An hour and a half’s driving south of Paris we left the fast moving motorway traffic and with a sigh of contentment, eased ourselves into the quiet country roads. The world seemed to slow down.

At first we crossed flat green farming country where the occasional sign offering honey for sale indicated that they were also harvesting tourists.

There were roadside picnic places, thoughtfully placed, a thing that France does so well.

Even if I had not known that we were on the Champagne Route, it would definitely have been a road worth travelling.

We moved towards gentle rolling hills. Smoke drifted up from distant cottages and we glimpsed water towers and steeples before sweeping down into little villages where trees lined the streets

At Chaoure we found ancient half-timbered buildings with sagging beams and half way up a side street, a museum of cheese.

Directly opposite this was the church of Saint Jean Baptiste which dates back to the 12th and 16th Centuries.

There are some 70 statues in the church and some wonderful carvings but the real masterpiece is "The Entombment."

When your eyes get accustomed to the dark, you find that the light from one small window picks out perfectly the realistic and sad faces.

The eight figures that were created by the unknown 16th century sculptor, now regarded as “The Master of Chaoure”

Soon the route that you follow meanders through rolling hills covered with vines. Many of the grapes are picked by hand but even so in September in most villages there is a great bustle.

The farm tractors and equipment through the narrow streets between the stone built houses.
(In this area where so many half timbered buildings survive, historically a house built of stone indicated wealthy owners.)

Renoir

It was in the village of Essoyes at the rear of a garden behind such a house that the artist Renoir built his studio. It is on two floors and is certainly worth a visit.

Downstairs familiar faces look back at you from his paintings. Up above in the studio, with it's paint splattered floor, is where he did his painting it is a spacious room, flooded with natural light.

 

There are pictures that he painted of his wife Aline who was his companion and model in Paris and even more of the family and friends that he acquired when he came back to live with Aileen in her native Essoyes.
Aline was born in Essoyes in 1859 and worked as a dressmaker in Paris.

You can pick up a leaflet available on walks through the village and the locality. These "Renoir Paths" wind their way through countryside and forest (the routes are at 3, 7,12 and 14 km in length)

They will certainly give you an impression of how the colour and the countryside must have affected the artist.

Most who visit make their way to his monument and grave in the local cemetery.

 

Essoyes is just one of the picturesque villages that can be easily visited on the 136 mile Champage route.

As you drive around you find that there are some 26 producers who have their cellars open to the public and are happy to tell the story of champagne.

The Pinot Noir grape grows very well here and it gives the Cote des Bar Champagnes a distincive fruitiness.

At the "Champagne Drappier" we took a tour and I found quite a contrast between the cool of the dark cellars, where the bottles waited coated in the dust of ages, and the bright warmth of the tasting room.

There champagne sparkled as it was poured from gold foil decked bottles into the finest of glasses.

It was delightful to taste and at we found that some of it was agreeably affordable.

I was rather surprised to see the image of France's war hero and former president; General De Gaulle etched on to some of the bottles.

He was a man of the locality and the giant "Cross of Lorraine" which towers over his former home in Colombey les deux Eglises is visible for miles.

We happily sipped the champagne as part of our fact-finding mission and came away with quite a bit of information. Now while I can't exactly recall what the vintage years are, I do remember being told that a bottle of Champagne contains about 50 million bubbles. Not a lot of people know that!

The Champagne route meanders through vine-clad hillsides in the area known as Cote des Bars.

It is in the south of the department between Bar-sir-Seine and Bar-sur Aube. You can divide the 220 km route int five smaller areas so you don't have to tackle is all at once. If you are there in July you can enjoy the Champagne festival that is held at the end of the month.
(Information on the participating villages can be had from the CDT of Aube en Champagne, Tel: 03 025 42 50 00. - http://www.aube-champagne.com

 

In this part of Aube en Champagne there is also a tourist route around " half-timbered churches."

There are 85 churches or chapels classed as historical churches and over a thousand stained glass windows dating from the 16th century.

One of the most impressive is in the parish of St Julien and Sainte-Blaise it was built in the 15th and 16th centuries and is open every day in June, July and August. ( The key is available from neighbours.

A useful illustrated guide called "Aube Fascinating Churches" is available from the tourist office in Troyes at 34, quai Dampierre

 

The old town of Troyes with its half-timbered houses is the historic capital of Champagne. Initially it was built so that its layout resembled a champagne cork. It is a very pleasant to walk though especially streets like the Rue Champaeaux which have been pedestrianised. They have bright modern shops at ground level and ancient timber buildings above. The unique style of houses which are made with oak beams and are beautifully coloured.
	They reckon that Troyes is the only pIace where you can admire a complete medieval town built from wood. It is a lively place and The town hosts a "Nights of Champagne" festival, each year at the beginning of November
For the rest of the time it has much to offer with an excellent museum of modern art set in a former Bishop's Palace and a bustling square overlooked by the imposing - 'Hotel de Ville' (town hall) It is floodlit at night. Above the door I noticed the motto of the French Revolution with words about the indivisible Republic - " Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. "
I had never really taken in the last sentence -".... or Death" Given that option, no wonder most folk were in favour.

A final word "Aube" which is the name of the river and the department can be translated as -
"The dawn of a promising morning "
From my short visit there I would say that it lives up to its name.

report by Allan Rogers

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