Moncoutant, Deux Sevres

Description:

Geography and Transport Links

Moncoutant is a small town (commune area 26.32km²) situated in the North West of Deux Sevres, south of Bressuire and close to the border with Vendee.  The main access road is the D744.  The town does not have a rail link, the nearest being the TER regional network at Bressuire (17km).  The nearest commercial airport is Poitiers Biard (80km), offering seasonal flights to the UK.  La Rochelle airport (98km) offers a bigger range of UK destinations.
See also:  Bressuire

Climate

Climate here is driven by the Atlantic Ocean, and is therefore temperate year-round.  Average summer temperatures are 24C to 27C (13C to 15C low), and in winter this drops to 9C to 10C (3C to 4C low).  Wettest month is Oct with 54mm, whilst March is the driest month with 26mm.  Thouars is within an area that receives between 1750 and 2000 hours of sunshine per year.

Tourism

The key tourist facility here is Pescalis, a large fishing and nature based holiday complex, with a hotel, apartments, gites and a campsite.  The facility has 100ha of lakes.

Economy

Thouars is part of the Nord Deux Sevres economic zone, which has an unemployment rate of 5.9%, compared against the regional rate of 8.6% and the national rate of 9.1% (INSEE 2006). The largest company here is Clisson Metal, a wholesale trader in steel products.

Education

There is 1 state nursery, 1 primary (plus 1 Private), 1 secondary schools (plus 1 private), for colleges (lycee) the nearest is at Bressuire (17km)

Key Stats

Most of the properties in Moncoutant are main residences 91.7%, and 3.9% of properties are classed as second homes.  There are more people aged 60 or over than the national average (28.3% vs 21.3%), and the number of retired people is also higher (24.8% vs 18.2%).  23.7% of the local population are under 19 years of age.  There are fewer males than females resident here (48.8% vs 51.2%).

Key Facilities and Services: