The best walks and hikes around Boussay

A small promontory offering a view of part of the valley. Climb it if you're passing by.

This temple, built on the Saint-Gilles hillside, has been listed as a Historic Monument since March 14, 1988. It owes its name to the friendship between the Cacault brothers and the sculptor François-Frédéric Lemot, initiators and creators of Clisson's Italianate architecture in the early 19th century. Pierre Cacault wanted to build a mausoleum in memory of his brother François, who died in Clisson on October 10, 1805, but he lacked sufficient financial means. ➢ It was François-Frédéric Lemot who helped his friend carry out his project. He purchased the former Saint-Gilles-et-Saint-Brice chapel and its outbuildings at the end of 1808. The buildings are part of the cemetery, which has long been used for the burial of parishioners from all over Clisson, except for La Trinité. ➢ Paul de Berthou states in his work "Clisson and its Monuments" that "...the church of St. Gilles and St. Brice had been large and beautiful, but a lord of Clisson had its proportions reduced because it overlooked the castle too closely and posed a danger to him in the event of a siege." ➢ The remodeled church includes two chapels forming arms of the cross, one dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and the other to St. John the Evangelist, whose brotherhood once sat on this site. A small bell tower, containing two bells, stands at the crossing of the transept. ➢ Pierre Cacault died on January 29, 1810. François-Frédéric Lemot took over the project and decided that the monument would be dedicated to the memory of the two brothers. In 1811, he acquired land on the Saint-Gilles hillside and commissioned the architect Mathurin Crucy to draw up the plans. ➢ The first project was inspired by Greek temples. Mr. Crucy proposed a plan representing a peripteral temple of the Doric order, without a base, with six columns on the façade, surmounted by a pediment. F.F. Lemot simplified the plan, retaining a "cella" and four Doric columns surmounted by a triangular pediment on the façade. This choice recalls the Temple of the Sybil in Tivoli and is found in other contemporary monuments (the Temple of Friendship in Belz, the memorial monument to the victims of Quiberon in Auray). ➢ The Temple of Friendship was built between 1812 and 1824 on the former foundations of the parish church of Saint Gilles. The side chapels were razed, their foundations later serving to build a small, asymmetrical transept. The old nave was demolished and the walls rebuilt in line with those of the choir, with the entrance door on the side of the current cemetery. ➢ It took several years before the roof was laid and the plastering completed (1824). ➢ This temple was to house the tombs of the Cacaults. Antoine Peccot (1766-1814), a friend of Mr. Crucy, the Cacaults, and F.F. Lemot, had proposed, before 1814, that a dedication be inscribed to the Cacault brothers. The poem invited passersby to remember the talents, virtues, and prodigal benefits of these two brothers. The inscription was never engraved. The tombs were never built because the heirs of the Cacault brothers did not authorize the transfer of the ashes of Pierre and François (buried in Nantes). .➢ On May 6, 1827, François-Frédéric Lemot died in Paris. His body, repatriated to Clisson on May 18, was buried in the Temple of Friendship. ➢ On September 17, 1829, this tomb was blessed by the vicar of Notre-Dame. From then on, the site was designated: "Lemot Chapel" or "Chapel of the Blessed Virgin." Permission was granted to sing the station mass there on St. Mark's Day, as well as on Rogation Day, and to say devotional low masses. ➢ The monument underwent restoration in 1995.

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.

Beautiful view from the bridge over the Sèvre and the hamlet of "Vallée de Torfou". From the latter you can see the old tannery on the riverbank, and glimpse the church and some elements of the castle higher up.

A large medieval castle. It features themed shows, including siege engine demonstrations.

Also known as Moulin du Rouet, this recently restored mill on the Sèvre Nantaise River actually dates back to the 17th century. The eastbound path to Tiffauges is very passable by mountain bike/gravel bike. However, the path that heads west to La Penneraie is very steep and bumpy, and of little visual interest.

Another beautiful site on the Sèvre Nantaise, with the unusual feature this time: it's not only at the crossroads of three departments (LA, Vendée, and M&L), a rather common occurrence, but also of three former provinces: Brittany, Poitou, and Anjou. The crossroads is formed by the Sèvre on one side and its tributary, the Bon Débit, on the other. The inn of the same name looks very nice; in any case, the setting is splendid.

The chapel of Saint-Julien-le-Martyr existed in the Valley from the 15th century. On an old parchment dating back to the year 1436, it is written, in fact, that "near the bridges of Tiffauges, however in the lower parish of Torfou" is a chapel that the inhabitants "have newly built and erected, offered, for cause of devotion, in honor of God, of the blessed Mary his Mother, and of Saint Julien the Martyr". Two centuries later, in the year 1607, the accounts of the Fabrique de Torfou mention, among other expenses, a sum of "twenty-four sols" disbursed by it for the payment of "windows put in the chapel of the bridge of the Rinière*". Of this ancient building burned down by the Blues in 1791, only the walls remain. https://connaissancedetorfou.fr/index.php/la-commune-de-torfou/torfou-histoire/16-des-chapelles-meconnues-a-torfou