The best road cycling routes around Commequiers

Beautiful castle, of which the "military" part dates from the 11th century and the "residential" part from the Renaissance.

Pretty "small city of character". To do if you pass through the region.

Beautiful castle whose "military" part dates from the 11th century and the "residential" part from the Renaissance.

Largest lake in Vendée with its 1.67 km2

The Château would date from the mid-13th century; at the time it was a true fortress, flanked by six towers and surrounded by wide moats. From the 12th to the 14th century, this fortified castle served as a lock between Brittany and Poitou, in this border region where numerous strongholds stood: Pornic, Machecoul, Clisson, Tiffauges, Champtocé in the Marches of Brittany facing Commequiers, La Garnache, Palluau, Montaigu, Pouzauges, in lower Poitou. In the 17th century, Philippe de Clérembault, who inherited the family estate, was promoted to Marshal of France by the young King Louis XIV, and then undertook to rebuild his Château de Palluau to transform the old fortress into a modern castle, retaining the six large medieval towers and including between them a building covered with a Mansart roof, topped by a dome. The Marshal's castle was a unique building in all of Poitou: "the most regular and the most accomplished that exists in the region", according to Claude Masse, famous engineer-geographer to Louis XIV. Abandoned by its owners during the Revolution, the large empty residence served as a stronghold for the royalists in 1793 and its underground passages, as dungeons for republican prisoners. On February 8, 1794, a Republican Column set fire to the Château and the Church of Palluau. The site has never been rebuilt, nor even consolidated since. It remains in a state of ruin abandoned to vegetation. The Château de Palluau must have been a magnificent residence, judging by the imposing ruins that remain and by the plans and watercolor drawings by Claude Masse, which are preserved at the Museum of Engineering in Vincennes.

I couldn't get as close as guigui during his hike because a barrier blocked the path. You can see it well despite everything.

Built in the second half of the 15th and in the 16th century by Louis de Beaumont, lord of Plessis-Macé in Anjou, the castle of Commequiers, now owned by the commune, was, like most of the castles of Bas Poitou, dismantled on the orders of Cardinal Richelieu in 1628, 6 years after the defeat of Soubise at Notre Dame de Riez and Saint Gilles. It was then the property of the La Trémoille, great Protestant lords. Throughout the Middle Ages, the lords of Commequiers exercised their administrative and jurisdictional influence over a vast territory. https://www.payssaintgilles-tourisme.fr/patrimoine-culturel/chateau-de-commequiers/

Currently the castle is closed to the public, work is planned. Built in the second half of the 15th and 16th centuries by Louis de Beaumont, lord of Plessis-Macé in Anjou, the Commequiers castle, now owned by the commune, was, like most of the castles of Bas Poitou, dismantled on the orders of the Cardinal Richelieu in 1628. Octagonal in shape, with its 8 thick towers connected by curtain walls, the castle would have been built according to the model of the Bastille. To discover the castle in a fun way, the new treasure hunt “Théo and the secret of the Castle” is on sale (€3 per game for up to 3 participating children) in the tourist information offices of the Pays de Saint Gilles and at the Vélorail of Commequiers. It is suitable for children aged 8 to 13, duration: 45 minutes, on foot.