The abbey of Sablonceaux, twenty kilometers from Royan, in the middle of the countryside in the heart of Romanesque Saintonge, offers a haven of peace.
The abbey of Sablonceaux was founded in 1136. Guillaume X, Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Poitou, and father of Aliénor, offered his lands of Sablonceaux, a hundred hectares, to the church, to be forgiven for his support for the "antipope".
The abbey was classified as a historical monument in 1905, which did not prevent its continued degradation and its sale to an individual.
It was not until the intervention of André Malraux, Minister of Culture, who made a trip to Saintonge in 1963, to release funding for restoration work which began the same year and which continued under the aegis of Historic Monuments. . Since 1987, the abbey of Sablonceaux has been entrusted to the Community of Chemin Neuf.