About Pays-de-la-Loire
The Pays-de-la-Loire (population 3.22 million), which covers an area of 32,082km2 (12,512mi2) on the Atlantic coast, comprises five departments: Loire-Atlantique (44), Maine-et-Loire (49), Mayenne (53), Sarthe (72) and Vendée (85). The Loire is France's longest river (1,020km/628mi), with its source in the Vivarais mountains (south of Saint-Etienne in the department of Loire) and its outlet at Saint-Nazaire in Loire-Atlantique. It flows through the middle of the Pays-de-la-Loire, dividing the departments of Maine-et-Loire and Loire-Atlantique horizontally, and is fed by a number of important tributaries in the area, notably the Vienne (which flows through the department of the same name), the Thouet (which joins the Loire at Saumur), the Mayenne (which joins it at Angers and is a favourite among watersports enthusiasts), and the Sèvre Nantaise (which joins it at the great coastal port of Nantes).
Along the coast to the west is the industrial town of Saint-Nazaire and beyond it several attractive and fashionable seaside resorts. Inland are the vineyards which produce the famous Muscadet and Rosé d'Anjou wines, and to the north the department of Mayenne, named after the river that runs into the Loire - an attractive area for boating as well as for walking and cycling.
The most easterly part of the region is Sarthe, which centres on Le Mans, notable not only for its 24-hour motor races but also for its spectacular cathedral. This part of the region is less than an hour from Paris by TGV or under two hours' drive by car and, with its fields, hedges and beech woodlands, is popular with Parisians, many of whom have second homes in the country.
On the southern part of the coast, much of Vendée is flat and windy (its symbol is a windmill). Inland parts of Vendée here's gently rolling countryside with small fields, hedges, trees and woodlands called le bocage and similar to that found in parts of Normandy. The department has a dark history of mass slaughter during the religious and revolutionary wars, but now the land is smiling, with its almost endless beaches, seaside resorts and fishing villages and a soft and sunny climate which encourages mimosa.
In the last few thousand years, the sea has been receding along the west coast leaving a flat plain. Along the border between the Pays-de-la-Loire and Poitou-Charentes is land which has been reclaimed from the sea, known as the Marais Poitevin (Poitevin Marsh). Part of the Marsh hasn't been drained, however, and consists of a pattern of tree-lined canals between small fields used for market gardening and cattle rearing - an area known as 'la Venise verte' ('Green Venice') and one of the most unusual landscapes in France.
Coastal areas benefit from tourism but are also attracting an increasing number of retired people, as well as foreigners. The department of Vendée in particular is attracting an increasing number of foreign homebuyers, and property prices are rising fast.
The Pays-de-la-Loire is 10 per cent woodland and 25 per cent grassland; the remaining 20 per cent of the land is put to other uses, including urban areas. The region is noted for heavy industry, with shipyards at Saint-Nazaire, and factories near La Rochelle.
In a survey of the 100 largest towns in France published in January 2002, Le Point magazine rated three towns in this area - Nantes (44), Angers (49) and La Roche-surYon (85) - among the ten best to live in.
©Text by David Hampshire, from Survival Books' Buying a Home in France
