To explore local culture and history, we’re making a stop today in Aigre, nestled in the northwest corner of the Charente department.
Together we’ll explore some elements of history, talk to mayor Renaud Combaud and get an overview of the town.
There will be lots more to explore in coming episodes!
If you’re interested in visiting Aigre, it’s best accessible by car or bicycle following the departmental roads from Ruffec (north), Mansle (east), Chef-Boutonne (west) or Montignac-Charente (south).
The nearest intercity station is in Angoulême, with many trains daily to Bordeaux and Paris on the LGV Atlantic.
For accommodations, camping and hotels are available nearby. I’d recommend “Camping Les Platanes” in Montignac-Charente for cyclists, as it is in proximity (15 km), reasonably priced, on the route to Angoulême and a nice spot to relax by the river.
The largest regional airport is Bordeaux, about 2 hours by car from Aigre.
The annual Aigre Exposition Faire is May 25-26, 2024: Foire Exposition du Pays d’Aigre. Every year a different local cultural theme is chosen.
before we get started I do Consulting on traveling in France I can help you plan and organize your next trip to Europe as well as with translation there’s more information about my activities in the video now let’s get started [Music] hi welcome to this episode of touring back roads France today we’re going to be visiting the town of Aigre in Charente, which is known for the Maison Gautier Cognac and a number of interesting historical details, so I hope you’ll enjoy this video and you can follow along with me as we take off towards the next town down the road I sat down with local resident and historian Dominique Grandjaud. His knowledge of local history was captivating and a great start to digging deeper into the different periods of the past when Aigre was an important regional focal point. But before we do that, what do you think would be three main reasons someone would want to buy property or Rel locate to this part of France? Stay tuned and I’ll let you know at the end of the video what the locals think today we’ll break down the history of the Town into three different eras Renaissance industrial and modern a lot of the things we’ll explore in this video are a general overview but if you’re interested check out the links in the historical works and references in the description below egg started growing based around its church and Parish in the 13th century located along the trade route between SP and the French monarchy in Paris the Dukes and Lords from santon anguran and P realized that Egra was a focal point and a strategic Crossroads between their thft and a stronghold Castle Fortress surrounded by a moat was built just south of the current day town today only the moat and a dirt Mound remain of the Fortress as locals and Builders pillaged the stones over the many centuries since its construction following the Treaty of Paris in 1259 the aitan region with egg located in the North along the north south and east west trade routs entered a long period of political uncertainty both the English and French Kings laid claim to the land at different times a Scottish Lord named wer valantin is referenced in the 15th century and French families held titles in the 17th century as EG changed from a Protestant stronghold to a Catholic parish During the period of reforms following the Edict of KN in 1598 and the subsequent suppression of religious freedoms right now I’m up on the high point next to EG Egra is actually behind this water tower you see in front of me this being the high point the water tower is located here the shat do as they call it in French and as we move across you can see from up here if you do get a chance to get up to this High Point South of town you see this amazing 360° View and I will stop about here is the city of angur which is uh south of here and then we move more towards the east and you can see on a clear day generally up to 30 kilm or about 20 mil distance from here and of course what we have growing in front of us are the vines the grape vines that we use to make Cognac and different local uh products so here we have the The Vineyards that are in front of me and you get just an amazing view of the shant and the surrounding areas highly recommend coming up to visit these high points if you like being outdoors nature and Hiking or biking cycling through these different areas and interestingly enough if we look Clos closer we have here the vines Within These Vines you can find little pieces of clay that are not at all related they’re very light they’re incredibly light pieces of clay and interestingly enough these pieces of clay which you’ll find do through the ground here are actually the leftover broken tiles from Roman houses that were built here probably around 2,000 years ago and off in the distance here we can see the bu which will be the subject of another video and that is a Roman Theater that was actually built into a hillside that large Hill that we see just across from here it’s about uh say about 10 to 12 km from here it’s about 8 7 to 8 Miles and uh that’s uh also in Ruins and it can be visited and we’ll do that on another video the importance of egg finds its roots primarily in the rich local Agriculture and trade rots that permitted export of its products ranging over the years from flax hemp flour and Spirits as the economy changed and grew this is still apparent today in the layout of the town and some large buildings that are unusual for a population that never exceeded 2,000 inhabitants so here we have one example of something that’s quite surprising in this town you have to forgive the traffic because this is quite a busy road this is the main road through town here go conac is uh right ahead of me off to the right and left side and uh some of the history of this town is very apparent in these large buildings large buildings with very narrow fronts on them uh obviously not very wide looks something like you would find in Holland a lot of times in the Netherlands Amsterdam you see short buildings like this uh with the multiple stories on top so that is kind of unusual and it really kind of brings uh brings together the economic history of this town uh which was a commercial town and obviously had a lot of money coming through it now today these buildings are not all in very good shape they they obviously need to be taken care of a number of broken windows and things but that building in particular up above is quite impressive for its stonework uh and given the construction methods so to see a town of that size uh with such buildings surprising starting in the 18th century local distilleries produced larger and larger quantities of grape spirits that steadily became the refined conac varieties that we know today one of the local distilleries outlived all the others and is known today as the Mong GUI kak let’s stop in for a visit in in the 17th century so the two for an enjoyable personalized visit of a historic Distillery I’d suggest booking ahead of time today Madame Maru of Meier showed us several interesting places in this charming back roads location situated along the OM river which runs right underneath the Distillery the buildings date from the mid 18th century and although they might appear dirty they are actually covered with a particular type of fungus that gives the conac here a special flavor as it goes through the aging process the moving water provides just the right environment for this mini ecosystem to thrive it’s important to note that the meon go is a fundamental reason that egg became an important location on the map the wealth and trade generated here allowed many other buildings to be constructed as well as two small chatus visits are available in English you’ll learn about the history and development of the conac area as well as how local Vineyards slowly developed from a regional product into an international sensation while the city of conac is home to many distilleries large and small egg features a truly back roads experience that is a refreshing and Less Traveled place to visit they have many varieties to choose from and tasting is free moving into the Industrial Age EG continued to maintain its spot in the regional economy it was served by a Narrow Gauge Railway operated through the Shir econom which ran until the mid 20th C Century small tracks allowed locomotives to handle steep terrain and Hills that Mark the Topography of the area remains of the Railway still exist today in the form of bridges rideway and Depots that continue to Mark the landscape today egg is a pleasant place to spend an afternoon or more with a local Market Restaurants cafes parks and many other things to see and do stop in to visit local shops and a Brant run by Mr Alan so which has a large variety of unique objects for sale including vintage tools books and Furniture I met with mayor Reno combo to give his views on what egg has to offer nice to meet you my name is R Kumo and I am the mayor of egg well in a few words egg is an historic City well for example we have um kyak guer which is an older Factory of CNAC egg is also a Cal City a picturest city for instance uh we have nice landscape with the river LOM that I hope you have seen egg is also Dynamic we have all the services that you need for example schools doctors shops and I think that it’s really important for inhabitants so why do you think people choose to relocate to the shaon region in France if you said temperate climate pictures Landscapes and vibrant local culture you are right please visit our website and take our survey about new technologies and translation tools that we are also developing to assist people to cross Language and Cultural barriers if you’re interested in the content on this channel please like And subscribe so that we can continue to bring you more as we develop our activity in the shahon region [Music] [Music] for