Guide to Poitou-Charentes

Poitou-Charentes
Region on the Atlantic coast of France, comprising the départements of
Charente (16)
Charente-Maritime (17)
Deux-Sèvres (79) and
Vienne (86)

Total population: 1.6 million
Principal city: Poitiers
Tourist board

An area with a beautiful coastline that finds deserved popularity with holidaymakers. Transition characterises the appearance of this region's interior, going from plain to hedged farmland to marsh. Half the national oyster production is concentrated on the coast and islands, which also attract tourists. More than 90% of Cognac produced in the region is exported. Niort, gateway to the marshes of the Poitevin, has become the top location for mutual insurance offices.

The two Charentes départements are the amalgamation of the former provinces of Aunis and Saintonge. They are well-known butter-producing areas, but are most famous for cognac, the liqueur des dieux. Saintes, capital of the Saintonge region, is a former Roman city that still possesses its triumphal arch and amphitheatre. Angoulême, perched on a hill in the centre of the département. Its annual comic book and vintage car festivals are known to enthusiasts throughout Europe.

Between the Vendée and the Limousin, Poitou is a quiet, rural area, but it has nevertheless seen action in its day: Charles Martel stopped the Arab invasion at Poitiers in 732, and the city was one of France's most important during the 16th century. The Charentes region has a beautiful coastline that finds deserved popularity with holidaymakers. In particular, the historic port of La Rochelle is constantly in motion, with vacanciers eating, drinking and strolling along the old harbour, beneath towers and ramparts.

Also of interest to visitors is the marshland of the Marais poitevin. Also known as la Venise verte (Green Venice), it is an outstanding nature reserve, today ideal for leisurely outings by punt.

Charente (16)

Population: 345,000
Principal city: Angoulême
Tourist board

Considering how much travel literature is given over to it, one could be forgiven for thinking Cognac the capital of Charente. The reputation and romance of its brandy often puts the rest of the Charente département in the shade. There are plenty of distillery visits and dégustations to be had in Cognac, but there is more to the town than brandy. The great Renaissance king François I, for instance, was born in its château in 1494, and there is wealth of Romanesque churches in the surrounding countryside.

The capital of Charente, Angoulême, is perched on a hill in the centre of the départment. Its annual comic book and vintage car festivals are known to enthusiasts throughout Europe.

The church at Aubeterre, on the southern edge of the département, is of particular interest; carved into the bedrock of the town, it is one of the oldest in France. It was used as an ossuary until the 18th century.

Other signs of the distant past are the amphitheatre des Bouchauds (capacity: 5 or 6,000 people) and the Gallo-Roman sanctuary of Chassenon, with its thermal springs. The sanctuary, and the houses of the area, are built with a conglomerate stone called breccia, or impactite, that resulted from a meteorite landing 200 million years ago. Some examples of the rocks in the area form at temperatures of 3,000 or 4,000°C: certainly some impact!

One of the most pleasurable ways of exploring this département has to be by boat; the placid Charente is navigable from Angoulême to the sea.

Charente-Maritime (17)

Population: 527,000
Principal city: La Rochelle
Tourist board

The principal towns of Charente-Maritime are all rather different from each other. The most southerly, Jonzac, is a brandy-distilling town and thermal spa. Saintes has a rich Roman heritage, particularly visible in the votive Arch of Germanicus and the arena. The abbaye aux Dames and the church of St-Eutrope are just two of the many elaborate ecclesiastical buildings in the town.

Royan, on the northern bank of the Gironde estuary, is a glitzy young resort with fabulous beaches backed up by miles of pine forest. Thirty kilometres north of Royan, Rochefort is an appealing 17th-century naval town. It was built to order, on a grid pattern which lends the streets a slightly sober air, but the central place is the ideal location to sip a beer and people-watch. The former rope factory beside the river houses a maritime museum.

In the summer La Rochelle, also a historic port, is constantly in motion, with vacanciers eating, drinking and strolling along the old harbour, beneath towers and ramparts. The port was strongly Protestant, and underwent a terrible siege at the hands of Cardinal Richelieu in the 17th century. Most of the defenders died, rather than surrender their faith.

The story adds a certain poignancy and mystique to the streets of La Rochelle, and whilst the town has a very palpable history, it is also a vibrantly modern place. Its annual rock festival, the new marina and aquarium, plus its support for green public transport policies clearly show that it is not stuck in the past.

Smaller charentais towns and villages also have their own wide-ranging characters. Visit the haunting, disused naval base at Brouage, or the oyster beds of Fouras or Marennes. Also well worth a visit are the beautiful, sun-drenched islands of Oléron and Ré, and the smaller Aix, where Napoléon was imprisoned before being exiled to St Helena.

