Every design for Brive-La-Gaillarde

Where does the Corrèze finally slow down? At Brive-la-Gaillarde. By the time the river reaches the town it has dropped all the way from the Millevaches plateau into a broad basin between the Massif Central and the Aquitaine Basin, and just past Brive it joins the Vézère. The basin's mix of sandstone, limestone, granite and schist gives the surrounding farmland its variety.

Brive's distinctive trait is its spirit. The 'Gaillarde' added to its name in 1919 speaks of bravery or strength, and the town earned it: during the Second World War it was a regional capital of the Resistance, and on 15 August 1944 it became the first town in occupied France to free itself by its own means. Inside the boulevards that replaced its medieval walls, the old centre is full of shops and cafés, with the Musée Labenche at its heart. Outside it, the Pont Cardinal once carried travellers on the road from Paris to Toulouse, and Georges Brassens gave the town a place in a song.

If Brive is your town, you know the feeling of crossing back over the Corrèze. Take it with you.