The best traffic-free bike rides around Ambenay

In the center of Randonnai, the 16th-century Saint-Malo church, enlarged in 1836, houses several works classified as Historic Monuments, including a classical altarpiece with paintings of Saint Andrew and Saint Sebastian. Funeral slabs serve as threshold steps. Inside, a plaque commemorates the departure of Pierre Tremblay (whose birthplace is in La Filonnière) in 1647 for New France. He is the ancestor of the Tremblays of Quebec and North America.

This building was erected towards the end of the 15th century, on the former medieval fiefdom known since 1260 as the "Normandel Farm" and long owned by the Viron family. In the chapel dedicated to him, a beautiful 16th-century statue depicting Saint Firmin as a bishop and the magnificent white stone altarpiece, sculpted and ornamented in the purest Renaissance style, evoke the ardent faith of this evangelizer of Roman Gaul in the 3rd century. The current church, restored at the end of the 19th century in the style of the period after a long period of neglect, retains some traces of the old construction: the masonry of the rear wall overlooking the cemetery, with the remains of a small closed door and two buttresses of large rubble, and on the gable of the transept overlooking the road, a large Flamboyant Gothic window. The church of Normandel preserves other elements of great interest. In the chapel, on the right side, is a beautiful 16th-century polychrome stone Virgin and Child. Below the statue, a second stone altarpiece, finely carved and ornamented in the Renaissance style, shows, on one side, Mary seated near Jesus holding a chalice, and Joseph leaning on his cane, to whom the young John the Baptist appears to be bidding farewell before departing for the desert. In the nave, the large Christ on the cross, surrounded by Mary and Saint John, is moving in its sobriety: the outstretched arms of the crucified bear the full weight of our humanity, raising it to God. In the sacristy, an old fragment of an embroidered banner bears the image of Saint Firmin and the inscription "Charity of Normandel - 1513."

The parish church of Bémécourt, under the patronage of Peter and Paul, is remarkable for its timber-framed bell tower. Located in the western part of the nave, it is a square, high tower resting directly on the ground. Its very slender octagonal bell tower is covered in slate.

The church of Cintray has been listed as a historical monument since June 15, 1920. This building contributes to the beauty of the Eure landscapes and the richness of France's heritage. Over the centuries, the buildings that have been grafted or agglomerated in the surrounding area have been built within the framework of a social structure: the parish. These buildings constitute references in terms of local architecture, because they are often made with local materials: tiles or slates (from the 19th century), stones (flint, Grison, Seine Valley, sandstone, etc.), bricks or cob, lime plaster and nearby sand or earth. This gives colors that often range from beige to brown or red, and volumes perfectly suited to the Normandy climate (roof slopes, etc.). These churches have been the subject of specific analysis because their surroundings are not completely urbanized. The empty spaces or breathing spaces nearby help preserve their setting. The site of the church is very interesting because, located between the Iton and the very refined village square, it offers, to the south, large visual openings onto the monument. These spaces, little or not urbanized, must be preserved.

The church of Saint Nicolas d'Attez, restored in 2004, dates back to the Romanesque period in its oldest parts. It consists of a 16th-century nave. The choir buttresses date from the late 16th century. There is a 16th-century beam of glory, decorated with Christ and two lateral statues (polychrome woodwork). Numerous statues: Saint Nicholas, Virgin and Child, Saint Barbara... A 15th-century triptych, various coats of arms and shields painted on the walls of the nave.

Right next to the town hall, the ideal place for a break

The church is located near a departmental road and is surrounded by a cemetery. Church oriented with a longitudinal plan composed of a single nave. The entrance to the building is via a porch body. An annex building is attached to the north side of the choir. The western facade of the porch body rises on two levels delimited by a projecting cornice. It is pierced by a low-arched door as well as a rose window in the upper part. The bell tower, of polygonal plan, is positioned on the ridge of the roof. It is covered with a polygonal spire surmounted by a ridge cross and has two roof eaves. The building is covered with a gable roof. That of the annex building ends in a hip. The side walls are pierced with arched bays and supported by buttresses. The annex building is pierced by a quadrangular window and door. The buttresses of the choir bear witness to the Romanesque origins of the church. The nave, built in the 16th century, was enlarged in the 19th century by a bay to the west. The bays of the building were re-pierced around 1822.

In the nearby park shaded by large trees, the ruins of fortifications recall the memory of the six towers of the old castle built in the 11th century……. In the nearby park shaded by large trees, the ruins of fortifications recall the memory of the six towers of the old castle built in the 11th century by Geoffroy IV, Count of Perche, in order to control this border region near the Chartres region, Normandy, and the possessions of the Lords of Bellême and Alençon which extended as far as Sées. During the Hundred Years' War, Charles, Count of Evreux and King of Navarre, allied with the English against the King of France, seized the fortress in 1364. It was then besieged and retaken on behalf of King Charles V by his younger brother Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, using catapults that threw large stones to collapse sections of the walls. But after the English victory at Verneuil in 1424, they rushed to destroy Marchainville, setting fire to the town and the castle. The church, too, has experienced some vicissitudes. It occupies the site of a very old small monastery, given to the abbey of Saint-Evrouit by a certain Fulchierus of Chartres, who was chaplain to Baldwin I, King of Jerusalem and author of an account of the first crusade. The monks built the priory church in the 11th century, of which the thick right wall with its flat buttresses, the cornice in grison stone, and the support points of the descending roof, which housed a small adjoining cloister, still remain. The church was enlarged (end of the 15th or beginning of the 16th century) along its entire length by a side nave resting on stone arches, whose voussures connect without capitals to octagonal pillars. On the unfortunate initiative of Abbot Fleuriel, this side nave was knocked down in 1723, and the roof of the church lowered. It was not until 1810 that a new priest, Abbot Dubois, had the four arcades of the current chapel of the Virgin reopened. The three other old arcades, still visible, remain blocked in the left wall of the nave. Unfortunately, on March 15, 1820, the shock of an earthquake caused the old square bell tower of the priory, which was located above the entrance to the choir, to collapse, which caused considerable damage. Thanks to the generosity of the inhabitants and the personal contribution of the Bishop of Séez, the church was repaired and a new bell tower was erected next to the entrance porch in 1824. On the classical-style altarpiece, a painting, dated 1949, of the Holy Virgin surrounded by angels replaces the painting of the Assumption hanging in the nave. The 18th century tabernacle presents a pretty wooden statuette of the resurrected Christ, with on each side those of a holy bishop with a kneeling donor, and perhaps a Father of the Church. Two pretty statues of Saint Lawrence and Saint Peter adorn the altarpiece of the chapel of the Virgin, where in the center appears the traditional image of Our Lady of Victories presenting Jesus as a child on a starry sphere that symbolizes the world. Above, appear God the Father, his arms outstretched, and the Holy Spirit. Finally, let us not forget the curious statue of Saint Louis with his scepter, presenting the crown of thorns and the three nails of the crucifixion, nor the ancient painting, in the nave, of Saint Eloi as bishop, with his anvil of patron saint of blacksmiths.