'La Metairie du Petit Pont'
Ligne, Saint Valerien, Vendee, France.
Contact us for room rates
Contact Tel: +33 251 87 63 23 or Mobile 06 32 80 26 32
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The side of the house
Here is some detail of the area in general.
Local Food: Mogettes are the emblematic local produce of the Vendée, a bean that is a traditional product of the Lower Bocage. They are eaten on their own with just a knob of butter, or as a vegetable served with ham, duck or leg of lamb. Connoisseurs appreciate them in ‘grillées’, slices of bread rubbed with a clove of garlic, buttered and covered with hot mogettes. Brioche is another pride of the Vendée. Made sweet and with a pronounced perfume of either eau de vie or orange-water, or indeed a mixture of the two, it has always been consumed here in great quantities. Préfou is a traditional product of the Fontenay le Comte region. Traditionally, in certain areas of the Vendée, it was the custom to open the oven to bake a small piece of bread dough before actually baking the bread, the idea being to test the oven temperature. This cooked piece of dough, known as préfou, was then rubbed with garlic, spread with butter and eaten while still hot. Préfou is especially enjoyed with aperitifs. Finally there are the wines produced by the Vendée fiefdoms whose history goes back to the Middle Ages, when the monks were cultivating their plots of vines. Brem sur Mer, Pissotte, Mareuil sur Lay and Vix are the four Vendée fiefdoms with wines classified VDQS (Vins Délimités de Qualité Supérieure).
La Rochelle's (55km from Ligne) 400 restaurants make it a Mecca for gastronomy - only a stone's throw from Cognac (120km) and Bordeaux (200km). Régional produce and tasty dishes, take you from the aperitif to the dessert. introduction With the famous Pineau from Charentes, a blend of grape juice and cognac, oysters, mussels in white wine, the "mojhettes" (white beans from the marshes), snails and more...
The Vendée is fringed by 250 kms of Atlantic coastline, 140 kms of which are beaches of fine sand. Its good-quality bathing water and gently sloping beaches ensure pleasure and safety for all the family. Its 18 seaside resorts offer a wide range of leisure and sporting activities, including sand-yachting, surfing, sailing, diving, canoeing, kayaking, surfcasting, and beach activities of all kinds. Each of the Vendée’s coastal resorts has its own individual character. So it is that at Les Sables d'Olonne you will come across all the retro atmosphere of the seaside, with the sculptured features of its gaily painted villas, its beach huts, deckchairs, seafront bistrots and numerous restaurants with their mouth-watering aromas. Saint Jean de Monts is the “biggest sand-pit in the West”, with 8 kms of fine sandy beach, a host of games and play areas, beach clubs and special children’s activities. And further to the south, La Tranche sur Mer has numerous walking and riding trails covering its shore, dunes and woodlands.
Closest Beach is la Faute Sur Mer, 50 km from Ligne. Clean white sand, as far as the eye can see.
Walking, riding and cycling are among the multitude of different ways of exploring the rich diversity of the Vendée’s countryside. Starting in the hamlet of Ligne, there are marked walking route from 3 to 22km. A network of paths, tracks and cycle-ways suitable for all degrees of proficiency runs from the gently undulating bocage country with its winding rivers and streams, through the Mervent-Vouvant forest (20km from Ligne) and on to the ash-lined waterways of the Poitevin Marshes. For several years now, a superb network of cycle-ways exists in all parts of the Vendée. In due course, there will be 600 kms along the coast and in the inland areas of the Vendée, and so far over 100 kms have already been laid out. The vélo-rail is another, and somewhat original way of using a kind of pedal-power to get about. The recipe is simple: take one disused stretch of railway line, one track motorcar, 2, 3, 4, or even 5 ‘drivers’, and for a distance of 10 kms you pass through the countryside between Coëx and Commequiers, observing the special flora of the region as you go. … For wandering spirits eager to experience thrills and spills, the winding streams and rivers of the Bocage provide opportunities to enjoy canoeing and kayaking, whilst in southern Vendée the canals and waterways offer relaxed exploration in canoes or the traditional flat-bottomed boats of the Poitevin Marshes.
Harbours and Boat-building The Vendée boasts a long tradition of boat-building and is today France’s leading department for the construction of yachts and sailing boats, with most notably the BENETEAU yards. Over the course of recent decades, wood has largely been replaced by ‘all-metal’ and resin hulls. But there are still, at Les Sables d'Olonne and on Noirmoutier, a number of yards that hold fast to the traditions of wooden boat-building, as well as a number of associations working on the restoration and sailing of the last surviving traditionally-built boats, not to mention the vast boat building and yachting industry based in La Rochelle.
Tourism really took off in the Vendée in the XIXth century with the opening of the first spas and the arrival of the railways in the various coastal resorts, such as Saint Gilles Croix de Vie, Les Sables d'Olonne and others. Noirmoutier also developed rapidly in the XIXth century. The exotic appeal of spending one’s holidays on a marvellous island began to draw the crowds, and the island saw the building of chalets, hotels and the villas of the Bois de la Chaise. The latter bear witness to a taste for a refined life-style and in the eyes of some were the earliest true second homes, with an abiding preoccupation with elegant living. Still today, the coastal areas of the Vendée attract a multitude of visitors seeking unspoiled nature, peace, quiet and relaxation.
La Faute Beach is around 40km from Ligne; La Rochelle around 55km; 17km to Fontenay-le-Compte; 47km to Noirt; 400km to Paris.
A microclimate, said to be similar to that of the Côte d'Azur, ensures that 2,500 hours of sunshine beam down on the Vendée's 140km of sandy beaches (see map, above, top right hand corner - sorry you can't read the figures, but basically the darker, the hotter...). June is traditionally the driest month.
Weather - request 'La Rochelle'
The city of La Rochelle carries the colors of two sports in which it excels : Rugby and sailing…the Yellow & Black of the Stade Rochelais have been in the highest French rankings for 100 years. When it comes to sailing, the reputation of the city is unsurpassed. La Rochelle counts more than 14,000 licensed sports enthusiasts. Here, sports education is a priority.
For a thousand years La Rochelle "The Rebel" has manifested its unique identity in many ways. Democratic before democracy was in fashion (it elected its first mayor in 1199); protestant while the rest of France was catholic ; protected by kings while the country was suffering from overtaxing...
A sport rendezvous you can't miss : the International Sailing Week. Its one of the oldest and biggest sailing events in France. More than 400 boats race in La Rochelle's coastal waters and around the Ile de Ré. A harbour for big yachts hosting the most prestigious boats, a sea side promenade for strolls by water's edge, a centre dor conferences, exhibitions and show (the Espace Encan), a zone regrouping talents in applied and particle maritime research... all of this virtually at the feet of two towers.
In the seventies, before anyone else was talking about the quality of urban life, La Rochelle was expanding its greenspaces, protecting its coastline and controlling air, water and noise pollution. It founded the first protected urban area in France, its pedestrian precinct and its famous "yellow bicycles".
Is it surprising that La Rochelle has celebrated the 16 th anniversary of the Francofolies in 2000 ? Or that it has hosted the International Film Festival for ever a quarter of a century ? Is it by chance that the national dance company "Baller Altantique-Regine Chopinot" has set up home here ? Its just the magic of the place !
Wines: Muscadet Region to the North; Bordeaux - St.Emillion to the South
Accommodation / Ground floor / Getting here / Surrounds / Thing to do / Garden / Album / Guests / Petit Pont - Home
Contact:
Andrew and Liz on Tel: +33 251 87 63 23 or Mobile 06 32 80 26 32