Travel / Tour de france: Host of holiday entertainments: Adrian Strain takes a crash course in stained glass, and we explore other possibilities for activity breaks

The view from Leo Amery's hilltop workshop, in a converted milking parlour at his vine-clad farmhouse above the Dordogne valley, is so stunning that it is hard to imagine how anyone could spend a holiday cooped up it learning how to make a stained-glass window.

Yet this summer, for the fourth year, will come an odd assortment of townies united only by an amateur fascination with stained glass and a taste for the best of French rustic life.

Five intensive days under Mr Amery will not qualify them to reglaze Chartres cathedral. But they may be sent away with a splash of window colour to impress friends in their bathrooms back home.

'Making stained glass is not a complicated art - you're just painting with sunlight, and no other art form does that,' says Mr Amery. He points out over rolling hills and down to grey stone riverside villages. 'In the evening light here, the colours just sing.'

From day one, students will be tracing a design, drawing in the colours, cutting glass, fitting the fragments together with lead and solder. Fast learners will also paint their own glass instead of cutting pre-coloured sheets.

By day five, each should have finished a two-square-foot window in a shape of his or her own choosing. The design, too, will be a matter of choice. Some opt for the literal, such as a local landscape; others for something more abtract. Mr Amery asks only that the end product be functional: 'What I really like is for people to come with the measurements for a window at home.'

'I'd always been fascinated by seeing light reflected through chandeliers and church windows,' said Victoria Durer of Bexhill, for whom the course proved an inspiration, and whose bathroom is now adorned with a work of stained-glass art, an abstract design in yellow, green, purple and blue, with a pair of red lips at its centre. 'But when you see the possibilities of different geometric designs, it gives you a fantastic new view of stained glass.'

Sitting with Mr Amery in his shady garden, over a long lunch of foie gras, luscious home-grown tomatoes and local red wine, one cannot but envy the man. He came to the Dordogne three years ago after several years as a successful stained- glass maker in London. He produces stained glass for anyone who can afford it, and his work is in demand for the hallways and bathrooms of smart London houses. He is passionate about his subject, and proud that none of his students has ever failed to finish a window.

'Four years ago I was working in a studio in Kilburn. It may have been more in the mainstream of the art world than here, but I would never swap it back for this,' he says.

Leo Amery is so well known in the nearby medieval village of Martel, that he must constantly pause to exchange greetings, so a walk around the busy market square takes an hour. But this is not some Peter Mayle fantasy land, and Martel's sleepy air is pervaded by the politics of the Nineties. Three hundred of its citizens rose up in protest when an extreme right-wing group, supporters of Jean-Marie Le Pen, came on a pilgrimage in 1992 to commemorate some ancient mythical battle between the the noble French and the nasty Moors. Martel would have none of it, riot police were called in to separate the racists from the enraged locals, and the village caught the imagination of political commentators in Paris.

Mr Amery is from a highly political background - he is the son of former Tory minister Julian Amery and grandson of Harold Macmillan - and he helped to organise the anti-fascist campaign, designing posters which mobilised one-fifth of Martel's population. When another march was planned, the village once again prepared for battle.

Leo's guests are given a warm welcome, even in midsummer when white-socked British tourists are thronging Martel's cobbled streets and alleyways.

At night in Mr Amery's house, hauntingly coloured glass displays guide the way to bed, up creaky stairs to two of the bedrooms, and up a stepladder to the third. It is when you see the stained-glass TV screen, portraying a matrix of different programmes, from Match of the Day to the weather forecast, that you realise how utterly dotty he is about his chosen art form.

To attend one of his courses, you need to be single-minded. Forget about outings to the river, exploration of the stunning cathedral-like caves at nearby Padirac, or time off in the spectacular cliffside village of Rocamadour. Don't even think about a visit to one of the ancient chateaux that guard the valley. Such delights aren't on the crammed agenda. Still, you can always take off for a few days' sightseeing when the course is over. Who knows, you might even find inspiration for a new bathroom window . . .

Leo Amery is running five-day courses, costing pounds 275, from 1-6 May, 3-8 July, 3-8 August and 4-9 September, plus a one-week course at pounds 340 from 17-24 July. Prices include dinner on the first night, breakfast, lunch and all materials. For more information contact Leo Amery Stained Glass, Bagadou Bas, 46600 Martel. Tel (010 33) 65 37 40 07.

FACTFILE

YOU CAN find the bigger activity holiday companies in two main brochures. The Traveller in France Reference Guide, published by the French tourist office, lists everything from agricultural and art tours to tennis, walking and wine holidays. Call the toll-line 0891 244123, or send pounds 1 in stamps to the French Government Tourist Office, 178 Piccadilly, London W1V 0AL. The Association of Independent Tour Operators' Directory of Real Holidays 1994 (from AITO, 133a St Margaret's Road, Twickenham, Middlesex TW1 1RG; 081-744 9280) also lists a wide variety of companies.

Before looking for a specialist, decide if you can put together your own holiday. Walking trips along the well-marked French long-distance footpaths - the GRs - can be organised independently with the help of a good map from a specialist such as Stanford's, in London. The advantage of an organised holiday is, for example, having your luggage taken from hotel to hotel every day so you don't have to carry it. The same principles apply to cycling holidays, for which you can take your own bike or rent one locally (many railway stations in France offer bike hire).

General activities: La France Des Activites, canal cruising to llama treks (0449 737678); Headwater Holidays, walking, cycling, etc (0606 48699); Inn Travel, as above, plus wine tours (0439 71111); LSG Theme Holidays, wide range of creative/educational activities (0509 231713); VFB Holidays, language learning to wine tours (0242 526338).

Cycling: Bike Tours (0225 480130); Rough Tracks (0249 817723); Susi Madron's Cycling for Softies (061-248 8282).

Horse riding: Inn Active (0439 71111), SVP France (0243 377862).

Language learning: Accents Languages and Leisure (0606 48699); En Famille Overseas (0903 883266); Euro Academy (081-686 2363).

Naturalist/gardening holidays: Fritillary Tours (0300 320684); Merit Travel (081-653 6514); Voyages Ilena (071-924 4440).

Painting holidays: Paint at Escat (010 33 61 97 59 63); Montmiral School (0786 72023).

Tennis: Hampton House (071-223 0601); Touralp (071-495 6877).

Walking: Belle France (0892 890885); Borderline (0963 250117); HF Holidays (081-905 9558); Quatre Saisons (0303 22135); Ramblers' Holidays (0707 331133); Waymark Holidays (0753 516477).

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