Sarlat is indeed lovely but just be warned parking is a nightmare! A canoe trip down the Dordogne is well worth doing - just need to check whether they will be operating in September.

Up near Bordeaux, Arcachon is quite nice (not as nice as the Islede Re up near La Rochelle though), with the huge sand dune (Dune du Pilat) interesting to see and walk on. Again up near Bordeaux, I would really recommend St Emillion (again parking is fun so get there early) and do walking tours of the underground church and a vineyard - both booked from tourist information. The only place that we have been where the pizza restaurant serves wine defined by chateau!

I have not braved Bordeaux since they opened the new wine centre - it looks interesting. But the traffic has tended to put us off a bit.

Are you up there when Circuit de Rempartes is on? Could you stretch the trip up to Angouleme? We're going again this year!

Nick