French property - 160 offices in France | Call us on: 020 7428 4910 (UK) 01 70 61 27 15 (FR) |
French property - 160 offices in France | Call us on: 020 7428 4910 (UK) 01 70 61 27 15 (FR) |
Access However you cannot live on cheese alone so how do you get here? Well by train it is on the main line from Paris. An alternative would be to fly by Ryan Air to Poitiers and then hire a car. It lies 15 miles from Niort and 40 or so from La Rochelle half way between the Loire region and Bordeaux. This means you are entering a different weather system than that of northern France, without being in the scorching far south.
Activities  They like dancing in this town, everything from an evening of Samba to something called électro-dance-techno or how about an Irish folk band? They are also fond of folk dancing with various activities during the year. In summer a ‘beach' is created where activities such as volley ball take place. There are lots of other local activities such as pottery painting. For details of these and all the other goings on go to the Tourist Information office which can be found right in the town centre, at the end of the Avenue Gambetta, and just round the corner from the post office in a pedestrian area.La Sevre River runs through the town, but in this case through parkland .to the south of the town centre. There are language schools in the area for those who want to seriously enter into French culture.
Food and Drink Although the area is closely associated with wine, and of course Cognac another idea to follow up is that of the micro-breweries, known as brasseries, which many regional beers are produced. You can also go on an organized mushroom hunt in season - these are controlled so that the areas flora and fauna are protected and so that there will b e mushrooms in the future - and also of course so that you don't become a statistic by eating the wrong kind. There are of course many excellent French restaurants, but for the desperate the Auberge de l'Etoile D'Or in Villefagnan, as well as it's usual fare ( 10 euros for lunch) offers cod, chips and mushy peas on the first Friday of the month and is a good place to meet a few Brits. The locals however prefer snails, goats cheese, sea food and dishes in which Cognac is an ingredient.
Restaurants
Our advice is sort yourself out a helpful bi-lingual estate agent such as Sextant Properties. We know the area better than any Brit, can take on visits and even get documents translated free of charge as part of their service. Do make an appointment and do keep it. You won't regret it.
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St Maixent l'Ecole Property guide
This is one of those delightful bustling little old towns, with much of its architecture dating from the 15th to the early 19ht century, in this case with the added advantage that it is in the Deux-Sèvres department, part of Poitou-Charante. Although a town, it is in a beautiful rural setting and only a short way from the Atlantic coast. A fine abbey dominates the town's skyline.There is a thriving farmer's market which attracts both locals and tourists alike and the goat's cheese is among the best you can buy. 
Le Nagdalena, 24 imp Essarts, 79400 St Maixent l'Ecole, Tel no: 05 49 05 77 15, 14€
