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Philip and Judith Parker
La Grand Font
16480, Saint Felix
Charente, France
tel: 0033 (0)5 45 78 57 01
email: info@travel-france.co.uk
web: travel-france.co.uk

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45o 21´22.6"N
0o 0´41.8"E
45.35640oN
0.00840oE

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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.



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

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

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
FlyBMI
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

homewelcome the Parkers fully inclusive gites - vacation rentals living hints

books&map weekly/daily tariff prior to arrival cancellation charges tasters

Philip and Judith Parker
169 Lewisham Road, Dover, Kent, England. CT170PP
Tel: 01304 822438 - email INFO@travel-france.co.uk