Loire Country

An Atlantic region bounded by Brittany and the Gulf of Gascony to the west. Criss-crossed by the Loire River from which it takes its name, it is a region of plains, two-thirds of which are devoted to agriculture....

The region encompasses the Loire Valley (which shares with the neighbouring Centre region), a protected natural zone and the cradle of the French Renaissance, and the Vendée department, the starting point for the famous Vendée Globe, around-the-world single-handed yacht race held every four years. The Pays de la Loire is somewhat more diverse, however, and has a long coastline along the Atlantic Ocean, forming the northern part of the Bay of Biscay, within the area known as the Vendée. The Loire region is an administrative unit more than a cultural and historical reality, and as is suggested by the long-standing debate about whether Loire-Atlantique (Nantes) it does not rightfully belong to neighbouring Brittany.