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fast
track to the slow life
Direct flights to Bordeaux and Bergerac mean a few days are enough to
get a taste of rural France, historic towns, great family restaurants
and fabulous wines.
In
the flesh this part of France is much bigger than the dusty backwater
of most British imaginations. There's far too much here to try and cram
everything into one short break, but if you fly into Bordeaux or Bergerac,
in a few days you can experience the rural villages, buckets of history,
not to mention the food and wine, which alone is a reason to come. Even
at the busiest time of the year, August, the countryside is still serene.
life
Everywhere you venture there is the food and wine of a highly gastronomic
region, deservedly ranking among the best in France. Good seafood restaurants
can be found in most towns, and local specialities include the Marennes-Oléron
oysters, mussels from Ré and Oléron, Poitou-Charentes lamb,
Limousine beef, goat's cheeses, escargots (or "cagouilles" as
the Charantais people say), duck, fois gras and of course not forgetting
Pineau des Charentes and Cognac. Local wines are good, but just to the
south lies the Bordeaux wine-producing region of France with all the wine
one could wish for and beautiful, historic towns like St. Emilion.
The village of Brossac, 8km away, has two bakers, a mini supermarket,
a chemists, a news agent, a post office, a hair dresser, and a bank with
an automatic money distributing machine. A doctor and a nurse also practise
here.
Chalais (13 km) and Barbezieux (20 km) are touristic towns with a variety
of businesses: banks, supermarkets, markets, etc.
excursions :
Romanesque Churches of the Charente
Angoulême (ancient city and home of the comic strip museum and festival)
Aubeterre (classified village with monolithic church)
Bourdeilles,Brantôme (classified village with monolithic church)
Périgueux (pre-historic sites..)
Towards the
Atlantic :
Cognac (distillery visits), Jonzac, the beaches of Royan and St Palais,
Rochefort, zoo at la Palmyre, Saintes (Roman arenas)
Towards the South : Libourne, Saint- émilion (Grands crus tastings),
Bordeaux.
There are many other options for sightseeing and days out including zoos,
theme parks, watersports, river cruises, spas, nature reserves and aquariums
Driving
time from La Grand Font to local amenities and places of interest
15 minutes drive - Chalais is the closest
town with shops and a market on a Monday morning. It also has a chateaux
which houses perhaps the best restaurant in the locality.
10minutes – Brossac has a bank, two
bakers, excellent butchers, spar shop for essentials and a newsagents.
Close by is a swimming lake with a restaurant that often serves Moule.
In the village there is also a Romanesque church with an Italian restaurant
across from it.
15
minutes –
Bardenac, with a traditional regional family restaurant. Only open for
lunch. Excellent value, but expect to spend a good two hours eating and
relaxing. Poirier, Gaston Le Bourg, Bardenac 0545784463
It would be best to book in advance to ensure you get a table, although
if you arrive at midday she will normally find you a table.
20
minutes –
Auberterre, very attractive village with a unique underground church that
has been cut out of solid chalk. Good restaurants in the square and upmarket
Hotel and restaurant by the river at the foot of the village. Swimming
in the river and canoe hire is also just by the bridge.
45
minutes –
Angouleme, historic city, with plenty of shops and historical buildings.
Masses of restaurants of all types and standards available, many with
outside dining areas within the squares. Home to the national graphic
art and comic strip museum. Many buildings are festooned with cartoons
in giant proportions.
60 minutes –
Bordeaux. Home of the famous names in wine as well as designer shops,
historical buildings, art galleries, museums and hundreds of restaurants
to choose from. Excellent park and ride on the outskirts, travelling into
the centre by tram. http://www.bordeaux-tours.com/
- http://www.bordeaux-map.com/
- http://www.bordeaux.world-guides.com/
60
minutes
- St Emillion, for wine lovers. Its very difficult to recommend specific
châteaus, as its down to individual wine tastes. The best thing
to do is to go over the the Town of St Emillion. There are many vineyards
to visit and the local restaurants offer a variety of qualities, from
the inexpensive to the Michelin Stared restaurants.
You may like to visit their web site at http://www.saint-emilion-tourisme.com/uk/que-faire.html?idcat=7
60 minutes- Cognac , home of distillation,
tours available along with sampling at the major houses , including Hennessy,
Remy Martin and Otard. There is also a tour by boat along the river Charente.
90
minutes –
visit the coast, travel up the Gironde from Libourne to the historical
town of Blaye, with its seafood restaurants and the Citadel. A ferry can
take you and your car over to the vineyards of the finest and possibly
most expensive Bordeaux wines in France.
Alternative
tour takes you through Jonzac and West to the Gironde along the coastal
route with fantastic inexpensive seafood restaurants, finishing up at
the vibrant seaside resort of Royan with miles of sand.
1.5hours
– Arcachan
Bassin ( south of Bordeaux) with its oysters and moule and reputedly the
tallest sand dunes in Europe.
sporting activities:
Brossac : tennis, horse riding, quads, walks, fishing and swimming at
étang Vallier.
