Ventelay

Location

Ventelay lies in the north-west of the Marne département, right on the border with the Aisne and therefore with the Hauts-de-France region. Administratively, the village belongs to the arrondissement of Reims and the canton of Fismes-Montagne de Reims. In terms of landscape, it is part of the Tardenois. The village itself sits in a hollow shaped by the Ruisseau du Moulin. This stream rises in the neighbouring village of Bouvancourt, is about ten kilometres long and flows into the Vesle at Montigny-sur-Vesle.

The commune covers 1,474 hectares, with the land rising from 77 to 206 metres. Its neighbouring communes include Concevreux, Roucy, Guyencourt, Bouvancourt, Montigny-sur-Vesle, Romain and Meurival. It is about 23 kilometres by road to Reims and roughly 10 kilometres to Fismes.

Landscape and place within Champagne

Ventelay is classified neither as Grand Cru nor as Premier Cru. If you expect rows of vines on every slope, you will be disappointed: a good 88 per cent of the land is farmed, most of it (75.4 per cent) as arable fields. A further 13 per cent is mixed agricultural land and just under 12 per cent is woodland. The climate is oceanic: over the years 1971 to 2000, the average annual temperature was 10.1 °C and rainfall 694 millimetres.

“A further 13 per cent is mixed agricultural land and just under 12 per cent is woodland.

For travellers interested in champagne, the village is therefore above all an example of the quiet, agricultural side of the region, away from the famous vineyard sites. Reims, home to many of the champagne houses, gives the village its economic orientation as its catchment area: Ventelay belongs to the outer ring (couronne) of the Reims urban area.

Village and history

Ventelay has 253 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2023), who are known as Ventelaisiens. The commune is considered rural, with scattered buildings. Besides the village centre, it includes several hamlets and field names, such as Le Moncet, Hameau de Bourgogne, Loge Fontaine, Le Verpignon, Pussemène and Le Faité. In 2018 there were 129 dwellings, all of them detached houses, and almost 82 per cent of residents owned their home.

Champagner H.Blin

The name of the place is recorded early: around 877 it appears as Ventilais, and in the 11th century as Ventelaium. From the First World War, an honour has been handed down: on 30 May 1921 the village was awarded the Croix de guerre 1914-1918.

Sights

• The church of Saint-Rémi, the best-known building in the village
• The valley of the Ruisseau du Moulin, with fields and patches of woodland, good for walks

If you want to get to know Champagne in all its breadth, you can plan Ventelay as a quiet stop on the way between Reims and Fismes. The vineyards lie elsewhere, but the landscape is part of the region's overall picture.