The Limousin is the very heart of France, la France profonde, owing to its central position and its enduring tradition of peasantry.

This deeply rural region is set between the Massif Central and the Atlantic coast, enjoying mild winters and long, hot summers. It's a country of rivers, lakes and forests, but this is not the country of swish spas or glittering casinos. Limousin's gentle country glistens with water everywhere, in rivers great and small or languid lakes such as the great man-made reservoir of Vassivière.

Here in Limousin you will find some of the most beautiful villages of France, such as Collonge-la-Rouge, Curemonte, Mortemart, St-Robert, Ségur-le-Château and Treignac. There is, too, a rich Romanesque heritage evident in splendid abbeys and churches. And many reminders of the past, such as the château at Châlus, where Richard Coeur de Lion was mortally wounded. For a long time a fiefdom of England, the region was annexed to the crown of France by Henri IV in 1607.

It has never been a very wealthy region, but the porcelain production in Limoges has certainly added a certain kudos.

During the First World War unsuccessful generals were sent to Limoges, giving rise to the verb limoger meaning to demote for incompetence. During the Second World War the Nazis murdered all inhabitants of the village of Oradour-sur-Glane whose charred ruins remain as a memorial to the crime.