in France. Third, as the Périgord Noir has become more expensive and more crowded, the natural move is north.

Properties in the Périgord Vert have seen consistent annual appreciation of 5–8% over the past five years. Character properties — stone manoirs, farmhouses, mills — are particularly sought after and particularly finite. They are not building new 18th-century buildings.

Getting there

One of the strongest arguments for the Périgord Vert is how easy it is to reach from the UK. Ryanair flies direct from London Stansted to Bergerac — fares from £35 return, flight time 1 hour 50 minutes. From Bergerac airport, the northern Périgord is an hour and ten minutes by car.

Limoges airport, to the north, is even closer — 45 minutes to many Périgord Vert properties, with regular services from Birmingham, Manchester and East Midlands. This makes the region genuinely accessible for a long weekend, not just a two-week holiday.

The Périgord Vert in practice

Lanouaille, the nearest market town to Manoir de Nanthiat, is 10 minutes away. Nontron — a proper town with everything you need — is 25 minutes. Périgueux, the departmental capital with excellent restaurants, a Roman amphitheatre and one of the best Saturday markets in France, is 45 minutes.

Brantôme — the Venice of the Périgord, built on an island in the River Dronne — is 35 minutes and worth every one of them. The abbey dates to Charlemagne. The restaurant at Le Moulin de l'Abbaye holds a Michelin star. The Saturday morning market is the kind of thing you plan your whole visit around.

For UK buyers specifically

The Périgord Vert has long had a significant British community — enough that French estate agents routinely list properties in English — but not so many that it has lost its authenticity. French is the language of daily life. The food is resolutely local. And the sense that you have found somewhere the guidebooks haven't fully discovered yet remains entirely intact.

That won't last forever. Which is, of course, the point.