France - Dordogne - Area Description

A day out in Charente

Historically hospitable, the Charente has been home or host to farming Gauls, conquering Romans, exhausted pilgrims and valiant Knights Templar, warring nobles,
craftsmen and merchants.

Buffeted by Crusades, periods of secession from the French throne, the Religious Wars, the Revolution and a recent ‘invasion’ of English-speakers, the Charente charms with its soothing landscapes dotted with villages and towns where traditional life seems to carry on regardless.

Just one département away from the Atlantic, the climate here is clement and mild, balmy in summer, and the light has a seaside radiance. The locals are relaxed, down-to-earth and often show off that special Charentais sense of humour which consists in poking fun at themselves. They are stereotyped by allusion to their most famous Charente products – cognac and the Charentaise slipper.

For the Charente is, of course, the land of cognac. To learn more about the mysterious alchemy which produces the golden nectar and to experience the smells, tastes and visual impact of the vast stills
first hand, nothing can beat a tour of one of the cognac houses.
It is hard to visit a Charentais home without being offered a glass of their other speciality drink, Pineau, discovered by accident, so the story goes.

Whether travelling from the South Charente with its echoes (but fewer tourists) of next-door Dordogne, to the gently sloping vineyards and fine stone mansions of the wealthy cognac-producing West Charente, the Angoumois is within striking distance in the centre. The sleepy riverside villages of the flatter Ruffecois contrast with the hillier pine
and fir forests of the Haute-Charente on the borders of the Limousin, or the caves and rock formations in the Horte-et-Tardoire.

RIVER TARDOIRE

This pretty little brook starts about 10 kilometres from Champagnac-La-Riviere outside Chalus. It continues to wind its way through the Haute -Vienne before vanishing again underground in the Dordogne.

We have discovered some rather "fishy" stretches 25 mins away from us, just into the Dordogne near Montbron. Local clubs stock the river from Chalus downstream.

As this is a category 1 water, its is only open to anglers between 12th March and 30th September. We shall be exploring these recently found reaches next season. Watch this space!!!

Poitou-Charentes: Introduction

Slightly larger than Vermont, Poitou-Charentes covers a territory of 9,965 square miles and is home to 1.64 million people. It is the second most prominent region of France in terms of historic monuments and is renowned for its wealth of Romanesque art

Poitou’s Magnificent Architecture.

Church

Centered on Poitiers, the region’s capital, Poitou is a large plain whose meadows and fields are bisected by the Vienne River. Cattle and sheep breeding are the main resources of the large farms hidden in verdant copses. Parthenay, a picturesque city perched on a rocky spur, is proud of its 12th-century citadel surrounded by ramparts and accessible by a narrow 13th-century bridge. Located on the region’s western rim, Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe is a Romanesque abbey first erected in the 9th century and adorned with the finest and most complete series of murals painted in France. Retracing 31 scenes from the Bible, the beige and pink-toned paintings that decorate the nave are now on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Panorama Poitiers

Scoping the Future.

Perched on a promontory between two rivers, the city of Poitiers offers a rare number of buildings and a distinctive medieval section of town. Its Notre-Dame-la-Grande church typifies the Poitou Romanesque style of the 12th century and the recent restoration of its facade highlights its magnificent sculptures and windows. Other examples of religious architecture are found in the Sainte-Radegonde and Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand churches. Six miles north of Poitiers, the Futuroscope is the region’s star theme park. Specialized in imaging and numeric technology, this 173-acre “European Park of the Moving Image” offers 22 attractions, eight of which are new this year. It includes hotels, restaurants, shops and a magnificent park where visitors can rest between attractions. Outside of Poitiers is also the village of Bougon, where one of the oldest examples of funerary architecture in the world can be seen. The site includes five tumuli––circular or elongated burial grounds––whose construction dates back to 4700 BC, predating the Pyramids of Egypt by a full 2,000 years. A modern glass and steel museum built on the site of a Cistercian abbey retraces human, technological, geological and climatic evolution from the very beginning of man’s existence

Romanesque Villages and the Comic Strip Museum.

Church (detail)

If Poitou ranks high in terms of architectural heritage, its southern neighbor, Angoumois, is not far behind. There, the Charente River meanders through a valley dotted with Romanesque villages and sun-bathed hills covered with the vineyards that will produce cognac. In Angoulème, the main city, one can still walk around the fortifications that enclose the 12th-century Saint-Pierre Cathedral. On a more modern note, the city has been home to the National Comic Strip Museum since 1982. Apart from the pleasures of cognac tasting, a visit to the city where this beverage is made is a reward in itself. Cognac is a charming town whose air is redolent of its famous namesake: it is said that the equivalent of 12 million bottles is lost every year to the evaporation from the casks! If time is the cognac maker’s best friend, it seems also to have befriended the city, where people have adopted a slower and gentler pace. Nevertheless, cognac is big business here: 94% of the 8.6 million gallons production is exported, with the U.S. accounting for 40% of those sales.

A Replica of La Fayette’s Ship.

Between Cognac and the Atlantic is the old province of Saintonge that unfolds around the green valley of the Charente River. The town of Saintes has monuments from every period: a Roman arch and arena and the 11th-century Abbaye aux Dames (Ladies’ Abbey). Located on the Charente River a short distance from the coast, the town of Rochefort has a proud maritime past dating back to the 17th century. A historical reconstruction project has been under way in the town since 1997: using 18th-century techniques, shipwrights are building a replica of the Hermione, the frigate used by La Fayette to sail to America in 1780.

Marais Poitevin

Water-meadows and Coastal Resorts.

North of the Charente estuary, the old province of Aunis is the site of the Marais Poitevin, a 198,000-acre zone of marshland. Known as the “Green Venice”, it is formed by alluvial soil brought by the Sèvre River and its innumerable branches. A labyrinth of rivers and canals bordered by willows, ash trees, poplars and elders delineates fields where some of France’s best vegetables grow. Flat-bottomed boats are used to move between the whitewashed houses and to conduct guided tours of the area that includes a nature preserve. A drier area of the Marais makes good cattle-raising country. The region’s main seaport, La Rochelle, draws from its glorious past to offer a rich architectural heritage including a series of towers to safeguard the town’s entrance and its four harbors. The city also includes a museum of Protestantism and Neptunéa, a maritime museum and aquarium.

Two Islands as Vacationers’ Eden.

Ile de Re

The seashore remains a favorite destination for vacationers coming to Poitou-Charentes. Aside from the fortresses and citadels that are testaments to ancient coastal defense, the Côte de Beauté (Coast of Beauty) offers sandy coves (called conches) sheltered from the wind and bordered by fragrant pines.
Out to sea, two islands recently connected to the mainland by bridges are popular holiday resorts for visitors in search of sun, sea, fresh air… and the famous oysters. The larger one is Ile d’Oléron, just off the Charente estuary. It is the second largest island in France after Corsica. Its main town, Saint-Pierre-d’Oléron, is located at the center of the island, while Saint-Trojan-les-Bains is a seaside resort with Mediterranean-style vegetation thanks to its mild climate. The Ile de Ré, lying less than two miles off La Rochelle, has white sands that have given it the name of Ré la Blanche. Its main town, Saint-Martin-de-Ré, is a charming tourist center with a 15th-century church and the remains of fortifications built by Vauban, the 17th century military engineer. Ars-en-Ré and Les Portes-en-Ré are two small villages that are proud of their old houses.