Standing on its round, wooded hill, Mourjou is the little capital of the Châtaigneraie (chestnut groves) in the Cantal department. Châtaignier is the French for the sweet chestnut and this area loves them. Up until the 19th- century, sweet chestnuts were the local staple, ground up into flour or fed to the pigs to make flavoursome pork. These days, other crops thrive but Auvergnats still respect their chestnuts. Visit the Maison de la Châtaigne (Chestnut farm, orchards, sécadou drying room and museum). Celebrate Mourjou’s Chestnut Festival in mid-October and taste the chestnut in all its forms, from chestnut-flour bread ‘fouaces’ to chestnut jam, chestnut liqueur and even cured sausages made from chestnut-fattened pigs.