Enjoy ! a bicycle this country walk in this ancient rural village established on the slopes of Lambon, at the foot of Saint-Maixent church, and whose wine was prized by kings François 1st and Henry IV.
What to see in Souché?
01. Saint-Maixent church
THERomanesque building was ravaged by Protestants, partially restored in the 17th century and enlarged in the 18th century. The statue of the bell tower represents Saint Maixent housed in a neo-gothic canopy niche and treading the fairy meanders Melusine.
02. Niort-Marais Poitevin aerodrome
At the beginning of the 20th century, the State purchased 45 hectares in order to create a maneuvering ground for the 7th regiment of Hussars of Niort, replacing the one on the Echiré road which was too small. Then, it is enlarged to become a airfield.
In 1910, the Niortaise Society of Charity Festivals organized the Aviation Week, the 1st regional aviation meeting. Jacques de Lesseps, son of the famous aviator, made a 24 minute flight after a “majestic” turn above the breach.
In 1931, during the great meeting aerien having to close the 9th Niort exhibition, Raymond Villechanoux, aerobatics ace from the Louis-Blériot house, crashes near the first spectators. A memorial monument is erected on site in his memory.
Several personalities walk on its tarmac: the president François Mitterrand in 1992, the Dalai Lama in 2004, the prince Albert II of Monaco in 2012…
03. The Souchean vineyard
From the 12th century, the plain of Niort is partly covered by vines whose new wines are popular with kings François 1st and Henri IV. Then, production declined until the 17th century and suffered from the crisis of phylloxera at the end of the 19th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, the southern hillside of the Lambon valley is divided into arable land and vineyards giving, according to prefect Dupin, very low quality wines. Before the Second World War, Strain is renowned for its red, rosé and white wines ; the crop being treated naturally against diseases with Bordeaux mixture and the planting of dahlias in front of the rows of vines. Like roses, these flowers serve as a preventative in the event of contagion, because they are affected before the vine.
The annual custom was for the distiller's still to be installed on rue du Château d'eau in order to distill the alcohol from the wine.
Other curiosities to see:
- Fleurelle's home old house from the 15th century remodeled in the 19th century (private property visible from the street)
- The Moujaterie castle (viewpoint from Chemin des Roches)
- The old café-guinguette “Le Robinson” and its traditional “Boiled egg and dandelion walk”
- The path of the Wheelbarrows
- “Le Lambon” stream
