The Moulin de Lansac is a restored windmill that is perched on a 69-metre-high mound known as Le Grand Puy, in Lansac, a few kilometres t...

Moulin de Lansac: making the millstones turn again!

The Moulin de Lansac is a restored windmill that is perched on a 69-metre-high mound known as Le Grand Puy, in Lansac, a few kilometres to the east of Bourg-en-Gironde in Côtes-de-Bourg wine-growing territory.

Little is known about the history of the windmill except that it and its unrestored twin were definitely in operation in the 19th century… but may even reportedly date back as far as 1598, not long after the first millers began operating in Gironde (which was in 1556 according to a Gironde departmental archives document). The year 1820 is prominently inscribed on one stone but it is thought that this was added during a rebuilding phase.

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By one of the entrances to what is now the Hangar 14 conference centre on the Garonne riverfront, a 2002 plaque commemorates one ...

Operation Frankton: the Cockleshell Heroes and their 1942 suicide raid


By one of the entrances to what is now the Hangar 14 conference centre on the Garonne riverfront, a 2002 plaque commemorates one of the most heroic chapters in Bordeaux’s Second World War history: the British Royal Marines' "Operation Frankton".

This December 1942 commando raid aimed to find an innovative means of thwarting German war efforts. It focused on the so-called “blockade runner” supply ships which would dock in Bordeaux with their freight of vegetable and animal oils, and raw materials including crude rubber from the Far East.

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Just outside Biganos, off the main road between Bordeaux and Arcachon, lies the Moulin de la Cassadotte, home to one of three Girondin pr...

Moulin de la Cassadotte: the flour mill turned caviar farm

Just outside Biganos, off the main road between Bordeaux and Arcachon, lies the Moulin de la Cassadotte, home to one of three Girondin producers of a luxury delicacy: caviar. 

The mill was originally completed in 1834 and was the property of one Mr Courbin, a man from nearby Mios. His mill sought to capitalise on the current of the lively Lacanau stream, which flows into the river Leyre (which in turn flows into the waters of the Bassin d’Arcachon). The water mill ground out flour for more than a hundred years, ceasing production after the Second World War, by which time it could not compete with large-scale mills such as the Grand Moulins establishment in Bordeaux.

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This unusual statue, “ le matelot ” (the seaman), stands atop a roof in the centre of the seaside resort of Lacanau-Océan, welcoming visi...

Le Matelot: an open-arm welcome to Lacanau-Océan

This unusual statue, “le matelot” (the seaman), stands atop a roof in the centre of the seaside resort of Lacanau-Océan, welcoming visitors to the town. Although the figure that can currently be seen was positioned there in 2006, the story goes further back…

The work is a modern-day take on a statue which was placed there by Jean-Émile Lacaze, the first owner of the accompanying villa which was one of the first to be built in the town upon its creation in 1906. Indeed, Lacanau-Océan is a relatively young town, founded as the result of the extension beyond the inland town of Lacanau of the railway line from Bordeaux (loyal readers will be familiar with the subject, as the route is now a popular cycle path).

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