A living heritage

Craftsmanship and workshop visits in Nouvelle-Aquitaine

In Nouvelle-Aquitaine, workshops, farms and wine cellars open their doors. Watch a product take shape before your eyes, touch the raw material, and leave with images, sounds, smells, an understanding of the gesture and, often, a souvenir that means something.
Wool, leather, wood, wine... Local artisans share a know-how that's sometimes centuries old, sometimes rare, but always deeply rooted. Here are visit ideas built around the region's flagship products.

Table of contents

Names you’ll recognise

The icons, celebrated and legally protected: Limoges porcelain, Aubusson tapestry and rugs, Charentaises (padded French slippers) and Basque linen

the classics: Nontron knives, the beret, espadrilles, Saint-Junien gloves, Tulle accordions

the hidden gems: handmade surfboards and skis, the Basque makhila (ceremonial walking stick) and chistera (curved wicker basket used in pelota), cosmetics

The delicacies: Bayonne ham and chocolate, Arcachon and Marennes-Oléron oysters, Echiré butter and Poitou cheeses

Pleasure begins well before the plate

Espelette pepper, caviar and other flavours of the Southwest

At Espelette, we walk into the Atelier du Piment through the fields. We touch peppers still green on the stem, then follow their journey to bright red powder, passing garlands drying on the village’s white walls. The tasting at the end tickles the tongue.

From red, we move to black, in the Dordogne. At Caviar de Neuvic, we get close to the sturgeon in the fish farm’s pools. With gear provided, we can stroke their smooth skin, as smooth as the black, barely salted eggs we are about to taste.

Plenty more flavours wait to be found at the source: salt from the Île de Ré (or, more surprisingly, from Béarn), Bayonne chocolate, Périgord walnuts… The list goes on, and you’ll find it here.

LINKS

All the gourmet products

LINKS

All the gourmet products

The whole region is a vineyard!

Cognac, Bordeaux wine and more

At Rémy Martin, in Cognac, we hop on an electric bike through the vineyards of Grande Champagne, open-air laboratories in their own right. First we learn to read the land, the better to taste its nectar. Back at the historic house, a guide unspools three centuries of history before opening the door to the cellars and their copper stills. Pure magic.

Across Nouvelle-Aquitaine, vines shape the land, or bend to fit it. Know-how mixes with tradition, family secrets and invention. Dine at the foot of a still in the Landes, tour a designer-built cellar in Bordeaux wine country… In Brive, the Denoix distillery crafts liqueurs and aperitifs from walnuts, plants and fruit, with no added colouring or flavouring, and yet, what flavour!

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Explore Cognac

Bordeaux vineyard must-sees

Denoix distillery

LINKS

Explore Cognac

Bordeaux vineyard must-sees

Denoix distillery

The stars of the Limousin

Aubusson tapestry and Limoges porcelain

A stretched thread, a chosen colour, a wooden loom, and a patience UNESCO decided to protect: welcome to Aubusson. Under one roof, the Cité internationale shows, explains and surprises, with monumental tapestries drawn from Tolkien and Miyazaki. All across town, spinners, dyers, cartoon-painters and weavers keep six centuries of craft alive, one thread at a time.

Before it becomes a plate, Limoges porcelain starts out as a white liquid called barbotine, or slip. It’s one of the steps on show at the Manufacture Bernardaud, founded in 1863, where the visit follows every stage: moulding, firing in the great kiln, and hand-painted decoration by the porcelain artisans. We hold our breath! Then carry on exploring the rest of the town’s porcelain trail.

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About Aubusson-Felletin

Limoges Porcelain

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About Aubusson-Felletin

Limoges Porcelain

One gesture, one signature

Ganterie Agnelle and Coutellerie Nontronnaise, craft at work

Three to four hours: that’s how long it takes a glove-maker at the Agnelle workshop, in Saint-Junien, to hand-finish the trickiest pieces. This family firm has walked the catwalks alongside Dior, Chanel and others. Step behind the curtain and follow a glove’s journey, from the choice of leather to the final stitch.

More mysterious is the meaning of the upside-down V and three dots branded onto every Nontron knife. We’re happy to let the legends unfold around France’s oldest folding knife, while watching, with quiet respect, the sure, careful hands that shape and polish the boxwood handle, fit the ferrule and hone the blade.

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About Leather in Limousin

About Nontron knife

LINKS

About Leather in Limousin

About Nontron knife

Behind the curtain

Visits and workshops, where hands do the talking

We take our time, stepping into the hush of a workshop to meet the artisans who run it. We talk, we watch, and sometimes we try our hand at it ourselves. The magic works on grown-ups and children alike. We leave with an object, a smell, a memory, and the certainty of having shared something real with those who shape the region, one gesture at a time.

A few workshop ideas to get you started: glazing a piece of porcelain, felting wool into a bag, making paper the old way, or your own walnut oil, wine blend, or cognac decanter! And then there’s pottery, cosmetics, pastels, macarons… The choice, should you wish to make one, is entirely yours.

A day at the museum, a night at the festival

Museums and festivals of craftsmanship in Nouvelle-Aquitaine

Museums stay open all year; festivals set the region’s rhythm. Both let us in on a few secrets and give us a fuller picture of where the craft stands today. Beyond meeting the artisans themselves, festivals sometimes come with a workshop to join.

We’ve already mentioned the Cité de la tapisserie in Aubusson, but not the Musée national Adrien Dubouché, devoted to Limoges porcelain. Bordeaux’s Cité du Vin is a benchmark, Rochefort’s Corderie Royale carries a long history, Tulle’s Cité de l’Accordéon is a lovely surprise, and Saint-Junien’s Cité du Cuir has only just opened its doors.

As for festivities, the range runs wide: knives in Nontron, espadrilles in Mauléon, gâteau basque in Cambo-les-Bains. In fact, every local delicacy gets its own festival here: truffles, asparagus, cherries, foie gras, oysters, cheeses…

LINKS

Museums in Nouvelle-Aquitaine

LINKS

Museums in Nouvelle-Aquitaine

A taste of what awaits you

Some ideas for your stay

Set off to explore our destinations: from the foothills of the Pyrenees to hidden villages, from surfing sessions on the coast to hikes in the wide open spaces of the Limousin. You’re bound to find a holiday that takes your fancy.

Explore our trip ideas

and to continue exploring

Experience the NOuvelle-Aquitaine

To find out more about the destination or the experiences on offer there, here are a few pages that invite you to continue your exploration, either online or in person.