We are becoming used to answering questions about our region and its microclimate
1 Charente Maritime is a Departement of France, it is next to the sea and thus West of the departement of Charente which commences, from here, at the town of Cognac.
2 On the coast side it runs North from the estuary of the Gironde, the confluence of the rivers Dordogne and Gironde , just downstream of Bordeaux. It goes up the coast incorporating the islands of d'Oleron and Ré, which is off the north West tip of La Rochelle.
3 Charente Maritime is slightly North of the 45th parrallel and thus half way between the North pole and the equator.
4 Climatically it benefits from a quirk of nature partly dependent on the North-Atlantic drift and partly because it sits on the West edge of the large land mass of Europe.This gives it an equable climate with more than its fair share of sunshine. After the French Riviera it has the longest hours of sunshine in France,
5 Nonetheless it does have seasons, well marked by its agricultural nature, with some frosts in the winter and its share of wind, rain and chilly fog in January and February - at least. Dramatic electrical storms are a feature.
6 PROPERTY. as in much of France the demographic drift has been from rural to urban. Encouraged by the Napoleonic law there are houses and larger which have been ignored by the multiple inheritors and left to decay while they squabble over who deserves what.These can appear cheap but do remember that you get what you pay for; even, or especialy, French peasants are not slow to recognise a market as the inflating prices of the Dordogne will witness. If your property requires extensive repair and modernisation think slowly and carefullyabout who will do it, what you do meanwhile and what budget you have to work with. Many things are cheaper here in France, but not builders. The French bureacracy is labyrinthine with minotaurs round every bend waiting for unsuspecting Brits. This country may be with us in Europe but culturally it is FOREIGN.
7 There is a British incursion here but not yet large enough to disturb the natives: more of an advance guard than the full invasion of the Dordogne. We feel no necessity to form wagons in a circle to defend our women and children. (not many of the latter here in truth).
8 The major local industries are agriculture and tourism. The countryside is pleasantly undulating around Saint Savinien but can, elsewhere be rather flat and covered by crops of grain, sunflowers or maize. To the South and East are vineyards mostly devoted to Ugni Blanc for the production of Cognac brandy, but a respectable portion yields wine Pays de Charentais both on land and from the islands.The region is rich in history from the Romans through the hundred years war and later persecution of the protestant Huguenots. Churches are often richly carved and splendid as on pilgrim routes to Saint John de Compostelle