Valence: Holiday Apartments and Holiday Homes

The Sentier de Bourgon leads from Valence along the Chemin de l’Oumède beside the Son-Sonnette to the Fontaine du Maine on the municipal boundary with Ventouse. The circular hiking trail is 12.5 kilometres long and takes around three hours. It starts at Place du Centre on the D739 in Valence. A shortened 7 km route can also be chosen, which offers views of the private Château de Bourgon.

For some people, planning a trip includes the wish to rent a holiday apartment in Valence.

Culture

In the centre of Valence stands the Romanesque parish church of Saint-Pierre. The church contains a 12th-century tomb slab decorated with arcades, with traces of capitals above the small columns. This tomb slab has been protected as a historic monument since 17 June 1933.

The Château de Bourgon overlooks the Son-Sonnette valley, the bridge at Valence and the Moulin de Bourgon. It has preserved numerous features of rural seigneurial estates, including a large communal courtyard, barns and a chapel.

The cemetery in Valence contains graves with broken columns, reserved for children and men who died very young. The columns are each engraved with flowers and hands. There are also numerous porcelain plaques with inscriptions, some of them featuring photographs.

In the first half of the 20th century, Valence was served by the narrow-gauge local railway of the Chemins de fer économiques des Charentes. The line ran from Angoulême via Saint-Angeau to Confolens and was called the Petit Mairat.

The artisanal production of flour at the Moulin de Bourgon resumed after its restoration in 2011.

More local pages: Roullet-Saint-Estèphe, Saint-Laurent-De-Céris, Châteauneuf-sur-Charente, Montignac-Le-Coq, Rouzède, Blanzac-Lès-Matha, Yvrac-Et-Malleyrand, Chalais.

To the higher-level travel overview: Charente.