News from around Les Charentes

Blue Flag Beaches

12 Charente-Maritime beaches have achieved the coveted Blue Flag status this year. To receive the label, several criteria are judged including water quality, beach cleanliness and maintenance, and the use of renewable energy locally. The winners are:

La Rochelle: Chef de Baie, La Concurrence, Les Minimes

Royan: La Plage du Chay

L’île de Ré: Gros-Jonc, Les Gollandières at Bois-Plage-en-Ré

L’île d’Oléron: Boyardville, La Gautrelle, La Plaisance, Les Sables Vignier at Saint-Georges-d’Oléron, La Grande Plage and Gatseau at Saint-Trojan-les-Bains

The marina at Saint-Denis-d’Oléron is also the only marina in Nouvelle-Aquitaine to have been approved for a Blue Flag.

Saint-Trojan-les-Bains, Ile d'Oléron

Une Violon sur la Ville

With large events prohibited, ‘Un Violon sur le Sable’ with its classical concerts on the beach ending with a fanfare of fireworks in front of up to 60,000 concert goers was, unsurprisingly, cancelled like so many other festivals. However, all is not lost, as ‘Violon sur la Ville’ will take place from 25-31 July. Smaller ticketed concerts will be spread around Royan with reservations only via the internet and conditions strictly controlled. The programme is still under development and will be revealed on www.violonsurlesable.com.

Visits in English

Outdoor activities are going to be popular this year as we all do our best to socially distance. With this in mind, the team at Val de Charente have put together a programme of guided visits in English to three local sites for local residents and visitors alike:

Gallo-Roman Villa d’Embourie

Gallo-Roman Villa d’Embourie (24 July & 7 August): Meet at the excavation site at 3pm to visit the dig and learn about the history of this site designated a Monument Historique. Price: 3.50€ (free for under-16s) – see www.villa-gallo-romaine-embourie.com.

L’église Notre-Dame de Courcôme (31 July): Meet in the Square at 3pm to discover the mysterious sculptures within this 11/12 th century church. Price: 3.50€ (free for under-16s).

Abbaye Notre-Dame de Nanteuil

Abbaye Notre-Dame de Nanteuil (15 August): Meet at 3.30pm at the entrance to the Abbey to explore the history of this ancient monument. Price: 4€ (free for under 12s).

>> To find out more about these visits, call 07 80 38 37 89.

DIARY DATES!

Cancer Support France has postponed its sponsored ‘Cycle for Life’ (see April’s edition) until 23-26 September. See Facebook ‘activityforlife’ for full details.

Nuit Archéo takes place overnight on Friday 7 August. Head to Cassinomagus (16) near Chasssenon (featured in our April edition) for an evening of outdoor events and fun for all the family from 7pm. See www.cassinomagus.fr

Set outside, Barrobjectif (16) is still scheduled to take place from 19-27 September with a focus on forgotten figures of the feminist resistance at the beginning of the 20th century.

Organic Soirees

La Ferme de Chassagne at Villefagnan (16) is continuing to hold organic open-air markets over the summer having put all necessary social distancing measures in place.

As well as a multitude of local bio producers (check their website for the full list and to order meats in advance), there will be live music and plenty of space to picnic.

The dates for this year’s Friday evening markets are: 3 and 17 July, 7 and 21 August, 4 September and 2 October.

Stalls set up late afternoon and the markets stretch into the evenings but, given circumstances, check the website at www. campingdechassagne.fr for full details beforehand.

Festival des Potiers

Coinciding with the Journées du Patrimoine in Aubeterre-sur-Dronne (16), one of France’s most beautiful villages, a veritable feast of all things to do with clay is being held on 19 and 20 September from 10am to 7pm.

In this, the 4th edition of the Association Albaterra’s ‘Festival des Potiers’, 30 artisan potters will be showing and selling their work in the potter’s market.

There will be films, demonstrations, free workshops for adults and children, and the chance to discover Aubeterre whilst following the route of the ‘parcours’ – a series of installations by clay artists through the village.

Robert Lapousse, the guest of honour last year, returns to demonstrate some of the fast disappearing techniques used locally in the last century to make ceramics, and there will be a concert outside the Eglise Monolithe on Saturday evening.

For full details, check www.albaterraparcoursdargile.com or www. aubeterresurdronne.com before travelling.

The IZIboat

Tucked away on the Ile de Ré, sailing fanatic François Tissier has turned his dream into reality. Living in South Pacific, he wanted to navigate from island to island using a hybrid that would combine the trusty stability of a catamaran, the simplicity of transport of a windsurf and the steering style of a car, without the technicality of a traditional sailing boat and so IZIboat was born. Weighing only 152kg, this craft can be towed by bike and assembled on the beach in minutes. To own one will set you back about thirteen thousand euros but you can also hire one from Rivedoux-plage – see en.iziboat.com for details.

Gift Vouchers

To kick-start the tourist season, Infiniment Charentes, the tourism organisation for Charente and Charente- Maritime, have offered 10,000 gift vouchers worth 100€ each to visitors.

After registering online at infiniment-charentes.com, visitors need to send in receipts for two consecutive nights in the Charentes, a meal in a traditional restaurant for two people and a visit to a tourist site for two people to claim their refund.

While it remains to be seen how many people actually claim the refund given the terms, the millioneuro giveaway did raise the profile of the Charentes in national press at a time when advertising budgets have been slashed.

The Civility Mask

When entrepreneur Pierre Blondon, a graduate of l’Ecole d’Arts et Métiers d’Angoulême, could not find a mask to fit his 3-year old daughter, he decided to create the design he wanted to buy – one that was lightweight, effective, designed to last and, most importantly, allowed him to see her smiles.

A few months later, after working with a team of engineers and designers from across France and further afield, the design for Civility was ready and an Angoulême manufacturer lined up.

Now the challenge is to raise 150,000€ on Indiegogo to finance the first production run this summer with masks being delivered from September. To pre-order a mask, visit the project page at bit.ly/lmcivi.

Airbus Flight Academy

The buzz of training aircraft has been a familiar sound to many in the area since 2014 when the Airbus pilot training school moved to the Angoulême-Cognac airport at Champniers. It now represents 80% of the airport’s activity. The scheme supports both the French Air Force and French Navy pilot schools for elementary, basic and advanced pilot training.

As well as onsite simulators the academy operates a fleet of 100 aircraft, both single- and twin-engine, of which 54 are state owned and 46 company owned.

The school has recently expanded becoming the Airbus Flight Academy Europe offering cadet training, including 750 hours of ground school and 200 hours of flight training (including night flying).

Flights are spread across the region (over Limoges, Périgueux, Royan, Cognac, Saintes, etc.) to try to limit noise disturbance. They have now opened a website where you can inform them of anything abnormal, which includes the flight route, the noise level and the flight timing. See bit.ly/ lmairbus.

A win for the Environment

The Poitiers court recently ruled against approved plans to build six new water storage reservoirs in Charente-Maritime. Local environmental group ‘Nature Environnement 17’ argued that the project was over-sized and built without serious consideration to the challenges of the territory. It would impact Natura 2000 wetlands and aquatic environments as well as local species of flora and fauna.

A total of 1.66 million cubic metres of water would have been taken from the aquifer to supply 13 farms which, the organisation argued, given the predicted impact of climate change, was disproportionate. There have been protests across the region about similar projects.