The best traffic-free bike rides around Monnières

It's a particularly steep climb, even if it's short it stings!

Clisson Castle has quite a story to tell: first an impregnable fortress overlooking the Sèvre, then a ducal residence, and finally a romantic ruin. In the 12th century, the powerful lordship of Clisson built this stone castle with highly elaborate defensive architectural systems: arrow slits, gun ports, and slits. A strategic point protecting the border of the Duchy of Brittany in the 15th century, it was abandoned by its owners from the second half of the 17th century onward before being burned down by Republican troops in 1793. But, beyond its grand history, this castle also has a more historic significance! In 1807, François-Frédéric Lemot, creator of the Garenne Lemot estate (a picturesque landscape located on the other side of the river), was captivated by these ruins and purchased it to turn it into an ornamental factory. The château was declared a historic monument in 1924, before being acquired by the Loire-Atlantique department in 1962. Today, visitors can visit it, take a guided tour, or simply experience its history. A stop on the Journey through the Vineyard, it's a stopover during the wine tourism tour of Nantes' wine country, featuring natural sites, heritage features, characterful villages, and unique cellars.

The modest Chapel of Saint Anne is the last vestige of the parish church of Saint Vincent. In the second half of the 11th century, the Chapel of Saint Anne was built. It adjoins the southern flank of a pre-existing castle chapel, probably contemporary with the keep, which dates from the late 10th or early 11th century. At an undetermined date, the two chapels were extended westward and became the chevet of the parish church of Saint Vincent. This extension was completed before 1646, the date at which a drawing by L. Doomer, preserved at the Dobrée Museum in Nantes, shows the complete building. In 1683, Archdeacon Binet described the dilapidated Church of Saint Vincent and the choir on the verge of ruin. No one dared touch it because it belonged to the lord of La Galissonnière and Le Pallet. We can therefore assume that the nave itself belongs to the parish, which is responsible for its upkeep. The choir, a former castle chapel, disappeared during the Revolution. The old church was razed in 1853, and only the Sainte-Anne chapel was spared thanks to the intervention of Prosper Mérimée. A new church was built on a new site in the village, reusing the stones from the old building. In addition to its dilapidated condition, the old church had the disadvantage of being located far from the village. The chapel was listed as a historical monument in 1941 (decree of August 9). It was restored in 1957. NOTE: THE CHURCH HAS BEEN CLOSED SINCE JULY 23, 2018, FOR INDEFINITE WORK.

The unmissable annual event for extreme music in France. Founded in 2006 and based in the small town of Clisson for 13 years, Hellfest has established itself as one of the leading European festivals offering extreme music. A veritable marathon of hardcore, punk, grind, death metal, and trash, accessible just a few minutes from Nantes by train. More than 160 artists from all over the world perform on six stages for four days of fury! Every June, Clisson becomes the international center of metal culture, attracting more than 100,000 festival-goers to a dedicated venue. In 2014, the Hellfest Festival presented "its" town with a symbolic guitar over 10 meters high (the work of artist J.-F. Buisson), comfortably installed on the Looksor roundabout near the grounds, which welcome more than 100,000 festival-goers each year. Visible from the road, we can see the permanent installations emblematic of the metal aesthetic

😍

These are the longest 150 meters in the area...

Impressive hill that will delight everyone who succeeds in climbing it.

Using the power of moving water to drive a mill wheel is an ancient invention that dates back to pre-Christian times. Thanks to such a construction, human or animal muscle power could be easily replaced by a watercourse - natural or artificially created - in order to grind grain into corn, for example. There are essentially two different ways of driving watermills: either the water simply hits the blades of the water wheel from below to set it in motion; or the water is guided above the wheel and falls onto the blades; this type of construction is more efficient due to natural gravity.