Twenty-three kilometres east of Poitiers, CHAUVIGNY is a busy market town on the banks of the Vienne with half a dozen porcelain factories and lumber mills providing work for the area. Overlooking the bustling ville basse, the old town boasts five medieval castles whose imposing ruins stand atop a precipitous rock spur, but its pride and joy are the sculpted capitals in the Romanesque church of St-Pierre. If you take rue du Château, which winds up the spur from the central place de la Poste, you'll pass the ruins of the Château Baronnial, which belonged to the bishops of Poitiers, and the better-preserved Château d'Harcourt, before coming to the attractive and unusual east end of St-Pierre.Inside, the church is damp and in poor repair, but the choir capitals are a visual treat. Each one is different, evoking a terrifying, nightmarish world. Graphically illustrated monsters – bearded, moustached, winged, scaly, human-headed with manes of flame – grab hapless mortals – naked, upside down and puny – ripping their bowels out and crunching their heads. The only escape offered is in the naively serene events of the Nativity. On the second capital on the south side of the choir, for instance, the angel Gabriel announces Christ's birth to the shepherds, their flock represented by four sheep that look like Pooh's companion Eeyore, while just around the corner the archangel Michael weighs souls in hand-held scales and a devil tries to grab one for his dinner. Coinciding your visit with the Saturday, Tuesday (particularly the second Tuesday of each month) or Thursday market gives an extra dimension to a day-trip here. Held between the church of Notre-Dame and the river, it offers a mouthwatering selection of food – Oysters, prawns, crayfish, cheeses galore and pâtés in aspic. The cafés are fun, too, bursting with noisy wine-flushed farmers mixing business with pleasure. There are five buses a day from Poitiers to Chauvigny, which will drop you in the ville basse. The tourist office is located in the old town at 5 rue St-Pierre (daily 10am–1.30pm & 2–6pm; tel 05.49.46.39.01, www.chauvigny.cg86.fr). If you want to stay overnight, your best bet is Le Lion d'Or, 8 rue du Marché (tel 05.49.46.30.28, fax 05.49.47.74.28; €40–55) which also has a restaurant with menus from €13. Chauvigny's municipal campsite is just east of the centre on rue de la Fontaine (tel 05.49.46.31.94; fax 05.49.46.40.60).
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