Plaine | The Fontenay to Lucon Prairie, South Vendee

The Vendée Plaine more often referred to as the Luçon -Fontenay Prairie is the original coastal plaine that developed behind the Bay of Pictons, It was a vast expanse of natural grassland, almost devoid of trees, rising from the then shoreline to a ridge which today is the N148 road and then falling back down into the bocage. The Plaine has always been a prosperous region something which is clearly demonstrated by the towns of Fontenay-le-Comte and Lucon, but also in the houses of the Plaine, which still stand tall and strong, having been built of stone and thereby displaying the wealth of their original owners.
This is a landscape of large fields full of sunflower, maze and wheat, with few trees and wide vistas. Agriculture is King of the Plaine, it moves with the seasons changing as the different harvest and plantings take place, but one cannot fell to be impressed with the fast expanses of sunflowers, wheat and maize which are the major crops.
The Plaine is probably the area of least tourism in the Vendée, yet within the vast open landscape there are some real treasures, The towns of Fontenay-le-Comte and Luçon have two of the finest historical heritages of any towns in the Vendée, with Fontenay exhibiting architectural and scholarly heritage and Luçon with its considerable religious heritage.
The Plaine is roughly wedge shaped widest in the west then squeezed by the Marais Poitevin to the south and the Bas Bocage to its north. It runs along a line in the north from St Hermine in the westend through Thire, St Valerien, L'Hermenault, Fontenay-le-Comte, Oulmes to Benet in the east, and in the south from Luçon in the west through Naillier, La Langon, Fountaines to Benet. They are not straight lines by any means, and have peninsulas pushing out into the the Marais Poitevin.