Guizengeard : safari park.
Aubeterre : canoe kayak
Pillac : golf ( 9 holes)
Cognac : golf championship course
Saintes: golf excellent course, though very hilly on the front nine
Many
trails for biking and walking.
several managed lakes for swimming
events :
Numerous events including :
Markets : Chalais (on Monday), Barbezieux (on Tuesday)
Night Markets at Brossac
Antique shops
European hot air ballooning championship at Mainfonds over the first weekend
of August
International horse jumping competition at Chalais (August 15th).
click on this link for
all local event.>
Distances
from La Grand Font
Bordeaux
airport & Bergerac airport are both a short drive away. It takes about
7 hours to drive from the Channel ports, and 45 minutes from Angouleme
railway station (with trains from Waterloo).
Angoulem
44k 45 minutes click
here for road maps from Angouleme
Bordeaux 98k 90 minutes - Bordeaux airport 100.8k 1hr 27 minutes
Bergerac airport 86.5k 1hr 43 minutes
Chalais 12.8k 14 minutes
Brossac 8.2k 10 minutes
Barbezieux 20.3k 23 minutes
Aubeterre 21.8 28 minutes
Riberac 38.3k 43 minutes
Periguex 74.9k 1hr 25 minutes
St Emilion 65.9k 1hr 11 minutes
Bergerac airport 86.5k 1hr 43 minutes
check
out the tolls and delays on the autoroutes with www.autoroutes.fr
Cheap
flightsWe are all looking for the best deal, but how many of us
have the time or the inclination to delve through site after site to compare
prices. Well now there is a neat website that does this for you. It compares
all the major airlines prices and displays them together for you to make
the decision. All in all a painless exercise that takes less than 60 seconds.
Bergerac
Airport Information and Timetables
Angouleme
Airport, closest to La Grand Font
Cheap flights to Bordeaux, France
Cheap
flights from Travelocity
AIR
LINKS
EasyJet
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Flight
Comparison
BAA
Flybe
British Airways
Ryanair
ebookers
Expedia
Air France
FERRY
LINKS
P&O
Stena Line
Brittany Ferries
Norfolk Line
Sea France
Eurotunnel
Airline
seating - skytrax recommends the best seats
Visit this interesting site to find out the best seats available on
all the airlines. They will even warn you off some without views, or those
that can't recline. Who do you fly with, check out their rating, see how
much leg room they give you.
On
Tgv.com, you can book your tgv train ticket and you can easily
find some week-end ideas and travel ideas for your next french holiday.
Rail Europe
Your European Rail Experts
specialising in selling tickets and passes for travel throughout Europe
by train.
Eurostar
Travel in style aboard the eurostar
City-To-City
Train Tickets & Reservations , make booking individual train tickets
and reservations simple
The man in
seat sixty one - A complete guide to train travel from London to Europe,
with train times, fares & how to buy tickets, taking your bike and many
more tips
InterRail ...
Explore Europe up to one month by train. Find all the InterRail information
you need for a low budget and adventure holiday. Ticket prices and information,
equipment, travel partners, city guides, places to sleep, experiences
of other travelers, an online ticket shop ...
Car
Hire Holiday Autos
Need Car Hire anywhere in the world? Then look no further than holidayautos,
owned and operaters of lastminute.com. It gives you access to more than
750,000 cars in 4,000 locations. Simple system at good prices
auto europe
- Alternative car hire -.
Car
Hire France - check all as each are different companies and most will
provide car hire service from most airports and rail stations
car
hire bordeaux
Angouleme
Bergerac
La Rochelle Airport
Poitiers
Limoge
Maps
try multimap if
you would like to find a location? Enter Postcode, Address or map reference
to find the exact map location . Also try this other excellent location
finder MapQuest
MICHELIN
GUIDE Routes can be drawn up in terms of quickest, the shortest and
even the most scenic roads
Need
to phone home?
Inexpensive phone cards to phone home from abroad. At www.1st-phonecards.co.uk
you can key in the countries you are visiting and it will quote you the
cheapest card. You can then buyyour calling credit and PIN online, and
you are giveen the dialing codes you need for accessing the service.
Security
Alerts
It
seems that people have shrugged of the fears relating to terrorism, or
have put it back into perspective. Nevertheless, it is still worthwhile
checking up with the goverment agencies prior to departing.The UK and
USA have their own government information agencies, both are exceedingly
helpful, but in the case of the American site, it seems exceedingly cautious,
possibly due to their fear of legal action against them. One has to be
realistic, and balance any information that is on offer. Often areas are
far safer than your own downtown area on a Saturday evening.
Visit
the UK Foreign &
Commonwealth Office site for the latest warnings regarding terrorism,
diseases, visa requirements and any other helpful and precautionary advice.
Travel Information and Warnings
Check here for the latest advise from the US
State Department regarding travel abroad as well as passport information.
It
may be appropriate to check out health cover whilst abroad- Check out
the UK
depatment of health site
daily weather
forecast for the area
poitou
- charentes tourist site - click onto the uk symbol for the english
translation
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