Diversions                    

What do you want to do?  

Walk?  Swim? Play Tennis?  Ride?  Fish?  Shop? (If you must)

The lake and restaurant  at Brossac.

Brossac lake is ten minutes away. Apart from the swimming, there is horse-riding, fishing, tennis, organised activities, a restaurant/brasserie and a lakeside bar.  St Martial - the next village, has lake fishing on Saturdays and Sundays.  In Aubeterre there is river swimming, canoeing, fishing, tennis, plenty of restaurants and a world-famous monolithic church. Parcoul has a lake with water slides and a nightclub. And the Atlantic coast is just over an hour away. Shopping? Try Bordeaux or Saintes. As for walking and hiking you simply have to step out of the front door to find yourself on a designated walk. And there are many more to be discovered on the noticeboard in the house.

Eating  in !    

This being France there is of course a wide range of restaurants in the area. They vary in price from the mildly exorbitant to the unbelievably cheap. At present of course, even with a slightly adverse euro/pound exchange rate,  eating out in France is still an incredible bargain - and the food isn't bad either.

One of the biggest bargains of a lunchtime  is to be had at Restaurant Poirier in Bardenac - less than €12.50 a head with wine during the week; a bit more on a Sunday. Both of these restaurants are examples of regional country cooking; not overly  sophisticated, but good and wholesome and with seasonal fresh produce. And in great quantity, if that’s what you fancy. Brossac has two restaurants, St Bernard and, by the lake,  Clapotis— under new management from May 99 - neither is expensive or pretentious, and, as in the rest of France, the set lunch is the better bargain.

In Chalais the Relais de Chateau is up a notch pricewise , but even here the set menus are excellent value, and it is a very lovely setting within the Chateau grounds. It’s good for a special occasion, with first rate cuisine and attentive and friendly service.

The Chateau at Chalais                      

Just by the church in Montmoreau is Le Plaisir D’Automne. This is a new entry and very good it is too. It's already crept into a number of gourmet guides. It doesn’t score high on atmosphere; it’s the French idea of sophistication - sterile tiles and muzak. But the food is exceptional, and again, very good value. There’s also a new pizza/steak restaurant in Montmoreau which we haven’t yet tried, but it offers basic steak and pizza fare and families with young children have found it very welcoming.

Another find this year has been the Hotel Bordeaux in Pons.

   Hotel Bordeaux

If you’re coming via St Malo it’s a great stop for lunch.  If you're on the overnight boat from Portsmouth, you can be there on the dot of 1 pm, and the food is just delightful. It’s also worth considering if you are out on a day trip to the Atlantic coast or Cognac.

Trips and excursions

The Charente is a region not particularly noted for table wines of quality. The grapes grown here are for Cognac and its sweeter relative Pineau. Nothing wrong in that.  

       Harvesting the grapes for Cognac                                

A trip to Cognac is but an hour away and a visit to a distillery is fascinating and informative, and there are also free samples to be had. You can choose which of the famous Cognac houses to visit , but Martell offer one of the best tours.  

        Free sample on a distillery tour                     

Angouleme too is a fascinating and elegant city with excellent restaurants and shopping.     

In the opposite direction and only forty minutes away is St Emilion, and here the wines are legendary. The town too is a delight, although in the height of the tourist season it can be oppressively overcrowded. We recommend going early in the morning and taking the walk around the outskirts of the town. Then have an early lunch and leave before the afternoon coaches arrive. The afternoon can be spent in the vineyards around the town maybe sampling the vintage and even buying the odd bottle. The wines will certainly be cheaper here than in the town.

    Saint Emilion  - an easy day trip.

Bordeaux is also a great option for a fascinating day out. It's  a delightful and sophisticated city with excellent museums, galleries and shopping. If you like cities, Saintes too is well worth a visit. It has a Roman past and the amphitheatre is only one of the many attractions. It's has a lovely riverside and the shopping is excellent. It's about fifty minutes away.

 Roman arch at  Saintes                                                             

 For local markets look no further than Chalais on a Monday morning. It is the largest in the region and the best unless you venture further afield to Riberac which holds its market on a Friday.  There are others to be sampled in Montmoreau and Villebois but they're small.

The Atlantic coast also beckons. Directly west from St Laurent are St George de Didonne and Royan.

The beach at St George de Didonne

                                            Talmont              

(Talmont is well worth a detour on the way.) Further south you will find the resort of Archachon and the Landes area.