The best traffic-free bike rides around Montendre

Very pretty village, worth visiting!

Cellar in Montendre specializing in white wine. They offer many local wines, as well as wines from other French regions. Might be closed, so call ahead to see if they're open. +33677472892

Notre-Dame de Donac church in Romanesque style. The church cannot be visited at any time, it is only open on special occasions (religious festivals). Donnac is a village of more than 700 inhabitants. There are no restaurants, cafes or supermarkets, just the main amenities, like the town hall, post office and this church.

Montendre Castle rises on an eminence 114 meters high and dominates a vast panorama of moors, woods and meadows as well as the tight houses of the old town below. Its origin dates back to the Gallo-Roman era with the construction of a first oppidum in 52 BC. J-C. The castle retains elements from various periods, including part of the enclosures, a round tower, a square tower, a guard room and underground passages. Since the beginning of the 2000s, each summer, international projects (Solidarités Jeunesses) have made it possible to gradually renovate the castle grounds and preserve this site, converted into a promenade. The castle is open for visits from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Close on Sunday.

This vast Romanesque-inspired construction was built from 1812 to 1821 to replace a medieval church. Finally, in 1994, the exterior was renovated and an access ramp for the disabled was installed on the south side. For opening hours, please call +33 5 46 49 20 84.

5 km north of Barbezieux, we find this beautiful 13th century church in the small hamlet of Saint-Médard. From here, you can take the greenway to Clérac.

Of the first, very well placed at the top of a high mound, there are hardly any more than vague sections of walls and of the second some carved stones incorporated, with the base and the shaft of an old cross, in the masonry of the current building. This one is almost entirely modern. The side chapels are from the last century and the Romanesque bell tower dates from 1890. It rises on two floors with semicircular bays, crowned with a stone spire, in front of the nave, its base forming a porch. The basket-handle capped nave and the chevet have no decoration. The stoup is from the 17th century. The church of Soubran houses a very beautiful painted canvas (1.90 x 1.30), from the 18th century representing a crucifixion, listed in the Mobilier Historique. The bell dated 1629 is also listed in the Mobilier Historique. From 1970, restoration work on the church of Soubran was undertaken in order to repair the numerous degradations due to time, on the one hand, but also to man. Many valuables had been stolen including ....... the altar, yes the altar!!! The mayor, Bernard Louis-Joseph, then went in search of an altar which he ended up finding in the town of Coulgens in Charente. But during the installation in the church of Soubran, minor cleaning work revealed a small box containing relics They were accompanied by a short text in Latin that Father Genet, Father Cooperator of the parishes of Mirambeau, Jonzac and Saint-Genis-de-Saintonge, former Latin teacher, was happy to translate. "The year of the Lord 1884 on the 24th of November, I, Alexandre, Léopold Sebaux, bishop of Angoulême, consecrated in honor of Saint John the Baptist* an altar in this place of our diocese commonly called Coulgens and I have inserted therein the relics of Saints Amant, Bonosius and Serena, martyrs». These relics have now returned to their original place in the altar.

The high octagonal tower of the bell tower consists of two floors. The first is embellished on each side with two high blind bays. The second finished in the Gothic period is added by eight large windows. The inner curve of each is cut into small lobes reminiscent of the Moorish style. During the construction of the facade, the nave was shortened by one bay. In the 14th century ogival style, the arched portal with arches is accompanied by a trefoil window underlined by a checkered cornice. The square chevet has preserved in the masonry old parts of the semi-circular chevet of Romanesque origin: remains of arcades on columns with capitals, remains of cornices and windows. The old bay in front of the choir is remarkable for the quality of the sculptures of the Romanesque capitals. One represents a shrine on an altar guarded by two figures. According to C. Connoué, it is an original subject for Saintonge which would have its similar in the church of Notre-Dame-de-Soulac (Gironde). The shrine represents a church whose two-storey bell tower has a conical roof like that of the Abbaye aux Dames in Saintes or closer to Rouffignac, Nieul-Ie-Virouil. The scene is framed by two large chandeliers, furniture that is rarely represented in Saintonge sculpture. On another capital, Adam and Eve are represented after the original sin in silly niches drawn by small trees, including that of Good and Evil. Another shows birds in leaves, a subject that is also treated in the church of Grézac or in that of Jarnac-Champagne. Outside, the Romanesque chevet is punctuated by engaged columns of decreasing section.