'La Rochelière' is an impressive 1800s residence, now a B&B. Embedded into the hill face, it has its own myriad of caves and rooftop swimming pool.

The next morning we visited Close Lucé at Amboise, Da Vinci's pad - hugely popular, lots of people wandering around quoting Dan Brown!!! I haven't visited the house for 20 years. It has been developed to show working examples based on his sketches in the grounds of his house.

We travelled down to Ruffec and stayed at Les Bruyeres for three days. It's run by an English couple and we were well looked after. Verteuil is compact and picturesque. The Charente carves its way through the village.

Chateau St Martial at Jarnac was our next stop for three days. It is stunning. Imposing canvas's line the elegant corridors. Madame home bakes everything from cookies to creme caramel that you can have with your breakfast.

Jarnac is a vibrant small town - complete with a Maison du Chocolate. We walked along the river Charente to the Courvoisier distillery. One day a year the distillery opens for free tours - pure chance we were there on that day!

Close to Jarnac is Aigre, a small pretty village - good vibe! Here we bought and sampled some Pineau Charente - a delicious alcoholic aperitif drink, made from a blend of unfermented grape must and Cognac brandy.

After a swift picnic we drove to Surgeres near La Rochelle. We are staying here for a couple of days at Chaillé. A good location for access to La Rochelle and les iles.

From Surgeres we drove through the Marais Poitvin marshes and onto Parthenay. I'm not sure that we saw the best of this town, a peculiar mixture of 50's shops and 80s goths!

We drove to Les Touches, a remote farm and restaurant in Vausseraux. The farm is complete withcats, dogs, sheep, chicekns, turkeys and Saxo the donkey.

Madame is an amazing cook, all food is grown on the farm or sourced locally including the very quaffable red wine.

After a couple of days we decided to head back via Chatres. We found, in our AA book, St-Laurent-Le-Gatine, a tiny hamlet. A lovely French couple that own and run a Chambre d'ote. A must is the Creperie in Rogent Le Roi. Packed full of locals enjoying the best crepes!