Two-week family holiday in southern France

What a quandary this presents. There are so many glorious places within easy reach I'm having trouble deciding, but here's what I'd do. Go to the Sawdays website , type in "Sarlat-la-Caneda" in the search box, go to "map view" and see what fits your needs and budget. Sarlat-la-Caneda is in the Dordogne region, a part of France that sighs, and you won't be alone, although June is well ahead of the hordes that will arrive when summer reaches its peak. 

Bordering Dordogne to the south is the department of the Lot, and despite its credentials – rugged good looks, warmth, vivacity, natural charm – this is a haven of Frenchness that remains unmolested by foreigners. 

The characteristic feature of this landscape is the causses, dry limestone plateaux almost bare except for stunted oaks and maples. Only the river Lot, charging down from the peaks of the Massif Central to the east, rescues it from extreme poverty. 

The Lot makes much of its rugged credentials. Many of the villages along the river offer canoe and kayak safaris along The Lot and The Cele, its tributary. The hills are laced with the Grandes Randonees, the national system of hiking trails. Horse riding and scenic cruises are popular, and the quiet back roads are tailor made for cycling. 

For your second week, you could stay somewhere in the Auvergne region. Tucked into the folds of the Massif Central west of Lyon, this is a country that sings, a quilt of peaks, valleys, wild rivers, medieval abbeys, chateaux and small and perfectly formed villages. The best way to see the Auvergne is slowly. The Regional Park of Auvergne is the largest in France, and the area is riddled with hiking trails, especially in the area around Vichy, just one of the Auvergne's many spas. The region's catalogue of splendours includes such teasing possibilities as 12th century Le Puy-en-Velay, the main starting point for the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail, the gorges of the Tuyere, The Chataigneraie, a vast area of chestnut forests dotted with tiny villages, and Troncais, the most wonderful oak forest in all of Europe. Look for places to stay on Sawdays or Airbnb.