Less than a thousand years ago, the Gulf of Poitou lapped at the very doors of Niort. Fed by eight silt-laden rivers, the tidal basin gradually drew back to be replaced by a dazzling green fenland wilderness of reeds and mud banks, the Marais Poitevin. During the 13thC, the monks of Maillezais abbey began to drain the land and reclaim pasture for cattle. Henri IV called upon the expertise of Dutch engineers to mastermind the reclamation programme in the 16thC. Now 40,000 km of canals criss-cross the 55,000-hectare preserve protected by the Parc Naturel Régional du Marais Poitevin. Also known as La Venise Verte, it is a languid, secretive world of water and sky, where the only sounds are the shifting reeds and the calls of willow warblers. It is an easy day trip from the coast to Coulon, the main village for visiting the Marais.

An hour’s drive north-east of Niort, the historic capital of Poitou is bypassed by the Loire-Bordeaux Autoroute de I’Aquitaine. Poitiers receives few transient visitors these days, but this was not always so. Poitou was the front line when Clovis finally triumphed over the Visigoths in 507, again when Charles Martel turned back the Moors in 732, and Edward, the Black Prince, won a famous victory over the French at Poitiers in 1356. The attractive town is renowned for its unusual range of ecclesiastical architecture including the Eglise de Notre-Dame-la-Grande, which, with its superb facade, is the apogee of the Poitevin Romanesque style. The town keeps abreast of the times thanks to its university, which was founded by Charles VII in 1432 and can count Rabelais and Descartes among its former graduates. Outside Poitiers, Futuroscope, a futuristic theme park has sprung up in a welter of hightec buildings cloaked in reflective glass and is one of the best places to visit.

TRANSPORT

There are frequent daily train services between La Rochelle and Poitiers via Niort (for Parthenay). Sketchy bus services from Niort serve various villages within the Marais Poitevin, but it is easier to hire a bicycle to get around. The landscape is as flat as a pancake.