Climate
Second only to the Med Coast in the average number of sunshine hours recorded annually, Charente Maritime has a warm, temperate climate, thanks in part to the Gulf Stream. This is an unspoilt region of frequent blue skies and warm sunshine. Expect long hot summers, short winters (milder than the UK), thanks to early springs and late autumns.

Countryside
You will encounter friendly, welcoming people. This is a part of France still blissfully unspoilt but the people living on the coast are not strangers to seeing foreigners thanks to a well developed tourist trade. Travel inland a few kilometres and things become much more rural where agriculture in its many facets is still the primary occupation.

Charente Maritme possesses its own regional identity, largely as a result of its geographical location. The westernmost region includes both flat, grain-producing plains and coastal marshland - much of it protected nature reserve. Further south the region borders on the Cognac area which is characterised by a wealth of productive vineyards supplying grapes for both the illustrious brandy and its aperitif close relative, Pineau de Charentes.
Elsewhere you will pass through gently undulating fields of sunflowers, maize, rape and wheat.
Throughout the region, the landscapes also feature coppiced woodlands of chestnut, oak, cherry, holly and acacia, lending colour throughout the seasons. Here and there, lone mature walnut trees stand like sentinels. The effect, whatever the season, is both beautiful and rich in its variety.