Sablé-sur-Sarthe (, literally ''Sablé on

Sarthe Sarthe () is a department of the French region of Pays de la Loire, and the province of Maine, situated in the ''Grand-Ouest'' of the country. It is named after the river Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers. It had ...

''), commonly referred to as Sablé, 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

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 the

Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire (; ; br, Broioù al Liger) is one of the 18 regions of France, in the west of the mainland. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful of "balancing metropolises" (). ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

, western

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 ...

. It is about 50 km northeast of

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the prov ...

Population

Geography

The

Vaige The Vaige () is a long river in the Mayenne and Sarthe departments in western France. This list is ordered from source to mouth: *In Mayenne, the Vaige has its source in Saint-Léger then waters the following villages: Vaiges, Saint-Georges-l ...

forms part of the commune's north-western border, flows southwards through the middle of the commune, then flows into the

Sarthe River The Sarthe () is a river in western France. Together with the river Mayenne it forms the river Maine, which is a tributary to the river Loire. Its source is in the Orne department, near Moulins-la-Marche. It flows generally southwest, through ...

in the town of Sablé-sur-Sarthe.

History

French prime minister

François Fillon François Charles Armand Fillon (; born 4 March 1954) is a retired French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy. He was the nominee of the Republicans (previously known as the Union ...

was mayor of Sablé from 1983 to 2001, which therefore has a TGV station on the line from Paris-Nantes despite a relatively small population.

Tourism

The town is a hub for river cruising along the Sarthe. There is a festival of baroque music every August.

Industry

From 2010 to 2015, the motor car firm Venturi had a factory at Sablé-sur-Sarthe.

Points of interest

Arboretum du Rosay The Arboretum du Rosay (2.5 hectares) is a new arboretum within the ''parc du domaine de Rosay'' in Sablé-sur-Sarthe, Sarthe, Pays de la Loire, France. The park was named a historical monument in 1992, has been owned by the municipality since the ...

References

External links

Town council website
* Communes of Sarthe Maine (province) {{Sarthe-geo-stub