Deux-Sèvres (79)

Population: 346,000
Principal city: Niort
Tourist board

Niort was once a medieval port; today it is a large town of light industry. Long ago, on the estuary of the Sèvre niortaise, lay the golfe des Pictons, a bay that was gradually filled in from the 10th century to become the Marais poitevin. To the north and south of the estuary is the fertile marais désséché; the marais mouillé lies upstream towards Niort. Also known as la Venise verte (Green Venice), it is an outstanding nature reserve, today ideal for leisurely outings by punt. As you glide along over the water on a green carpet of duckweed, you may see a kingfisher, swans, a water vole or two. Coulon is the ideal centre for exploring this watery labyrinth; it offers guided boat trips, an aquarium and some good restaurants, where you are likely to find the local speciality, eel, on the menu. Angelica is also quite common on the banks of the canals. And don't be put off by the burnt appearance of the tourteau fromagé, the speciality of Deux-Sèvres: this moist cake, made from cheese, eggs and sugar, is absolutely delicious.

Like much of western France, the département of Deux-Sèvres is well known for its Romanesque churches. They are all intricately carved and of a pale cream or even white colour, and are resplendent in the sunshine. Some further points of interest in the Deux-Sévres are the underground pigeon-loft in Tourtenay, the crypt at Champdeniers, the abbey of Airvault, the lanternes des morts (monuments to the dead), the neolithic tumulus at Bougon, and the many châteaux: east of Thouars, near the border between Anjou and Poitou, the 16th-century château d'Oiron is a particularly fine example of Renaissance architecture, and served as inspiration for Perrault, the author of Puss in Boots.

One of the old pilgrim roads passes through the département of Deux-Sèvres, from the abbey of Fontevraud (just outside Deux-Sèvres) to Thouars, along the valley of the Thouet and onwards to Parthenay and Melle. The medieval city of Parthenay has three kilometres of ramparts and 30 towers, fabled to have been constructed overnight by the fairy Mélusine (her works are seemingly omnipresent in this region). The town was said to be untakeable in the 13th century, and today it is home to France's second largest livestock market on Wednesday mornings. The steep, cobbled rue de la Vau-St-Jacques is a delight, with its corbelled medieval houses. Melle used to be the site of a Roman silver mine, and in the 9th century had the only mint in Aquitaine. It is today best known for its Romanesque churches, particularly that of St-Hilaire, which features an equestrian statue of the Emperor Constantine.

Pougne-Hérisson celebrates one of the strangest festivals to be held in France: that of the belly-button. A whole mythology has been created around a facetious declaration that the tiny village of Pougne-Hérisson was the centre of the world (in French, the belly-button of the world).

Vienne (86)

Population: 400,000
Principal city: Poitiers
Tourist board

Vienne occupies the very heart of Poitou, a large and important province of pre-Revolution France stretching from Limousin to the Atlantic. After the Revolution, Poitou was divided into Vienne, Deux-Sèvres and the Vendée. Although the region's coastline is very popular with holidaymakers, the hinterland has not traditionally been a major destination. This is changing, most notably due to the success of the theme park of the moving image, Futuroscope, which is almost a town in itself: it employs well in excess of 1,000 people, and attracts millions of visitors a year.

Poitiers is the epitome of a pleasant provincial town. It has a long and impressive history, and it has some fine architecture, most notably the cathedral and the église Notre-Dame-la-Grande. Once a Gallo-Roman and Frankish stronghold, Poitiers has grown into the thriving centre of Vienne's agricultural heartland. The city sits on high ground at the convluence of the rivers Clain and Boivre, commanding what is referred to as 'the gate of Poitou', a 70km gap between the Hauteurs de Gatine and the Massif Central. Such a strategic position comes at a price: three great battles have been fought here, between Clovis and the Visigoths (507), Charles Martel and the Moors (732), and the Black Prince and King Jean le Bon (1356).

Just about every town and village has a delightful Romanesque church, and driving or cycling tours through the countryside are especially pleasurable. Loudun, in the north of the département, is dominated by a tower almost 1,000 years old. The town's history is nothing if not intriguing: one true episode is chronicled in Ken Russell's film The Devils. Set in 1634, it tells the Gothic story of the priest Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed), accused by Cardinal Richelieu of being in league with the Devil: the witchhunt and torture that followed provide one of the most uncomfortable scenes in cinema history. Loudun's most celebrated son was Théophraste Renaudot, who published the first printed newspaper … and opened the first pawn shop in Paris!

South-west of Loudun is the village of Moncontour, whose striking castle was disputed in the 14th century by the English and the French, led by the Breton commander Bertrand du Guesclin. Also worth a visit are medieval Chauvigny, to the east of Poitiers, with five ruined castles; Angles-sur-l'Anglin (officially, one of the most beautiful villages in France and reputedly the home of the tribe that gave England its name); the spa town of La Roche-Posay, beneficial for skin and arthritic disorders; and Châtellerault, an atmospheric old town with an automobile museum.

Civray, south of Poitiers, is the most famous of a number of towns in the region that produce chabichou goat-cheese. Nearby Charroux is also worth a stop: the ruined Benedictine abbey here was once one of the largest in Europe, Charlemagne's patronage having assured its fame and fortune.