La Gacilly > Angers

ILLE-ET-VILAINE (35)

Population: 1.11 million, spread over 27 cantons and 333 communes.

Prefecture: Rennes (pop. 216,815).

Sub-prefectures: Fougères, Redon Saint-Malo.

Surface area: 6,775 km

Specialities: Cancale oysters, Roellinger spices, PDO mussels from the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel, PDO salt-meadow lamb from the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel, Rennes cuckoo chickens, Janzé chickens, Bordier butter, Saint-Malo crackers, galette saucisse, Redon and chestnuts. The Lices market (2nd largest in France and one of the oldest).

Festivals: Quai des Bulles (comic strip and projected image festival) and Étonnants Voyageurs (book and film festival) in Saint-Malo. Dinard Film Festival - film festival devoted to British films. Transmusicales IN Rennes, Route du Rock, summer (August) and winter (February) collections - Yaouank, Breton music festival in Rennes.

Tourist attractions : Rennes, capital of Brittany and its parliament - The Bay of Mont Saint-Michel, a UNESCO World Heritage Site - The Brocéliande forest and the legends of King Arthur and Merlin the magician - The Marches OF Bretagne and the medieval fortresses of Vitré and Fougères - The spectacular eleven-lock staircase on the Ille-et-Rance canal at Hédé-Bazouges - Bécherel, cité du livre® and its annual Book Festival on Easter weekend - The Rance, Vilaine and Couesnon valleys. The megalithic site of Saint-Just, the 2nd most diverse megalithic site in Brittany.

Economy: France's leading dairy-producing region. Research and training: 71,542 students, 56% of the total for Brittany. Businesses: 47.9% of establishments are in the services sector (source: CCI 35 key figures 2019). The Rennes metropolitan area has been awarded the French Tech label. Tourism: 4.32 million overnight stays in 2019 (hotels and open-air hotels).

Sport: SRFC Rennes (Stade Rennais) plays in Ligue 1 and has taken part in various European competitions in recent years. Cesson Rennes Métropole Handball (Cesson Irreducible) - French Pro D2 champions in 2009 and 2020.

Website: www.ille-et-vilaine.fr, www.ille-et-vilaine-tourisme.bzh,

Lohéac (pop. 700)

Created by former racing driver and newspaper editor Michel Hommell, the Lohéac circuit is the oldest rallycross circuit in France. Every September, it hosts a round of the French rallycross championship. The circuit has also hosted the French round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship since the event was created in 2014. In 2022, the town hosted the start of a stage of the Tour de Bretagne, won in Le Hinglé by Alex Baudin.

The Automobile Manor

The Manoir de l'Automobile is a museum dedicated to the history of the automobile and the trades of yesteryear. Opened to the public by car collector and magazine editor Michel Hommell in 1988, it houses 400 models of classic vehicles in a 14,000 m2 exhibition space. Some areas are dedicated to certain emblematic models of the motor industry: the Ferrari, Alpine-Renault and Lamborghini areas. The last wing of the Manoir de l'Automobile reproduces a Formula 1 pole position grid, featuring vehicles that have been driven by famous racing drivers such as Jean Alesi and Alain Prost.

Thourie (Pop: 850)

From the 11th century to the end of the 15th century, the seigneury of Thourie was part of the Rougé castellany. By succession, the lordship of Thourie fell to François de Laval, baron of Châteaubriant, then in 1539 to Anne de Montmorency, uncle of Admiral de Coligny, and finally to the princes of Condé until the Revolution. Thourie is the village of Auguste Pavie, explorer and administrator of Laos, and an advocate of "humane" colonialism. Famous for his long beard and large hat, he was nicknamed "the barefoot explorer". Mayor of Thourie at the end of his life, he died there at the Château de la Raimbaudière.

LOIRE-ATLANTIQUE (44)

Population: 1.37 million

Prefecture: Nantes

Sub-prefectures: Châteaubriant, Saint-Nazaire.

Surface area: 6,880 km2

Specialities: white wines (Muscadet, gros plant, coteaux d'Ancenis), Guérande salt. Nantais biscuits (BN, LU). Lamb's lettuce.

Sports clubs: FC Nantes (football), Nantes BH (basketball, ProB), Nantes LAH (women's handball), Corsaires de Nantes (ice hockey), VB Nantes, Nantes-Rezé MV (volleyball),

Competitions : Nantes International Showjumping (December), Indoor Athletics Meeting (January), Odyssea (running), Nantes Marathon (April), Tour de Loire-Atlantique (cycling, June), La Balle Mimosa (tennis), Women’s International Tennis Open (November).

