Echiré : patrimoine industriel et gastronomique

The town may have taken its name from Scauriacum, the domain of the Gallo-Roman Scaurius. Situated between the Gâtinais bocage and the Niort plain, it is sculpted by the valley and the 18 kilometres of meanders of the Sèvre Niortaise regulated by 8 causeways and had 45 estates and 7 mills in 1716. Established in 1894 in an old flour mill, the Laiterie Coopérative d'Echiré is today the market leader for quality butter. Its Charentes-Poitou butter, with its hazelnut taste and AOC label, has been served at the Elysée Palace since René Coty (1956), at Buckingham Palace and at the Principality of Monaco, and the Poitou chef Joël Robuchon uses it in his famous purée. In 2003, the company was awarded the prize for best French exporter by the London Chamber of Commerce.

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