Every design for Pontault-Combault

Pontault-Combault is known first of all for being two places in one: the communes of Pontault and Combault merged in 1839, and the town still carries both names, along with a demonym to match, Pontellois-Combalusiens. Pontault had already absorbed the little commune of Berchères at the time of the Revolution. Today it is the fourth most populous town in Seine-et-Marne, after Meaux, Chelles and Melun.

It lies in the eastern suburbs of Paris, south-east of the capital and north of Melun, between Noisy-le-Grand, Ozoir-la-Ferrière and Roissy-en-Brie. The Morbras, a tributary of the Marne, drains the area, and woods and ponds protected as natural areas, the Bois Saint-Martin and the Mare aux Fougères among them, have survived alongside the housing. The Arboretum Buffon, the Château du Bois la Croix and the Parc Saint-Pierre give residents green space close to home, and the Hôtel de Ville, in Combault, dates from the eighteenth century.

When the train pulls into Émerainville–Pontault-Combault station, two old villages become one familiar place again, and the walk home feels like it always has.