Festivals: Le Voyage à Nantes, La Folle journée, Aux Heures d'été, Festival des Trois continents, Sofilm (Nantes), Zone Portuaires in Saint-Nazaire (June), Hellfest in Clisson (June), Mégascène (Saint-Colomban), Les Rendez-vous de l'Erdre (jazz).

Economy: Saint-Nazaire shipbuilding, food industry (BN), aeronautics, IT (Capgemini, Infotel or Ausy). Tourism

Highlights: Château des Ducs de Bretagne in Nantes, Machines de l'île in Nantes, Thomas Dobrée museum, Châteaubriant and Clisson castles, beaches and bays at La Baule and Le Pouliguen, Pornic and Le Croisic, medieval town of Guérande, Guérande salt marshes, Lake Grand-Lieu.

Websites / FB / Twitter: www.loire-atlantique.fr, tourisme-loireatlantique.com, www.loire-atlantique.gouv.fr

Jigné-des-Moutiers (Pop: 370)

Juigné-des-Moutiers is located in an area where wood, iron and slate have been mined over the centuries, and is marked by the history of its two monasteries, one of which, Prieuré de la Primaudière, was listed as a historic monument in the 20th century.

Priory of la Primaudière

Construction: 13th to 18th centuries.

History: founded by the monks of the Grandmont order in 1207 with the help and support of the local lords. The last monks left in 1762. The main building is the Primaudière chapel, built in the 13th century and a place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages. The organisation of the priory is typical of Grandmont architecture, particularly the way the openings in the chapel are arranged, and its two doors, one for the faithful and the second for the monks serving it. The priory was sold during the Revolution. It became a glassworks and then a stable until the second half of the 20th century. Subsequently, the owners carried out clearance and restoration work.

Listed as: Historic Monument in 1965 (chapel), MH listed in 2006.

Ombrée-d’Anjou (Pop: 8,810)

Ombrée d'Anjou was created in 2016 by the merger of the communes of La Chapelle-Hullin, Chazé-Henry, Combrée, Grugé-l'Hôpital, Noëllet, Pouancé, La Prévière, Saint-Michel-et-Chanveaux, Le Tremblay and Vergonnes. Sheltered within its medieval walls at the foot of its ruined medieval castle (listed as a historic monument in 1926), Pouancé was the largest of these delegated communes. Its ramparts still have three gates, one of which has French MH classification. The second largest commune was Combrée, where Fernand Augereau, third in the 1903 Tour de France, died in 1958. He was famous for an altercation with Maurice Garin and Lucien Pothier, during which his two rivals allegedly smashed up his bike. 

Pouancé Castle

Construction: 12th to 15th centuries.

Style: medieval.

History: from the end of the High Middle Ages, the site of Pouancé, located on the borders of the Marches of Brittany and Anjou, was certainly fortified to counter the Breton stronghold of Châteaubriant. The first mention of the castle dates back to 1049-1060, when the Count of Anjou kept troops there. In 1094, Gautier Hai became lord in his own right, making the castle the seat of a large seigneury. The Saint-Aubin tower, the pointed tower and the remains of the mill tower can be dated to the late 12th or early 13th century. Between 1371 and 1379, Pierre II de Valois had the Grosse Tour built and machicolations added to the castle. The castle was briefly under the control of Bertrand du Guesclin in 1379. On Gautier's death, the lordship of Pouancé, under Angevin control, was attached to that of La Guerche, under Breton control. The tower-porch appears to have been built in the 15th century and the extension in the 17th century. In the 15th century, the defensive elements were adapted to the introduction of artillery. The castle was abandoned after Brittany became part of France and was no more than a ruin in the 19th century. 

Characteristics: Together with the town's urban walls, part of which can still be seen today, it covers an area of three hectares. It is sometimes referred to as the "second largest castle in Anjou", second only to the Château d'Angers. It is part of the Marches de Bretagne and is the Anjou counterpart to Châteaubriant.

Trivia: abandoned and practically in ruins, the château was taken over by a local merchant, Louis Bessière, who set about restoring it from 1960 until his death in 1978. On his death, he handed over a castle in much better condition to the town council.

Current use: the building is now sometimes referred to as the "second fortress of Anjou", after Château d'Angers, and is one of the last two walled towns in Anjou to have retained part of their urban walls. The medieval château is open to the public from mid-June to mid-September.

Listed as: Historic Monument in 1926.

Chazé-sur-Argos (Pop: 1,070)

Château du Raguin

Construction:   16th to 20th centuries.

Style: Renaissance.

