Terme d'Astor

Le Terme d’Astor is a naturist site, in a rural situation at St Avit Riviere, between Belves and Cadouin. It is a long way up quite a narrow lane, with some passing place. This does make for some very quiet nights, with absolutely no road noise to be heard. The site is supposedly just one star, but would compare extremely well with many, if not most, of the four star non-naturist sites we’ve stayed on in the past!

The site is south of the Dordogne river, and within striking distance of all the major attractions such as Domme, Sarlat, Beynac, Castelnaud, and the river itself. The site organises several activities, including regular wine-tastings, and canoe expeditions.

The site is set around an old farm, with the golden stone buildings being used for the bar and restaurant, the reception area and the shop. A lovely Dutch couple run the site, and we had a very friendly welcome – and she remembered my emailing the site some weeks before. Pitches are set around the perimeter of a gently sloping paddock area, with other pitches within the paddock on individual levelled areas. This paddock is behind the farm buildings, and houses the children’s play area. All the pitches themselves are good levelled areas, well spaced, but with no hedges and little other separation. However, there are not many pitches, so you never feel too near your neighbour. Other pitches are set in the woodland, in a similar informal arrangement, and yet more pitches are to the side of and down below the swimming pool. There is another large paddock through a small wood, again sloping, and surrounded by high trees to give a great feeling of privacy – and pitches there are again on levelled areas around the edge of the paddock, beautifully set adjacent to the trees just off a circular access track, which gives a feeling of a vast amount of space around each one. The general feeling is that no one pitch was opposite another, not overlooked, and all had a view over the communal grassed areas.

There are several cabins in the woodland, each with an individual garden, and some very picturesque indeed. I think these are under private ownership, but also can be rented out from the site. Parking is generally off-pitch, especially in high-season, to protect the meadows, and also to encourage safety as it is a very child-friendly site. The site handy-man drove around the site two or three times each day, checking with caravanners and campers that there were no problems anywhere.

There are sanitary blocks in all areas, and we were in the far meadow. The sanitary block there was very modern, and open plan, around a pleasant planted area. It had plenty of toilets which were kept very clean indeed, modern showers with plenty of hooks, shelves, and soap dishes, there were basins in cubicles, and an open ‘naturist-style’ shower area. The floor tiles were all non-slip, and there were disabled facilities. Squeegees were provided to mop out the shower areas. There were facilities in a separate smaller block for washing up, washing clothes, a washing machine and dryer, hanging space, an iron and ironing board, and a freezer provided to freeze ice-blocks.

The bar area had a large terrace, with modern wooden tables and chairs, umbrellas for shade, and this overlooked the pool area. There is a ‘rustic’ bar area – and the toilet in there was a state of the art wetroom arrangement with a shower as well as toilet and washbasin. The restaurant was through the bar – open to the outside at one side. The restaurant menu was varied, not too expensive, and the Moules/Frites night we attended was absolutely fabulous with Moules and Frites arriving until you had more than had enough! Wine was reasonably priced, and the house wine was good quality.

The pool area was lovely – with a paved surround, but also a grassy area. Loungers were available, and there were also more formal tables and chairs. The pool temperature was warmish. There was a Jacuzzi area and a paddling pool.

The ‘landscaping’ of the site around the buildings is delightful – plenty of old walls, with statues and fountains, paved and cobbled areas, gravelled terraces, and flowers and shrubs everywhere. It really is a very picturesque site.

The shop sells a reasonable range of ‘essentials’ including fruit, vegetables and salads, and bread can be ordered for pick-up the following day. There is a good range of tourist information available, and a library of books. Clientele is mainly Dutch and French – but we found it to be one of the most friendly sites we have ever stayed on, with everyone chatting and acknowledging you. It really made for a wonderful stay.