Chef Boutonne our nearest town, (3km) with its fairytale château and ‘lavoirs’, (ancient washhouses) which bubble with ice cold spring water, has a bustling market with stalls of freshly caught fish and local produce. The regional speciality, ‘Pineau de Charente’ a wickedly delicious aperitif is served in pavement cafés in the town square. Fishing permits can be easily obtained for a day’s fishing at Chef Boutonne in the well-stocked Château Lake.

Lavoir at Melle

Without moving far from home at Melle you will discover no less than three magnificent Romanesque churches, which during the Summer months become venues for the prestigious Festival of Classical Music and the XIth century Abbey at Celles sur Belles hosts the Festival of Baroque Music in August. This whole area is peppered with exquisite little XIth & XIIth century churches, Medieval heritage, pre-historic remains and Roman settlements. If ever you feel the need to cool down, just dip your feet into the water of any of the beautiful stone ‘lavoirs’ often situated at river sources. It’s also an ideal area for gentle cycling, especially as there’s so little traffic on the roads, lots of interconnecting lanes through fields and woodland… lovely spots for picnics.

For swimmers there’s a wide choice of open air pools, manmade lakes with sandy beaches and river swimming all nearby. Alternatively, if you don’t feel like stirring out of the garden, you could stay at home and enjoy our children’s paddling pool (shallow but 3m diameter) or simply watch the migratory hoopoes or later on in the evening listen to the song of the nightingale. There’s a wealth of good local restaurants offering excellent value, or alternatively dine with us on freshly cooked local produce on a ‘table d’hôte’ basis.

Further afield, although mostly under an hour’s drive, there’s the sea at La Rochelle for swimming, body boarding, surfing or just relax and absorb the atmosphere in one of the many quayside cafés or restaurants. You can go boating through the leafy waterways of the Venise Vert or visit the renowned (rightly so, it’s absolutely amazing) Futuroscope at Poitiers or Cognac (for obvious reasons) or Saintes with its Roman amphitheatre.

Useful website links:

www.futuroscope.com
The European theme park of the moving image.

www.geantsduciel.com
The medieval town of Chauvigny. Giants of the Sky (Les Geants de Ciel) is the title of the new show at the Château: vividly coloured parrots, eagles, vultures and marabous fly among the audience.

www.europcar.com
Good value car rental with online booking facilities.

www.ryanair.com
Low cost flights direct to Poitiers from Stanstead. Flight from as little as 1p!

www.xe.com/ucc
Accurate curreny converter tool.

www.concertclassic.com

www.birdtours.co.uk