Every design for Asnières-Sur-Seine

Asnières-sur-Seine sits on the left bank of the river Seine in the north-western suburbs of Paris, linked to Clichy by the busy pont d'Asnières. Its name goes back to a medieval Latin word for a donkey farm, given to a stretch of poor, heather-covered soil that seemed good for little else. By the early twentieth century the town had become a favourite boating centre for Parisians, with boat building among its trades.

The Château d'Asnières is the clearest link to that older, gentler town on the water. The river once wrapped around islands here, the île des Ravageurs that appears in Eugène Sue's novels and the île Robinson named after Defoe's hero, until the old channels were filled in for a metro extension and the new pont de Clichy. Today the town is home to the Musée Louis-Vuitton and to the head office of Lesieur, the maker of cooking oils.

For anyone who grew up here, the map brings back Sunday walks in the Parc Roger Salengro, the quays along the Seine and the long way home across the bridge.