The best running trails around Saint-Amand-Montrond

What you don't see when you walk here: this lake exists thanks to sheer stubbornness. When the La Joyante River was dammed in the 1970s, no one believed the lake would ever amount to anything. Too isolated, too wild. But nature had other plans. Today, the water is so calm that you almost forget how much effort it once took to tame this landscape.

Small romantic place

Beautiful little medieval town

Beautiful cycle path along the canal

Nice route & good to drive

Everyone knows the castle, but don't miss the church, located 100 meters across the street.

Located in the Cher department, the Ainay-le-Vieil castle, classified as a Historic Monument, is a superb family home passed down from generation to generation since 1467. Here, the medieval castle, the landscaped park and the gardens, which are listed as a Historic Monument and labeled “Remarkable Garden”. Ainay-le-Vieil is a 13th century fortified castle which has retained an intact defense system: gatehouse, towers, ramparts, parapet walk, two guardhouses and the moat. The courtyard and its two dwellings from the 13th century and the end of the 15th century take us on a journey through the centuries. The Castle purchased by the Lords of Bigny in 1467 is still inhabited by their descendants. There we discover the memories and traces of illustrious characters such as Louis XII and Anne of Brittany, Colbert, Marie-Antoinette or Napoleon. So many testimonies of French History to discover during guided tours, through superb and majestic salons. Ainay-le-Vieil also has Renaissance water gardens and a superb landscaped park with century-old trees. The tour of the exteriors guides the visitor on an introductory walk through the art of gardens: the rose garden with its old varieties, the two 17th century pavilions, the Carré en l'Île with its hornbeam structure cut into a palisade and its topiaries, the Chartreuses having in each of the five enclosures a garden with a different theme. The great particularity of this unique place is the omnipresence of water. Defensive when it surrounds the castle, it becomes pleasant when it runs around the gardens thanks to a judicious network of canals and becomes useful when it supplies the mill and the wash house with a clever set of shovels and weirs. Finally, the Ainay-le-Vieil castle also houses a Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions. A permanent exhibition is presented to the public and reproduces the daily life of the village of Ainay-le-Vieil before the war of 1914. We discover the rural world, its customs, its daily life and the richness of the trades which existed there. era.

Castle which will not leave you indifferent as both parts, both that of the 13th century and that dating from the end of the 15th century, are well preserved, not to mention the gardens and the moat (still in water) which surround it. The descendants of the lords of Bigny, who acquired it in 1467, are still the owners. It can be visited and you can also spend the night there.