The best road cycling routes around Forêt de Fréteval

Placed under the patronage of Saint Hilaire, this parish was given by Gannelon de Montigny, lord of the place, to the abbey of Marmoutier around 1042. Its reconstruction probably dates from this period; it then became a priory. The church has a rectangular nave ending in a choir with a flat chevet. An examination of the masonry easily reveals two distinct periods of construction: the Romanesque period and the Renaissance. Built of flint rubble with rendering, the western part of the building appears to date from the 11th or 12th century. A limestone cornice supported by rather crude corbels underlines the base of the roof. To the south, two narrow Romanesque windows flared inwards light the nave. To the north, the bays were later reworked and enlarged. On this same side, a Romanesque doorway was walled up; It allowed the church to connect with a building whose traces of detachment remain. The bell tower was built to the north of the Romanesque nave, extending the western façade. The absence of a connection between the east and west walls of the bell tower and the north wall of the nave clearly indicates that it is an entirely later construction. However, its crowning is much later, as evidenced by its cornice, whose molding is in the classical style. Flanked by obliquely angled buttresses, it is covered with a saddleback roof. The eastern half of the church appears to be an extension built during the Renaissance period. Its ogee-shaped cornice and the decoration of the eastern gable, as well as the moldings of the buttress bands, attest to this dating. A vast rectangular choir then appears to have replaced a semicircular Romanesque apse; the eastern gable and the southern and northern façades were then pierced with networked bays. In the lower part of the north façade, projecting ashlars appear to have supported the roof of a lean-to building. To the south, a sacristy was built in the 19th century. Inside, the entire building is covered with a paneled vault with exposed tie beams and kingposts. The 18th-century high altar is surmounted by an Assumption of the Virgin inspired by Murillo's. For the restoration of the roofs and façades, the Sauvegarde de l'Art Français (French National Art Protection Agency) awarded a grant of €30,490 in 2001.

The Church of Saint Sauveur La Trinité, probably built in the 12th century, is notable for its Romanesque windows with columns and capitals. On its walls, alternating with the consecration crosses, one can admire a Stations of the Cross in blue enamel on earthenware. The choir is lit by five Romanesque windows decorated with stained glass depicting Our Lord and the four Evangelists.

The church dates from the 12th century and was remodeled in the 15th or 16th century, its buttresses and bell tower date from the 19th century. It houses a wrought iron communion table from the 18th century.

Although the Notre-Dame church in the town of Areines may seem modest in size, the richness of its interior decoration is remarkable. It consists of a rectangular nave from the 11th century that extends into a narrower choir and ends with a semi-circular apse from the 12th century. The bell tower was added in the Gothic period. All the walls are covered with murals. The restoration of those in the choir and apse dating from the middle of the 12th century allows us to see: Christ in Majesty, the Lamb with a halo, the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, saints and apostles. Some of these primitive frescoes were covered by paintings from the 15th, 16th and 18th centuries. Many traces are visible on the walls of the nave and will be restored in the years to come.

The Langey church, built under the name of Saint Pierre, dates back to the 11th century. This rectangular building, without side aisles, 32m50 long and 8m80 wide, is finished on the west side by a gable with sloped cut stones, pierced by two pretty Romanesque windows, and on the east side by a semi-circular apse. Inside, it houses two polychrome wooden statues representing a 17th century bishop and Saint James. The octagonal bell tower, straddling the roof, is a frame resting on six posts and covered with slates. Its spire is certainly the most beautiful and highest in the region. The bell was cast on site, in the village itself in 1811.

Before the 13th century there were two parishes, Saint-Sauveur and Saint-Gilles, in 1300 the bishop of Chartres united them into one by a charter of Berchères, because of the smallness of the two parishes. The church dates from the beginning of the 17th century. Rebuilt on the foundations of an old Romanesque church, its originality comes from its bell tower with saddle roof, its caquetoire and its paneled vault redone in 2003. At the initiative of the Prince Duke of Montmorency-Laval, it has contained the reliquary of Sainte-Félicité since 1838. Saint Félicité, whose relics are in Montigny-le-Gannelon, is a martyr whose life is unknown, whose body was taken from the sacred cemeteries of Rome. We have his body, the skull, the bones of his arms, fingers and feet. They were removed from the Saint-Cyriaque cemetery in 1828 and placed in their respective places on a body artistically modeled in wax and measuring more than 1.40 meters in length. A magnificent chase, of the shape and size of an altar tomb, all furnished with glazing and embellished with gilding received this precious deposit. Pope Leo XII donated it to the Duke of Laval, then Charles X's ambassador to Rome. On his death, he bequeathed it by will to the church of Montigny-le-Gannelon where the old historic castle of Laval-Montmorency is located. The venerated hunt is now placed under the main altar of which it forms the tomb.

The Romanesque church of Ruan dates from around 1133. From this date until the revolution, the church of Ruan will depend on the Abbaye de la Madeleine de Châteaudun, a priory will be founded there. The building is elongated in its proportions, one more bay compared to a simple parish church of the same period. This is due to the size of the choir. built to accommodate regular canons. In the 12th century, the canons had to access this choir directly from their residence through a small door in the wall. (according to the historical study by Nicolas HURON). The bell tower is a square tower covered with a gable roof. The portal must not only be described, it must be placed in its historical context and tried to give it an interpretation. In the first half of the 12th century, intellectuals, that is to say monks or canons, tried to educate and raise the faith of the population through images. Ruan's portal is an educational work tending to show the power of God and the vanity of earthly pleasures. Romanesque architecture is based on the representation of the earth and the sky, the temporal and the spiritual. The uprights of the portal represent this temporality, the semicircular arch is a representation of the sky. The door is recessed by what we call herringbone moldings. Behind this technical name there is a representation that we always find around Christ in glory on the frescoes of this period. All the decorative motifs on this portal were probably painted and colorful in the 12th century.

Located approximately 700 meters from the village, the Saint Lubin pond offers a vast body of water of approximately 16 ha, ideal for fishing and relaxation.