Guidebook for La Vallée du Soleil

Evie
Guidebook for La Vallée du Soleil

Outdoor activity

Lac les Gours Is our local inland swimming and fishing lake. It is less than 10 mins away and during May, June, July, August & September there is a pop up restaurant serving steak frites. Four courses is around €15 including wine! It's not posh, it's typically French, rustic, simple honest food. The staff is very friendly and helpful.
Plan D'eau
Lac les Gours Is our local inland swimming and fishing lake. It is less than 10 mins away and during May, June, July, August & September there is a pop up restaurant serving steak frites. Four courses is around €15 including wine! It's not posh, it's typically French, rustic, simple honest food. The staff is very friendly and helpful.
Cep Enchanté was born in 2004 from a desire to create an original and fun event in the heart of the vineyards of the Cognac appellation. There you can discover the culture of the vine, the profession of the winegrower, the legendary Pineaux des Charentes, the inevitable Cognac and something not common in Charente, our range of wine made in Organic Agriculture. Your mission during this tour of about an hour, will be to answer a quizz game (adult and children levels) or to solve the many riddles of the game on a touch-sensitive tablet. You will learn on each stage of the tour. An olfactory and gustatory discovery of the products will end your visit... The second possible activity will be swing golf, equipped with a three-sided club for right and left handed players and a soft rubber ball, you will venture on a 9 holes course between vineyards and truffle oaks. Le Cep Enchanté is located in the family vineyard Le Plantis des Vallées, which has belonged to the Quéron family for 7 generations. The products of the Domaine can be discovered in the shop of Le Cep Enchanté. This is great fun! Not far and well worth a visit.
Le Cep Enchanté
4 Rue de la Croix de l'Anglais
Cep Enchanté was born in 2004 from a desire to create an original and fun event in the heart of the vineyards of the Cognac appellation. There you can discover the culture of the vine, the profession of the winegrower, the legendary Pineaux des Charentes, the inevitable Cognac and something not common in Charente, our range of wine made in Organic Agriculture. Your mission during this tour of about an hour, will be to answer a quizz game (adult and children levels) or to solve the many riddles of the game on a touch-sensitive tablet. You will learn on each stage of the tour. An olfactory and gustatory discovery of the products will end your visit... The second possible activity will be swing golf, equipped with a three-sided club for right and left handed players and a soft rubber ball, you will venture on a 9 holes course between vineyards and truffle oaks. Le Cep Enchanté is located in the family vineyard Le Plantis des Vallées, which has belonged to the Quéron family for 7 generations. The products of the Domaine can be discovered in the shop of Le Cep Enchanté. This is great fun! Not far and well worth a visit.

Food, Wine, Cognac...

