Every design for Talence

Talence sits directly south of Bordeaux, sharing a border with the city and belonging to Bordeaux Métropole, one of the most densely built communes in the region. It is the third-largest suburb of Bordeaux, and the line between the two is easy to cross without noticing.

Its other neighbours are Bègles to the east, Villenave-d'Ornon to the south-east, Gradignan to the south-west and Pessac to the west, which puts Talence right in the city's first ring. That makes its green spaces all the more precious: the Jardin botanique de Talence is its best-known sight, and historic houses such as the Château Monadey, the Château Belair and the Domaine du château Raba break up the streets. A canalised stream, the Ruisseau d'Ars, runs hidden beneath the town from west to east. The big university campus, home to the University of Bordeaux, the architecture school and KEDGE Business School, fills the town with students, and every year the Décastar brings some of the world's best decathletes to compete here.

Pick the Château des Arts as your landmark and you have Talence as locals know it: a historic house in a town full of student life.