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Sorges : |
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Welcome to Sorges in the Périgord (Dordogne),
a "green" holiday resort.
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| _____Sorges
is picturesque |
residential and agricultural village, which attracts many visitors. Sorges
is renowned for its black truffles, cepe and morel mushrooms, walnuts, geese and ducks. Cheese is produced locally.
A traditional local recipe is boiled chicken with Sorges sauce.
| _____Places
of interest and historic buildings |
The church : église Saint Germain XIII C. Castles : Château
de Jaillac, Château des Pautys, Le Pavillon. The castle ruins of Les Chabannes, megaliths, more than 50 dry
stone huts, a chasm. |
| _____Sorges,
the "green" holiday resort |
There are two hotels with a restaurant, a holiday village, self-catering
holiday accommodation, bed and breakfast. The village facilities include food shops, a chemist, a garage and workshop,
post office, Crédit Agricole bank, doctor's surgery.
In the summer there is a small market held on Sunday mornings in the town hall square.
 The open-air heated swimming pool is open from June 15th until September
15th (tel. (33) 05 53 05 39 28). Swimming lessons are available. There is a tennis court, a football pitch, a "boules"
ground and seven different way-marked footpaths (ranging from 3 to 18 km); a keep-fit course through the woods
called "CRAPA", mountain bike rentals and a small library.
There are more than 10 local clubs to make you welcome.
Sorges is the home of Jean Daniel, a painter and the author of a French/Occitan dictionary.
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| _____Sorges
and the Truffle |
Sorges' fame for truffle growing goes back a long way. The records of the
French Scientific Congress published in 1876 in Perigueux include a report about truffles written by Mr O. Pradier
for a special commission at the Dordogne Department of Agriculture (see excerpt below).
" The raised limestone plateau upon which Sorges and various other neighbouring villages are situated is all
part of the canton (district) of Savignac-les-Eglises and appears to be ideal land for truffles."
"This tuber has elected residence here since time immemorial, on this chalk plateau where vines flourish.
It generated considerable income even  before
clever cultivation methods had increased production. However the creation of truffle groves in Sorges arrived thanks
to the Baron of Malet, who learned how to cultivate truffles by accident. 40 years ago, the Baron of Malet
planted, all round his residence, with purely ornamental intent, a large number of trees of which a majority were
oak. Several years later, he began harvesting large quantities of truffles. This production was rightly explained
by the presence of oak trees."
"Sorges is on typical truffle-producing terrain. It is likewise ideal wine-growing land. Experts have
long-since recognised that the combination of vines and oak trees are conducive to truffle production. As the many
small plots of vines weaken, rows of oak trees are planted in them, about five or six meters apart. These rows
of trees are then thinned out, pruned, placed and managed so as only to give sufficient shade for the truffle.
As the tree grows and covers the ground with its shade and its roots, the vine stops producing grapes, but for
as long as it continues living, the vine is still pruned and tended to. This mixed culture is hoed every year,
although it may have become long since unproductive, with the sole aim of maintaining the ground loose, removing
parasite plants which weaken the others and stimulating the creation of new truffle sites and increasing the production
of existing ones."
"To resume, the commission has studied a large number of new and old truffle groves and most particularly
those belonging to : Messrs de Malet, Dupuy, Pradel, Chaminade, Laborie, Bayley, Chapeyrou etc. etc. The
majority of these owners have carried out considerable work for their truffle production. This work has been well
understood and properly done, in order to considerably stimulate truffle production." |
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Sorges