Saron-sur-Aube

Setting on the Aube

Saron-sur-Aube lies in the Marne département and belongs to the Grand Est region. Administratively, the village falls under the arrondissement of Épernay and the canton of Vertus-Plaine Champenoise. Geographically, though, it looks southwards: Romilly-sur-Seine is only about five kilometres away, and the commune lies within its catchment area. At the 2023 census 268 people lived here, around 12 per cent fewer than in 2017.

The village borders the Aube directly. This river is 249 kilometres long, rises near Auberive and flows into the Seine at Marcilly-sur-Seine. The commune is also crossed by the Livon, the Saronde and several other small watercourses. Add to that the old Canal de la Haute Seine, a canal 38 kilometres long that is no longer navigable.

Landscape and climate

Saron-sur-Aube is firmly rural, with scattered buildings. Over 95 per cent of the land is farmed, 90 per cent of it arable. Woodland accounts for just under three per cent, and less than two per cent is built up. Viticulture is not mentioned in the available information, and the village has no grand cru or premier cru classification. For champagne lovers, then, it is not a place for tasting rooms but a spot on the south-western edge of what most people think of as the Champagne region.

“At the 2023 census 268 people lived here, around 12 per cent fewer than in 2017.The village borders the Aube directly.

The climate is temperate oceanic with fresh summers. At the nearest weather station in Romilly-sur-Seine, the annual average for 1991 to 2020 was 11.2 °C, with rainfall of around 620 millimetres a year. Extremes range from 42.3 °C on 25 July 2019 to minus 25.2 °C on 6 January 1971.

What to see

The village is small, but it has a few places worth stopping at:

• the church of Saint-André
• the Château de Saron-sur-Aube
• a beach on the Aube, which has a good reputation across the whole canton
• a park

The river beach in particular is unusual for the region and makes the village a popular day out for people in the area on warm days.

Paul Goerg Champagner Trauben

History and people

The name Saron is first recorded around 1146. The château is linked to the mathematician Jean Baptiste Gaspard Bochart de Saron (1730 to 1794), who owned a château here. The painter Colette Bonzo (1917 to 1967) was born in Saron-sur-Aube. The artist Dana Roman, born in 1945, and her husband, the sculptor Victor Roman (1937 to 1995), also lived in the village.

For travellers

Anyone travelling through Champagne will not find a winemaking village in Saron-sur-Aube, but a quiet stop in the Aube valley. It is a good place for a break by the water before heading on to the region's better-known vineyards.