The best MTB trails around Mesnil-Sur-L'Estrée

A very beautiful greenway It's an old railway line that has been covered over; it used to go all the way to Dreux. We love going there for cycling, and it's also ideal for walking and rollerblading.

A village full of character with a rich industrial past. Visit its church and the ruins of its castle. If you're interested in Calvados, a guided tour of the Morin winery is a must.

The church still houses the bell that rang Henry IV's victory in the 1590 battle between the royal army and the Catholic League. An inscription on the chevet recalls that Saint-Martin was transformed into a temple of Reason during the French Revolution.

Travel the Eure Valley from Montreuil to Fermaincourt for a scenic ride along quiet country roads. The route passes through charming villages, lush green meadows and peaceful stretches of the Eure River. You'll enjoy gentle slopes that make the ride enjoyable and relaxing, with plenty of places to stop and admire the picturesque countryside.

If you are looking for a mysterious and intriguing destination for your next stroll, you can visit Le dungeon apocryphe, a solitary tower that stands in the middle of the valley in Saint-Germain-sur-Avre. This tower dates from the 12th century and was part of a fortified castle which was destroyed during the Hundred Years' War. The origin and function of this tower are still unknown, and some legends say that it was built by the devil himself.

Tuberculosis has long been a real scourge in France and in a large part of Europe. Between the 18th and 19th centuries, this infectious disease, caused by Koch's bacillus, transmitted by air, could be fatal or leave serious sequelae. It was very contagious and still poorly treated until the 1950s, which saw the arrival of antibiotic treatments. In particular, it wreaked havoc in the trenches during the First World War. Hence the decision of several European governments, including France, to launch a major health care policy in 1919. This policy involved the construction of sanatoriums, health establishments specializing in the treatment of disease, in the four corners of France. The latter were places of cure; they were, in general, built in environments open to nature to take advantage of the great outdoors. They had to be sanitized buildings and meet strict hygiene standards. However, with medical advances on the disease, in 1968, France decided to modify the status of sanatoriums which could then accommodate patients with other diseases. The end of the scourge of tuberculosis then resulted in making these specialized establishments obsolete and many were converted and then abandoned. The Dreux sanatorium is part of this general history. The site is made up of the sanatorium itself, called “Clinique Laennec”, and the preventorium intended for milder forms of the disease. It was built between 1928 and 1932 in an art deco style, in vogue at the time, constituting an enormous complex with a total area of 20,000 m2 of building in the heart of a wooded site of 47 ha. At its peak, the site had a capacity of 1,000 patients. The patients, mostly children, could stay there for several years. It was nevertheless above all a measure of distance and some patients ended their days in this place. The preventorium was transformed into a medico-educational institute from 1962 to 1980. Until the end of the 1980s, certain pavilions accommodated incurable patients. Patients sometimes only stayed a few weeks before succumbing to their illness. In 1999, the city of Dreux bought this immense complex for a symbolic franc. Today, only the furthest building is still in operation; it is used as a summer camp. All the rest of the sanatorium is abandoned. It then became a haunt for taggers and urbex enthusiasts; but also ghost hunters, as it is reputed to be one of the most haunted sites in France due to the number of sick young people who perished on the site. It would have been the scene of many paranormal phenomena: doors slamming, patients bleeding for no reason. A legend also says that the soul of a 14-year-old girl would wander through the place... After a 19-year-old young man who was exploring the sanatorium fell to his death, the site was barricaded to prevent access. A major real estate project costing 100 million euros of investment accompanied by a classification as Historic Monuments provides for the rehabilitation of this complex into a vast residential area. Work is scheduled to begin in the months or years to come.

The Avre is a charming river which acts as a border between Normandy and the Centre-Val de Loire. The arms it forms below Mesnil-sur-l'Estrée are delightful. Do not hesitate to cross them using the small bridge which overhangs them.

It is made up of four sandstone plates, two for the legs and two for the table (roof). Only one side of the dolmen exists, the two table plates are placed on the two vertical side stones (orthostats). The whole forms a prism.