Charmeil (; oc, Chalmelh) is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Allier Allier ( , , ; oc, Alèir) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region that borders Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire to the east, Puy-de-Dôme to the south, and Creuse to the south-west. Named afte ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in central

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Geography

Accessible by departmental roads 6 and 27, Charmeil is located northwest of

Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a Spa town, spa and resort town and in World ...

, south of Saint-Rémy-en-Rollat, east of

Vendat Vendat () is a commune in the Allier department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in central France. Population See also *Communes of the Allier department The following is a list of the 317 communes of the Allier department of France. Inter ...

, and north of

Bellerive-sur-Allier Bellerive-sur-Allier (; oc, Vaissa) is a commune in the Allier department in central France. Known as Vesse or Vaisse, it was renamed Bellerive-sur-Allier in 1903. Population Geography Location Bellerive-sur-Allier was member of Gannat d ...

. A weather station is located on the site of the

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

, elevation: . File:Charmeil D 27 depuis Vendat 2014-06-14.JPG, alt=The D 27 road from Vendat, D 27 from Vendat File:Charmeil D 27 Entrée depuis Cusset 2014-06-14.JPG, alt=D 27 road from Boutiron bridge, D 27 from Boutiron bridge

Administration

List of successive mayors: * 2001-2014: Andrée-Claude Petillat * 2014-current: Franck Gonzales

Population

Demography

Economy

Charmeil has a commercial area with signs: Mr Bricolage, Jardiland, a

GiFi GiFi is a French discount chain with nearly 500 stores, mostly in France. It was founded in 1981 by Philippe Ginestet Philippe Ginestet (born 15 April 1954) is a French billionaire businessman, and the founder, chairman and owner of GiFi, a F ...

store, Lidl, and local merchants.

Culture and Heritage

* Charmeil Castle, which was the summer residence of Marshal

Philippe Pétain Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), commonly known as Philippe Pétain (, ) or Marshal Pétain (french: Maréchal Pétain), was a French general who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of World ...

in 1943 and which was held including a secret meeting between Pierre Laval and the advisor of German

Rudolf Rahn Rudolf Rahn (16 March 1900 – 7 January 1975) was a German diplomat who served the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. As a member of the Party, and as Plenipotentiary to the Italian Social Republic in the closing stages of the Second World War, he ...

embassy minister in August 1942. * Church * Boutiron bridge (on departmental road 27, between Charmeil and Creuzier-le-Vieux,

Monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

since 2021)