Vaux-Lavalette

Vaux -Lavalette is a municipality with a population of 96 (as of 1 January 2011) in the south of the western French département Charente in the Poitou -Charentes.

Location

Vaux -Lavalette is located at an altitude of about 150 meters above sea level. inst about 32 km ( driving distance ) south of Angouleme town on the right bank of the Lizonne in the ancient cultural landscape of the Angoumois in the area of the Charente, close to the Perigord.

Demographics

In the first half of the 19th century, the community had constant around 300 inhabitants; due to the phylloxera crisis in the wine and the mechanization of agriculture, the population then dropped continuously from the current lows.

Economy

The residents of the community lived for centuries as a self-catering from agriculture; today include the floors of the church at the Bons Bois of the vineyard Cognac, but the paragraphs of expensive brandies and wine in recent decades tended to shrink, so that the wine industry in the region does not play a significant role. Revenue from tourism, especially the rental of apartments ( gîtes ) are, on the other hand added as source of income since the 1960s.

Attractions

The small - largely built with the exception of the facade of rubble - parish church of the village ( Église Sainte -Blaise ) is a simple Romanesque building of the 12th century, with an unusual façade design: The unadorned central portal is surmounted by a triangular and aufruhendem on two consoles Blend gable; side of it are two raised slender arcades. About the portal zone runs a - only preserved in parts - console frieze. The integrated in the tympanum belfry seems to be an addition of the 18th century. The nave is illuminated by only two windows on the south side and covered by an open roof.