Local dairy farm Five minutes away is our local dairy farm where you can go at milking time and buy fresh, raw milk, yogurts, butter including one with grains of sea salt. You can see the cows come out of the milking parlour into the barn and often watch the calves being fed buckets of milk. If you would like to do this we can loan you a glass bottle or two for the milk.
Seigné
Local dairy farm Five minutes away is our local dairy farm where you can go at milking time and buy fresh, raw milk, yogurts, butter including one with grains of sea salt. You can see the cows come out of the milking parlour into the barn and often watch the calves being fed buckets of milk. If you would like to do this we can loan you a glass bottle or two for the milk.
Rouillac monthly market - 27th of every month. 8am - 5pm If you are ever here on the 27th of any month you should definitely head to Rouillac. It will mean getting up relatively early for some as you ideally need to be there by 9am or even earlier! I have found that you get that really traditional hustle and bustle feel of the market in the morning, where as later on in the day it is much more relaxed and a lot of the animal sellers leave at lunchtime. Whether it falls on a weekday or weekend, come rain or shine, the whole town becomes a huge market place. This tradition goes back over two hundred years and is likely to have originally been a horse-trading market. Rouillac is situated both on the Voie Agrippa, an ancient east/west route across France linking Lyon with Saintes. People still come from miles around (it is BIG in the local calendar) and one of the main attractions now is the poultry, as well as everything else you would expect to find at a French market. Everything related to agriculture (poultry, livestock, horses, tools and machines, seeds and seeds, work clothes ...). Local products, fruits and vegetables, Pineau and Cognac, local wines, goat cheeses, honey, cold meats and other food products from elsewhere. You will also discover lots of handcrafted items, leather goods, jewellery, crafts…etc. Treat your eyes and your taste buds! I highly recommend you take a cool box as I can never resist buying some of the beautiful fresh produce. There are so many stands and lots of fresh fish stalls with some real bargains of what's in season. Rouillac is 25 mins away.
foire de rouillac
Place du Général Leclerc
Rouillac monthly market - 27th of every month. 8am - 5pm If you are ever here on the 27th of any month you should definitely head to Rouillac. It will mean getting up relatively early for some as you ideally need to be there by 9am or even earlier! I have found that you get that really traditional hustle and bustle feel of the market in the morning, where as later on in the day it is much more relaxed and a lot of the animal sellers leave at lunchtime. Whether it falls on a weekday or weekend, come rain or shine, the whole town becomes a huge market place. This tradition goes back over two hundred years and is likely to have originally been a horse-trading market. Rouillac is situated both on the Voie Agrippa, an ancient east/west route across France linking Lyon with Saintes. People still come from miles around (it is BIG in the local calendar) and one of the main attractions now is the poultry, as well as everything else you would expect to find at a French market. Everything related to agriculture (poultry, livestock, horses, tools and machines, seeds and seeds, work clothes ...). Local products, fruits and vegetables, Pineau and Cognac, local wines, goat cheeses, honey, cold meats and other food products from elsewhere. You will also discover lots of handcrafted items, leather goods, jewellery, crafts…etc. Treat your eyes and your taste buds! I highly recommend you take a cool box as I can never resist buying some of the beautiful fresh produce. There are so many stands and lots of fresh fish stalls with some real bargains of what's in season. Rouillac is 25 mins away.
Jules Gautret Our cellars are a shrine for the elaboration and ageing of cognac, pineau and Charentais local wines. Discover the secrets of our cellar masters, then savour all the richness of our products during a tasting experience. https://www.lescavesjulesgautret.com/
Cave du Liboreau
18 Rue de l'Océan
Jules Gautret Our cellars are a shrine for the elaboration and ageing of cognac, pineau and Charentais local wines. Discover the secrets of our cellar masters, then savour all the richness of our products during a tasting experience. https://www.lescavesjulesgautret.com/
Well worth a visit! Everything is exceptional... Staff are friendly and helpful and very knowledgeable about their products and foi gras. For foodies it's a must!
La Maison de Charente
8 Route de Ruffec
Well worth a visit! Everything is exceptional... Staff are friendly and helpful and very knowledgeable about their products and foi gras. For foodies it's a must!
Gâteaux
7 Rte de Souvigné
11 Ter Rue de la Cour, 17160 Les Touches-de-Périgny 0546585327 http://www.cognac-gacon.com/
Cognac F. Gacon
11 Ter Rue de la Cour
11 Ter Rue de la Cour, 17160 Les Touches-de-Périgny 0546585327 http://www.cognac-gacon.com/
28 Rue des Ponts, 16140 Aigre 0545215867 https://www.cognac-gautier.com/fr/
Cognac Gautier
28 Rue des Ponts
28 Rue des Ponts, 16140 Aigre 0545215867 https://www.cognac-gautier.com/fr/
7 Rue François Porche, 16100 Cognac 0545823210 http://visitemeukow.com/
Cognac Meukow
7 Rue François Porche
7 Rue François Porche, 16100 Cognac 0545823210 http://visitemeukow.com/

Neighbourhoods

Tusson is a small town with exceptional architectural heritage, there is a medieval garden to wander around and various lanes where you can wander amongst the very old buildings. In the square there is... Le Compostelle https://www.lecompostelle-tusson.fr/ This restaurant is a firm favourite of ours! In summer the restaurant is outside with a special summer kitchen set in the garden. It has lovely views and the ambience is lovely due to the acoustics because all the tables are set out on the grass. They serve a Burger de Canard "Maison de Charente" which if you like duck and burgers then I highly recommend you try it! It is served with a foie gras sauce and homemade fries. You can book a table very easily through their website in many languages. Gateaux https://www.facebook.com/pg/getgatgo/posts/?ref=notif Open every day except Tuesday this is well worth a visit to discover the most incredible selection of cakes, teas and coffees. It also sells flowers and plants and has a beautiful cafe with a quirky garden area to sit in and enjoy your treat. La Maison de Charente. http://lamaisondecharente.com/ Duck, duck and more duck in all the many different forms. A lovely shop where they make foie gras and many other things from duck. They also sell other local wines, chutneys and jams etc. It's a great place to buy a delicious duck breast for the bbq or some of their pre cooked duck for a picnic. They even sell homemade duck sausages. There is a lovely little pottery in the square too where you can view the potter at work through the window at the back of the shop. All in all, Tusson is a lovely place to spend a few hours and it's only 20 minutes away.
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Tusson
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Tusson is a small town with exceptional architectural heritage, there is a medieval garden to wander around and various lanes where you can wander amongst the very old buildings. In the square there is... Le Compostelle https://www.lecompostelle-tusson.fr/ This restaurant is a firm favourite of ours! In summer the restaurant is outside with a special summer kitchen set in the garden. It has lovely views and the ambience is lovely due to the acoustics because all the tables are set out on the grass. They serve a Burger de Canard "Maison de Charente" which if you like duck and burgers then I highly recommend you try it! It is served with a foie gras sauce and homemade fries. You can book a table very easily through their website in many languages. Gateaux https://www.facebook.com/pg/getgatgo/posts/?ref=notif Open every day except Tuesday this is well worth a visit to discover the most incredible selection of cakes, teas and coffees. It also sells flowers and plants and has a beautiful cafe with a quirky garden area to sit in and enjoy your treat. La Maison de Charente. http://lamaisondecharente.com/ Duck, duck and more duck in all the many different forms. A lovely shop where they make foie gras and many other things from duck. They also sell other local wines, chutneys and jams etc. It's a great place to buy a delicious duck breast for the bbq or some of their pre cooked duck for a picnic. They even sell homemade duck sausages. There is a lovely little pottery in the square too where you can view the potter at work through the window at the back of the shop. All in all, Tusson is a lovely place to spend a few hours and it's only 20 minutes away.

