Poitou-Charentes (Now Nouvelle Aquitaine)

 

The original region hits up against the Atlantic coast. Nestled between the châteaux and the castles of the Loire Valley and the Bordeaux vineyards, the Region is a part of France that received some of the greatest number of days of sun. With about 2,250 hours of sunshine per year.

There Region has four departments:

• Charente
• Charente-Maritime
• Deux-Sèvres
• Vienne

There are are beaches and forests. Resorts such as La Rochelle, Royan and the islands of Oléron, Aix and Ré are all very busy in the summer. We have toured the valley of Vienne, the foothills of Charente and of course, a visit to Cognac.

There are real links with Canada as Poitou is the region of original ofmost of the Acadian and Cajun populations of North America. People from here settled in New Brunswick, Noval Scotia, Princed Edward Island and the Gaspe Peninsula of Quebec.