Truffles, saffron, cheese, organic oil, beef, sheep and pork, organic fruits and vegetables and even artisanal pasta! Farmers and producers are teeming and flourishing in Sénillé-Saint-Sauveur, eight kilometers east of Châtellerault.
If we add a gourmet restaurant and a farmers' market, it's a safe bet that the town could claim, if it existed, the title of gourmet capital from Grand Châtellerault!
So it was with my mouth watering that I set off to scout out three essential stops in Foucaud and Senille to prepare your short circuit holiday races.
Met…
Fresh black truffle also called Tuber Melanosporum
Le Clos d'Agathe, in search of the black diamond

At the end of a dead end near the Saint-André de Sénillé church, I meet a colorful trio.
Gather Alain Aurioux, a former employee in the aeronautics sector with a passion for arboriculture, his wife Catherine fearsomely gifted at training dogs, and Oran their tricolor Cocker Spaniel always ready to help thanks to her flair. You will then obtain the secret of Clos d'Agathe: a perfect distribution of tasks to flush out the exceptional mushroom that George Sand nicknamed " the fairy apple ».
At the Aurioux, the adventure of the truffle growing began somewhat by chance. The year 2000 had just passed. The couple was looking to buy a house. Alain made enquiries at the town hall in Sénillé, who directed him to the bistro across the street! Advised by the village elders, he visited “la grange de la Thérèse”. It was love at first sight to transform the building into a charming home.
This hay barn also includes a hectare of land? Never mind: Alain takes the opportunity to plant six mycorrhizal trees in the hope of transforming the land into a truffle field.
In Senille, the land is fertile because the pH is perfect (7,5) for growing truffles. Everything is looking good, the burns appear around the roots but no trace of Tuber Melanosporum. A friend of Alain understands that there is a problem with the sexing of the trees. Back to square one. In 2012, the grandson of farmers replants 76 hazelnuts, oaks, lime trees, hornbeams and Aleppo pines, in order to be sure this time to mix males and females. Five years later, happiness arrives: a first truffle is harvested.





Highly dependent on climatic conditions, black diamond production is expanding from the end of November to the end of February. When I came in December, I had the chance to attend a digging led by Catherine. As soon as she arrived in the field, Orane ran off and took just a few minutes to sniff out the treasure in the burnt area, at the foot of a hazel tree. The famous mushroom generally thrives at a depth of 1 to 20 cm.
Orane's mistress explains to me that Le Clos d'Agathe is a member of the Touraine truffle growers' association. The specifications are very strict. For example, the truffle must always be sold washed, brushed and canned to check the grain and interior color. A guarantee of quality for this luxury product.
Goat and cow cheeses
La Petitsigne cheese factory, a family saga

In the hamlet of Bellevue where the farm is located, I am greeted by a ballet of delivery trucks. The contrast is strong when I push open the door of the refining premises. Here, everything is handmade, from curdling to packaging, including molding and salting!
The goat's milk comes from the neighboring farm, and the cow's milk comes from the Prairies de la Gartempe in Vicq.
Behind the success of this artisanal cheese dairy since 2012, a woman: Christelle PetitsigneWhen she retraces her story, this mother of five children (all girls!) lifts the veil on a real family saga.
It all started with her great-grandmother, Marie, who raised goats and made cheese. Every week, her grandmother would harness her donkey to go to the market in La Roche-Posay by cart. And it was with Yvonne, her grandmother, that Christelle would go to the fields to look after the goats. From there, her dream of one day becoming a cheesemaker was born.
A vocational certificate in sales, a first career in mass distribution and the birth of her twins delayed the project for a while. Until she visited this cheese factory in Bellevue where she started as an employee and, ten years later, bought the company from her boss who had retired.





Christelle loves working as a family, surrounded by her two eldest daughters, her son-in-law, her sister, her husband and his aunt. The best customer feedback for this enthusiast: " I feel like I'm eating my grandmother's cheese! ". The Petitsigne key: the use of whey which brings that old-fashioned taste.
Vegetable oils and Salers beef
La Dana Farm, values above all

At the place called Marçay, the view over the valley immediately captures the attention of visitors. Here, Philippe Martin cultivates sunflower, rapeseed and camelina to transform them into oil by the traditional mechanical means of cold pressing which allows all the nutritional qualities to be preserved.
Established since 1993 on the family farm, the farmer is carrying out a conversion into organic farming in 2006.
Beatrice, his wife whom he met on the benches of the agricultural high school of Venours, joined him exactly ten years ago to take care of a breeding of calves under the mother. For this, the former employee of para-agricultural structures takes over a building which has become available in the commune a few kilometers from the crops. Her herd of Salers cows is pampered, in particular thanks to the practice of ethology (the scientific study of animal behavior) and the use of essential oils that the animals inhale from logs of wood according to their needs.
Juicy, Salers meat is renowned for its incomparable flavor and its marbling, much appreciated by restaurateurs. At the Dana farm, there is no intensive system but animals are pastured or fed in winter with Philippe's organic cereals.




I quickly understand that the name Dana, Irish goddess of the earth, was not chosen by chance. The Martin couple explains to me that they try as much as possible to reason their activity to combining environment, culture and breedingHe controls the entire chain, from birth to plate, thanks to a butcher's cutting workshop set up collectively in Châtellerault with five other producers.
Béatrice’s 100% local recipe idea for the holidays : veal grenadines accompanied by a pan-fried mushroom dish from the Ressort in Scorbé-Clairvaux.
AND ALSO IN SENILLÉ-SAINT-SAUVEUR…
• Alice's Fabric (artisanal pasta), In the Paradise of Sénillé (sheep meat), Filsoie in Vienna (organic saffron), The Three Chimneys (Charolais beef), Cocotte Emotion (veal, beef, pork, eggs), At the Country Boudin (artisanal charcuterie), The Villebure Farm (fruits and vegetables)…
• farmer's market from Sénillé-Saint-Sauveur: Friday December 20, 2024 then every last Friday of the month in 2025
• Gourmet restaurant La Foucaudière opened in 2024 by chef Richard Robe
• Balls or shows with locavore meals organized by theassociation The Flavors of Senillé-Saint-Sauveur





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