History: the first manor house, mentioned in 1417, stood a few dozen metres north of the current building. The latter was built before 1482 and was still a manor house. At the end of the 16th century, a large pavilion was added to the main building and the elevations of the former dwelling were updated. In 1619, the Lord of Raguin obtained permission to enclose his manor house and build a gateway with a drawbridge. The painted decoration in the rooms on the 1st floor dates from the middle of the 17th century. The gallery and stairway tower lining the north side of the dwelling were built around 1880 to plans by Rennes architect Henri Mellet. The large west pavilion, built around 1909, was probably designed by the same architect.

Trivia: it was used as a set for the film The Passion of Dodin Bouffant by Trần Anh Hùng, starring Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel, released in 2023.

Listed as: historic monument in 1994.

5 km away:

Château du Patys -Hervé Bazin's house

History: The writer's mother, the terrible Folcoche of the novel, lived at the château until her death in 1960. After that, several owners came and went, and the property fell into serious disrepair, remaining unoccupied for several years. A complete renovation, restoring the atmosphere of the early 20th century in which the young Hervé Bazin grew up, enabled the château to be opened to visitors in 2020. A tour of around twenty rooms in the château, all furnished and decorated, from the bourgeois drawing rooms on the ground floor to the children's attic rooms, reveals the old-fashioned atmosphere in which Hervé Bazin grew up and which inspired his famous novel Viper in the Fist. At the end of the tour, a contemporary room presents the life and work of the writer, and a bookshop stocks a range of books.

Current use: the house is open from Easter to All Saints' Day on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

Listed as: Historic Monument in 1978. Maison des Illustres.

Hervé Bazin

Born in Angers on 17 April 1911, Hervé Bazin grew up at the Château du Patys. His childhood was marked by conflict with his mother, who was unloving and authoritarian. A rebellious teenager who ran away from home at the age of 20, he spent many years living a bohemian life, doing odd jobs and attempting to write, but never succeeding. Success finally came in 1948 with his first novel, Viper in the First. He went on to publish some thirty books and was president of the Goncourt Academy for 22 years, until his death on 17 February 1996.

Longuenée-en-Anjou (Pop: 6,550)

Formed in 2016 from the merger of the communes of La Meignanne, La Membrolle-sur-Longuenée, Le Plessis-Macé and Pruillé.

Château du Plessis-Macé

Construction:   13th to 16th centuries.

Style: medieval and Renaissance. 

History: from the 11th to the 18th century, the lordship of Le Plessis-Macé was successively owned by four families linked by marriage: the du Plessis family, the de la Haye-Joulain family, the de Beaumont family and the du Bellay family.

Characteristics: Château du Plessis-Macé, built in the 13th century and partly rebuilt in the 15th century, has retained its fortified castle appearance. A medieval fortress, Château du Plessis-Macé is also an elegant residence. Inside the walls, the defensive architecture gives way to Renaissance refinement with the seigneurial dwelling, adorned with a splendid sculpted balcony. The furnished rooms - library, grand salon, dining room - and the chapel with its Gothic wood panelling are open to visitors.

Current purpose: owned by the Maine-et-Loire departmental council, it hosts the annual Anjou theatre festival in June, which has welcomed some of France's greatest actors and actresses. It is open to visitors in July and August.

Listed as: historic monument in 1962.

Feneu (Pop: 2,220)

The town has three châteaux, two of which are listed as Historic Monuments: Château de Sautré and Château de Montriou.

Château de Montriou

Construction: 14th and 15th centuries.

Style: medieval.

History: located at the northern end of Feneu, the oldest parts of the building date back to the 14th century, but the chapel was built in the 15th century, commissioned by its seneschal in honour of King René d'Anjou and completed in the 1490s. Several lords succeeded each other at the head of the estate, including Mathurin de Pincé in 1540, Robert Constantin (1551-1608), then a councillor at the Presidial Court of Angers, whose son and grandson were respectively councillors at the Court of Accounts in Nantes and King's Councillors. The château was then inherited or sold to Jeanne Levenier and Françoise Levenier, wife of Pierre-Gabriel Guérin, a burgher of Angers. His son Charles Guérin sold the property in 1740 to Michel Mauvif de la Plante (1700-1780), an Angers alderman. Since then, the château has remained in the same family, first the Loture family and then the De La Loge family. Restored and enlarged in 1860 in a neo-Gothic style, the château has retained its original 15th-century flamboyant Gothic chapel decorated with a series of murals depicting the Passion of Christ. These frescoes, along with several statues, are listed objects.

Special features: the grounds, designated a "Remarkable Garden", were recreated in the 19th century at the same time as the outbuildings were built. In 1992, they were restored and new areas were designed. The ensemble includes centuries-old trees, boxwood parterres and topiaries (around the chapel), a walled kitchen garden, plant arbours and woodland walks.

Listed as: Historic Monument in 1964.