The best traffic-free bike rides around Cersay

The contemporary art center of national interest, La Chapelle Jeanne d’Arc de Thouars, is today a leading venue for contemporary art in the western region. Along with the Château d’Oiron and the Syndicat Mixte de la Vallée du Thouet, which runs a program of public commissions for contemporary works, the art center's work is carried out in partnership across the entire territory of the Pays Thouarsais community of communes and, more broadly, in the northern part of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Within the region, the art center is a recognized player in the Astre plastic and visual arts network. Developing an artistic project that takes into account its geographical location and its architectural envelope, a neo-Gothic chapel, the art center maintains a privileged relationship with the heritage of Thouars. Guest artists, hosted for residencies or exhibitions, appropriate the chapel space by creating an original work designed for the venue. They also bring their perspective to the city, urban planning, landscape, and rural areas of the Thouars region and the Thouet Valley. Since 1993, nearly a hundred artists have been invited for residencies or exhibition projects. In recent years, the art center has paid particular attention to emerging artists from art schools, particularly those from the regional Le Grand Huit network. In addition to its programming, the art center also engages in outreach activities in the form of off-site exhibitions, workshops, and events (meetings, lectures, and workshops). A mobile device, La Mar(g)elle, was created in 2015 by the artist Marie-Ange Guilleminot to offer interventions in partner locations, particularly within schools and structures in the social and medical sectors. For its educational action, the art center benefits from the action of the municipal art school of Thouars, to which it is connected within the visual arts department of the City of Thouars.

whatever the angle of view or the time of day, this ancient abbey calls out

Very pretty setting on the edge of the town's lake. Too bad it's impossible to go around it by bike.

As you probably know, in the year 732, the armies of Charles Martel repelled the Arab advance around Poitiers. A troop of routed Saracens then barricaded themselves in the old parish church of St Sauveur and promised to surrender only in the event of divine intervention. However, in this month of May, after nights of prayers by the villagers, a cold snap hit the Poitiers countryside to the point of covering the grove with an astonishing layer of frost. The Saracens saw the sign of Allah in this unexpected event and decided to leave the village without giving battle. This legend gave its name to the village and the church of the Holy Trinity became a place consecrated by the religious authorities of the region. The oldest parts of the building that stands today on the small village square date back to the 11th century, but the church had to undergo several restoration campaigns during the 19th century. It now appears to us as a fine example of a Romanesque church, simple, rustic and austere. Note the modern stained glass windows made in the 1990s by Louis-René Petit, an artist who also worked in Sénanque and St Benoît sur Loire. His compositions inspired by frost give the church an atmosphere in harmony with its legend.

In 1147, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, built a fortified castle on top of the hill and surrounded it with fortifications. Of the castle, only the chapel, which became a parish church in the 17th century, and of the ramparts, only the eastern part, remain. But this ancient fortified city perched on a limestone hill has retained its old-world charm and offers, along its narrow streets, behind high tuffeau walls, or in the embrasure of a vast portal, fleeting views of old aristocratic manors or rich residences in the colours of Anjou.

The vineyard Location: the appellation area includes 20 communes in Maine-et-Loire, 9 in Vienne and 2 in Deux-Sèvres. Surface area: 550 ha Soils: the vineyard is scattered in islets, on the tufa (chalk) hills and Senonian or Eocene outcrops. Climate: temperate oceanic, but the Saumurois hills slow down the westerly winds; the plots furthest from the Loire are therefore subject to a continental influence. The wine Annual production: 30,000 hl, or 3.9 million bottles Average yield: 55 hl/ha Grape varieties: Cabernet Franc (70% min), Cabernet Sauvignon, