Twinning with Cholet
Cholet: A Gateway to Exploration, Green Spaces and Urban Renewal, A Textile Legacy, and A Sporting Spirit
Cholet: A Gateway to Exploration, Green Spaces and Urban Renewal
The commune of Cholet is situated 50 kilometres SE of Nantes, in NW France, in the department of Maine-et-Loire and in the region Pays de la Loire. The commune itself, with 56,000 inhabitants, is the centre of the Cholet Agglomération (107,000 inhabitants).
Positioned in a triangle formed by the towns of Nantes, Angers and La Roche-sur-Yon, Cholet is ideally situated to access other regions, including western Brittany and the Atlantic beaches. Paris is an hour away on the TGV and Nantes international airport can be accessed in around 45 minutes.
If Solihull has a motto of ‘urbs in rure’, Cholet has been described as ‘une ville moyenne - un bon compromis entre la grande ville et la campagne’.
Today Cholet has much to offer both residents and visitors alike: culture (Théâtre Saint-Loius), history (Musée d’Art et d’Histoire), green spaces (Parc de Moine, Lac de Ribou), sport (basketball and cycling) and entertainment (annual carnival with 100,000 spectators).
Cholet: A Textile Legacy
Inextricably linked to Cholet is the textile industry, an industry which shaped the city’s fortunes. One of Cholet’s textile specialties is the famous red handkerchief or ‘mouchoir rouge’ - becoming the symbol of the region and earning the town the title of ‘Handkerchief Capital’. The Musée du Textile et de la Mode, brings to life the town’s involvement with textile manufacture and design over the years.
Cholet: A Sporting Spirit
Challenge of the sportiest city in France
The challenge was created by Jacques Goddet, then director of the newspaper l'Auto.
The competition was not organized between 1942 and 1949. Cholet is the only city to have won this challenge three times (1972, 2007 and 2014) in the category of cities with more than 20,000 inhabitants.
This sporting nature remains strong in Cholet.
A few more interesting facts about Cholet:
- Residents are called Choletais.
- The name Cholet appears to have stemmed from the Latin word for cabbage (cauletum).
- The town’s older buildings were destroyed during (1793 - 1796) during the Wars of the Vendée.
- Cholet hosted the team time trial stage of the The Tour de France in 2018.
- Cholet is also twinned with Oldenburg in Germany and Dénia in Spain.