Close to the town, you'll relax by visiting lots of things : the vegetable - grown in the Arnoult Valley the Cadorettes cliffs walks around the city a picnic area on the Arnoult banksPont l'Abbe d'Arnoult is at the intersection of 2 "GR" (long walks) the GR 360, tour of the Roman churches the GR 4, a walk that goes across FranceFinally, you can fish in the rivers and have walks along the Arnoult. |
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The country around. The cliff, at the edge of the town, which reminds us of the old limit with the sea, looks like the ones that are along the coast in many parts. The waves, here as along the coast, have destroyed the foot of the cliff, broken blocks and dug caves in the softer parts. This picturesque place had stimulated, in the old days, the imagination of our ancestors who have created a noble legend. The "Rochers de la Cadorette" keep the memory of a noble queen "la Reine Sainte-Radegonde". This learned and pious wife of a cruel and inhuman Merovingian King Clotaire 1st would have, "according to the legend" hidden, for some time, in an inaccessible cave still called "Chambre de la Reine" while escaping to get back her freedom and dedicate her life to charities. According to serious historians, the reality would be slightly different (*). An alluvial, fertile valley stretches at the foot of the cliff and all along the river. This old estuary filled with a thick layer of alluvium has been covered for centuries with humid fields producing various and copious crops. Seeing the countryside as it is now around Pont l'Abbe d'Arnoult, with its many agricultural resources, we can imagine clearly enough the place which became, in the Middle Ages, the site of a women's priory. In those days the natural riches of the spot moors for the sheep, various cereals, abundant flowers explained why a large group of women decided to settle'there. (*) Clotaire 1st was first king of Soissons in 511, then King of France from 558 to 561. Radegonde's departure from the Court happened around 555. But it's later, when going from Poitiers to Arles, that she would have crossed Saintonge. There is plenty of history close to Pont l'Abbe d'Arnoult with many Abbeys and Castles within easy reach. And with Royan, Saintes and La Rochelle you have plenty of shopping possibilities and museums to visit. If you like the sea there is miles of sand beaches within an easy car journey. 
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