SAINT-ANDRE DE SEIGNANX

ville SAINT-ANDRÉ-DE-SEIGNANX

CULTURE, NATURE AND BASQUE PELOTAAND BASQUE PELOTA

The town of Saint-André-de-Seignanx has 1 600 inhabitants. The village is located to the south of the Orx Wetlands Nature Reserve, on the first slopes of the Pyrenean foothills, just before the Landes gives way to the Basque Country. The centre is a model of its kind : the Count of Orx, who is no other than the natural son of Napoleon 3, is buried in the 13th century fortified church’s tower-porch.

visuel SAINT-ANDRÉ-DE-SEIGNANX
The primary school shares its playground with the town-hall and fronton whilst the shops (post-office, café-restaurant, bakery …) are located around the square, overlooked by the “Mosaïque” hall (used for performances, meetings, meals, etc.) with its resolutely modern architecture and next to an area with different species of trees which was originally developed as part of a European educational project. The trinquet and indoor pelota court are regularly witness to matches between the area’s best hand-pelota players. Saint-André-de-Seignanx is a stronghold for this ancestral discipline, as can be seen by the recent national awards won.

When you leave the centre of the village, you can take country paths which wind through forests and fields, past fountains and canals to the Orx Wetlands Natural Reserve. Although the marais was drained on several occasions in the 19th century, it has only truly been used as farmland since 1925. In 1985 cultivable land was turned back into wetlands before being purchased by the Conservatoire du Littoral. Today it is Aquitaine’s most important waterfowl wintering site.

ACCOMMODATION IN SAINT-ANDRÉ-DE-SEIGNANX

LEISURE & ACTIVITIES IN SAINT-ANDRÉ-DE-SEIGNANX