* Cognac Festival in Charente, and the Atlantic Coast

Lunch near Angoulême. Board a « gabarre » in St. Simon, the traditional barge type boat once used for river transport. Follow the tranquil Charente riverbanks past woods and fields, old stone bridges and locks, then visit the Maison des Gabarriers, the Gabarre Museum, tracing the history of these craft and the wares they carried, notably the local cognac . Overnight in the Angouleme region.

Learn all the secrets of distilling the fine liqueur in the Ecomuseum near Cognac, and taste some of the varieties. After lunch, continue to Cognac town to enjoy the nautical jousts which open the Festival, and for an afternoon’s serious tasting not just of cognac, but the local Pineau aperitif and regional wines too. Dinner and overnight.

Where the Gironde Estuary meets the Atlantic Ocean sits the popular resort of Royan, famously fashionable during the Belle Epoque and retaining some elegant period properties along the seafront. Time at leisure before following the sandy sweep of beach and coast as far as Meschers, where you can visit the surprising troglodyte dwellings carved out of the cliff. Lunch.