La Grange is situated on the edge of a delightful Charente village amid vines and sunflower fields. The nearest town is Aigre (approximately 3 miles) which has a wide variety of shopping facilities and two restaurants. A bread van comes to the village at around 9.00 AM on Tuesdays, Thursday and Fridays. If you are a large party it is worth putting in an order, particularly if you want to be sure of getting your daily croissant.  

The town square in Aigre hosts a wonderful market on Thursday mornings. There you will be able to buy fresh fish that has come from the coast that morning, a selection of the local and not-so-local cheeses, fruit and vegetables that are recently harvested, meat from the best butcher in the area and an astonishing selection of olives, dried and candied fruits, and nuts from "Prune-Olive", one of the friendliest market traders you will ever have the good fortune to meet. 

If you happen to be staying on the 27th of any month then Rouillac market (about ten miles away) will provide you a morning's entertainment at the second biggest street market in France. You can buy almost anything here from livestock and farm equipment to grandfather clocks and clothing. Its a real eye-opener.

There is little light pollution in the village (all of the street lights go out at 23.00 hours) and on a cloudless night you can see the stars in the sky with a clarity that is rare in the United Kingdom. It is a real pleasure to be able to come home after a good dinner in one of the excellent local restaurants and enjoy a coffee on the terrace while looking at the universe.

Angouleme, Cognac and La Rochelle are within easy reaching distance and there is a wide variety of attractions for children. In the house you will find a file in which we keep details of these. We have also detailed some of them on this web site on the Local Attractions page.

This area  of France is well known for its excellent cuisine, seafood, fresh fruit and vegetables, wine, cognac and the local aperitif called Pineau des Charentes.

The Charente is said to enjoy a “micro climate” providing warm weather for most of the year. There is around 2,500 hours of sunshine annually making this part of France the second sunniest after Provence . Spring and autumn are particularly pleasant for those who prefer a cooler temperature with plenty of sunshine.

The location of La Grange de Chille is marked by the blue and white graphic of the house on the map just above Cognac and Angouleme.