Conques, the abbey church and the Soulages windows

If you were to make only one trip out from the cottage, this would be it. Conques is listed among the Most Beautiful Villages of France, and its abbey church is a UNESCO World Heritage site as part of the routes to Santiago de Compostela.

The abbey church of Sainte-Foy

The 11th and 12th-century Romanesque building announces itself with its tympanum of the Last Judgement, one of the great pages of Romanesque sculpture: more than a hundred and twenty figures telling the sorting of the saved from the damned, with an eye for detail, and for dark humour, that still holds visitors today.

The treasury holds the Majesty of Sainte-Foy, a 10th-century reliquary statue of gold and precious stones, and one of the most extraordinary pieces of medieval goldsmithing surviving in Europe.

The Soulages windows

Between 1987 and 1994, Pierre Soulages, a son of the region, designed the hundred and four windows of the abbey church. No colour, no figures: a translucent glass of his own invention that diffuses light instead of colouring it. The result changes hour by hour and season by season. Come late in the day if you can.

Getting there

Allow about thirty kilometres from the cottage, on winding valley roads. The journey takes longer than the distance suggests.

The village is visited on foot and has to be earned: its lanes are steep and cobbled. Park in the car parks provided above the village rather than trying to get close to the centre.