- Département
- Ardennes
- Site
- Arrondissement of Vouziers, about 43 km north-east of Châlons-en-Champagne
- Inhabitants
- 79 (as of 2023)
- Source
- Wikipedia, eigene Zusammenfassung
A small commune in the Ardennes département, about 43 km north-east of Châlons-en-Champagne. Not a wine village, but a place of remembrance for Freddie Stowers, recipient of the Medal of Honor.
Location
Ardeuil-et-Montfauxelles, usually shortened to Ardeuil, is a small village in the Ardennes département in the Grand Est region, which used to be part of Champagne-Ardenne. It lies in the arrondissement of Vouziers and the canton of Attigny, about 43 kilometres north-east of Châlons-en-Champagne. Neighbouring communes include Marvaux-Vieux, Séchault, Bouconville, Fontaine-en-Dormois, Gratreuil and Manre.
The commune covers 4.3 square kilometres and had exactly 79 inhabitants in 2023. It counts as a rural commune with very scattered housing and belongs to the catchment area of Vouziers.
Landscape instead of vineyards
If you expect rows of vines here, you will not find any. According to the 2018 data, the commune's land is entirely agricultural: arable land makes up 69.4 per cent, meadows 20.7 per cent and mixed farmland 9.9 per cent. The sources make no mention of viticulture. Ardeuil is neither grand cru nor premier cru. The champagne vineyards you know from Reims or Épernay lie far from this village.
For 1991 to 2020 it records an average annual temperature of 11.0 °C and on average 721.9 millimetres of rainfall.
The little river Alin runs through the commune. It is 17 kilometres long, rises in Aure and joins the Aisne near Brécy-Brières.
Climate
The climate is temperate with cool summers (Cfb in the Köppen-Geiger classification). The nearest Météo-France weather station is at Montcheutin, nine kilometres away. For 1991 to 2020 it records an average annual temperature of 11.0 °C and on average 721.9 millimetres of rainfall. The highest reading was 41.2 °C on 25 July 2019, the lowest minus 15.5 °C on 20 December 2009.
History: Freddie Stowers
During the First World War the village lay close to the fighting. It was here that Freddie Stowers, born in 1896, died in 1918. He was the only African American soldier to receive the Medal of Honor, the highest decoration of the United States, for bravery in the First World War. He fell during the assault on Côte 188, a rise above a farmstead near Ardeuil-et-Montfauxelles.
Things to see
The village is small, and you should not expect a big sightseeing tour. The places mentioned are:
- the church of Notre-Dame
- the war memorial
- the Alin stream, which flows through the commune
For champagne travellers, Ardeuil is at most a stopover, perhaps on a drive through the Ardennes or when following the traces of the First World War. The tasting is better saved for the wine villages further south.
Pictures
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