ST-LÉONARD-DE-NOBLAT, twenty minutes by train from Limoges or 35 minutes by bus, is a beautiful little market town of narrow streets and medieval houses with jutting eaves and corbelled turrets. There's a very lovely eleventh- and twelfth-century church, whose six-storey tower looks out over the rising hills and woods where the River Vienne threads its course down from the heights of the Massif Central. The interior is strong and simple, with barrel vaults on big, square piles, a high dome on an octagonal drum and domed transepts – the whole in grey granite. A couple of kilometres northwest of town on the banks of the Vienne, demonstrations of papermaking and printing are on offer at a recently restored fifteenth-century paper mill, the Moulin du Got (Wed, Thurs & Sat 2–6pm; €4).If you're in a car, St-Léonard can make a pleasant base for visiting Limoges. The tourist office on place du Champs-de-Mars (July & Aug Mon–Sat 9.30am–6pm, Sun 9.30am–12.30pm; Sept–June Mon–Sat 9.30am–12.30pm & 2–5pm; tel 05.55.56.25.06) publishes route maps for local walks and will point you to chambres d'hôte possibilities round about. A good place to stay is the Relais St-Jacques on the edge of the old town, 6 bd Pressemanne (tel 05.55.56.00.25, fax 05.55.56.19.87; €40–55; closed two weeks in Jan), and you can eat well just round the corner at Le Gay Lussac, rue de l'Égalité (tel 05.55.56.98.45; closed Sun eve & Mon), which offers well-priced, imaginative menus from €10.50 at lunch on weekdays and €16 in the evening. There's a municipal campsite (tel 05.55.56.02.79; closed mid-Sept to mid-June) beside the river a couple of kilometres out of town on the D39. Alternate spellings:: France, St-Léonard-de-Noblat, St-Léonard-de-Noblat, St-Leonard-de-Noblat
| 