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The Irish Indpendent has a good little article which in many ways sums up some of the attraction of "la France profonde".

There is a little French village I have grown fond of over the past few years. It's called Montaigu-de-Quercy and it lies at the very northern edge of the nebulous region they call the Languedoc. It's between Cahors and Agen, about an hour-and-a-half's drive west and slightly north of Toulouse. In other words, it's in the middle of nowhere.

It has 11 churches, but only two bars, an inversion of the usual Irish arrangement. It has a market on Saturday, a thriving rugby club and a host of activities listed every week in the Salle des Fêtes, the town hall.

The old men play boules in the square in the hot afternoons. There is the obligatory statue to the locals who fought in the Great War and who fell, 'Mort pour la Patrie'. There are old soldiers, still, who wear the tricolour sash at high Mass and holidays.

Montaigu-de-Quercy (82 Tarn-et-Garonne, Midi-Pyrenees) is in the middle of gentle countryside on the edge of the Cahors vineyard. There are quiet valleys to explore, plenty of small villages with similar attractions - quiet, peaceful and miles from any major town or autoroute.

See map
For more info see www.cdg82.fr
For details of other market days in the Tarn-et-Garonne see www.frenchduck.co.uk