Something for everyone...

Verteuil-sur-Charente is only half an hour away and has a lot to do to make it worthwhile to visit during your stay. This old town, sitting on the banks of the River Charente and nestled beneath the 15th century Chateaux is incredibly beautiful. You can walk along the rue du Temple to discover the church of Saint-Médard, which contains an impressive 17th century decorated pottery scene depicting Christ being placed in the tomb and a carved wooden tabernacle. Or if you're feeling energetic, take the steps for picturesque views. The story is that the Rue du Temple was very muddy because animals were raised along it, so a steep flight of steps called the "Chemin des Dames" or "Ladies' Way" was built to allow the ladies to walk to the church without getting muddy feet. On the banks of the Charente, the old mill (moulin) has been converted into a café/restaurant and is famous for its brioche. There are other lovely restaurants in town including the Cafe Portebleue which is one of our favourites! It is also possible to kayak from Ruffec to Verteuil.
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Verteuil-sur-Charente
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Verteuil-sur-Charente is only half an hour away and has a lot to do to make it worthwhile to visit during your stay. This old town, sitting on the banks of the River Charente and nestled beneath the 15th century Chateaux is incredibly beautiful. You can walk along the rue du Temple to discover the church of Saint-Médard, which contains an impressive 17th century decorated pottery scene depicting Christ being placed in the tomb and a carved wooden tabernacle. Or if you're feeling energetic, take the steps for picturesque views. The story is that the Rue du Temple was very muddy because animals were raised along it, so a steep flight of steps called the "Chemin des Dames" or "Ladies' Way" was built to allow the ladies to walk to the church without getting muddy feet. On the banks of the Charente, the old mill (moulin) has been converted into a café/restaurant and is famous for its brioche. There are other lovely restaurants in town including the Cafe Portebleue which is one of our favourites! It is also possible to kayak from Ruffec to Verteuil.

Sightseeing

The church of Saint Pierre d'Aulnay de Saintonge; a Unesco World Heritage site and one of the finest Romanesque churches in western France is situated in a peaceful setting on the Compostela pilgrim route at the edge of the small town of Aulnay; just 15 minutes away. Wander amongst the large cypress trees in the old graveyard whilst you soak up the exterior of this stunning piece of architecture before heading inside to see the giant pillars with an extensive array of sculpture and decorative carving.
Eglise Saint Pierre d'Aulnay
Chemin de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle
The church of Saint Pierre d'Aulnay de Saintonge; a Unesco World Heritage site and one of the finest Romanesque churches in western France is situated in a peaceful setting on the Compostela pilgrim route at the edge of the small town of Aulnay; just 15 minutes away. Wander amongst the large cypress trees in the old graveyard whilst you soak up the exterior of this stunning piece of architecture before heading inside to see the giant pillars with an extensive array of sculpture and decorative carving.

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Local Markets

Saint-Jean-d'Angely: Wednesday and Saturday Aulnay: Sunday Matha: market Tuesday, Friday and Saturday Surgeres: market Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday Cognac: market Tuesday & Friday but has a very good indoor market every day Tues - Sat. Brioux-sur-Boutonne: market Thursday Chef-Boutonne: market Saturday Jarnac: market every day except Monday
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Brocantes and Vide-Greniers

For more info... https://brocabrac.fr/17/fontaine-chalendray/?d=2020-07-04,2020-08-31&p=2
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Local restaurants...

La table du chef Corvez 22 Route de Coucoussac, La Pinelle, 17160 Haimps Phone: 09 77 71 18 69 https://www.latableduchefcorvez.com/accueil Le Compostelle Address: 4 Grande Rue, 16140 Tusson Phone: 05 45 31 15 90 https://www.lecompostelle-tusson.fr/ Café Portebleue Address: 3 Rue du Baril, 16510 Verteuil-sur-Charente Phone: 05 45 30 22 06 http://www.cafeportebleue.com/ Le Cheval Blanc L'AUBERGE DU CHEVAL BLANC, La Gare, 16230 Luxé http://www.auberge-cheval-blanc.com/ Restaurant Plan D'eau Les Gours Address: Etang, 16140 Les Gours Phone: 06 37 90 90 97 facebook L'étang des Gours