The best traffic-free bike rides around Forêt de Quatre Vaux

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15th century stone bridge known as that of the Château de la Rochefoucauld. From the building, there is a superb view of the imposing castle and the waters of the Tardoire. It has been listed as a Historic Monument since 1935. The castle, renowned for being one of the most beautiful and oldest in Charente, can be visited all year round. It is the only castle in France that has been inhabited by the same family for more than 1,000 years. Do not miss !

In the heart of Charente, the Château de la Rochefoucauld stands like a page of history mixed with an enchanted tale. Built around the 16th century on the site of an 11th century fortress, this gem has been cherished by the same family since its earliest days. And that’s something! Strolling through its rooms or admiring the landscape from its towers, you feel the weight of history. It's as if the castle whispers to us both history lessons and stories of adventure.

This magical 16th century Renaissance castle is built on an 11th century fortress whose towers have been preserved. The castle and its gardens have been classified as a historical monument since 1955. Definitely worth the short detour!

This feudal castle, built in the 15th and 16th centuries, has passed from family to family over the centuries. It is said that he had such an impressive orangery that it was sold in 1893 to the city of Bordeaux.

Appearing in 1019 with Foucauld, lord of La Roche, the La Rochefoucauld family has long been considered a branch of the Lusignan, due to the similarity of their arms. It seems, in reality, that Foucauld was a close relative of the Viscount of Limoges, descendant of a Grand of the court of Charlemagne. Only four other families in France (including that of the Capetians) can claim such seniority. The history of the castle is inseparable from the history of the La Rochefoucauld family which, itself, is part of the political life of its time, century after century. The castle of La Rochefoucauld provides a remarkable illustration of the interweaving of politics and architecture through the life of a family which has continuously owned the castle since Fucaldus laid the first fortification around 980. With the history of the La Rochefoucauld family, the use of architecture for social and political purposes finds one of its most spectacular manifestations. This earned it the justified title of “pearl of Angoumois”. The castle is an anthology of seven centuries of architecture and the home of the La Rochefoucauld family, still present for over a thousand years. To see: the monumental Renaissance staircase (108 steps!), the boudoir of Marguerite de Valois, the kitchens dug into the karst, the state rooms, guards, the 18th century libraries, the main courtyard and its galleries from the 16th.

21 meters high, the Resistance Memorial overlooks the forests where the region's maquis were established. This place of memory has a crypt in which lie the bodies of the main leaders of the Charentais maquis. The National Necropolis extends around the Memorial over more than 2 ha. 2,026 resistance fighters or soldiers from the Second World War are buried there.

It has several main buildings built at different times. The cellar, the medieval room with a broken barrel vault, probably contemporary with the 12th century church, has an underground passage and two wells, food reserves. On this cellar was built a building currently flanked by two towers (15th and 16th century). Attached to this structure, a two-storey building (early 17th century) on which is grafted at an angle a building with an attic storey (late 17th, early 18th century). The machicolated portal adjoins an elegant mansard-roofed pavilion adorned with a row of balusters, followed by the castle, flanked by two round towers topped with sloped roofs. Opposite the pavilion, there is a tower and a small aedicule, in the form of a watchtower, which is accessed by a staircase; a frieze completes the whole. The enclosure included an orangery backing onto the church, whose once famous orange trees were sold in 1893 to the city of Bordeaux, a 17th century square watchtower, a park, an orchard and a pond.