Changing Places

We profile a thriving village with doorstep access to both Niort’s city buzz and the protected landscapes of the Marais Poitevin.

Cities all seem to have an uncomfortable tendency to expand their territories, absorbing neighbouring villages and turning them into mere suburbs. While Magné has largely escaped such a fate it certainly hasn’t gone to sleep, having itself grown steadily over the years and added an impressive range of facilities and essential services to meet the daily needs of the local community. An object lesson in how to achieve near autonomy without selling your soul in the name of progress, it now boasts schools, a crêche, indoor and outdoor sport and leisure centres, a supermarket, commercial/light industrial zone and more besides.

It’s also a remarkably worthwhile place to visit, particularly the historic heart, centred around the 16th century Eglise Sainte-Catherine. Behind it, just a few steps away, are the old quaysides of the Sèvre Niortaise river, which meanders peacefully through the Marais Poitevin for almost 100km to the Atlantic at the Baie de l’Aiguillon. From Magné you can follow the Sentier de Découverte de Port en Porta (a 2km circuit walk among a group of tiny former ports) or walk or cycle on the river towpath to Coulon and beyond. En-route you’ll pass the Four Pontet (a 19th century pottery which now houses a cultural centre), a bateau à chaîne (a small, hand-powered chain ferry river crossing) and the Marais Pin barrage and lock – a reminder that the Sèvre Niortaise was once navigable between Niort and the Atlantic. The main centre of attention, though, is a skeletal ironwork lifting bridge constructed in 1901 to allow barges bound for the coastal ports and laden with salt, wine and pottery to pass unhindered. Some would then tie-up at the quayside to discharge live eels onto lines of carts waiting to take them to markets as far away as Limoges.

Today the river has lost its once important commercial traffic, but the local economies are benefiting increasingly from tourism, particularly the greener, sustainable variety. Magné is a convenient stop on the ‘Vélo Francette’, an epic 600km cycle route linking the ferry port of Caen Ouistreham with La Rochelle. In addition, a growing number of cyclists pass through Magné as they begin to explore the leafy lanes and car-free tracks of the Marais Poitevin. With its own waterways spanned by no fewer than five bridges, Magné offers a charming and accessible curtainraiser to its near neighbour, one of the rising stars of French tourism. www.ville-magne.fr

Distances/drive-times by road from Magné:

Niort Centre: Fontenay-le-Comte: 35km/36min

La Rochelle: 57km/1hr 11min

Bordeaux: 192km/2hr

Poitiers: 84km/1hr 05min

Nantes: 141km/1hr 32min

TER & TGV rail services: TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine services from Gare SNCF de Niort to La Rochelle, Poitiers, Saintes, Bordeaux, etc. TGV services from Angoulême to Paris, Bordeaux, Bayonne, etc.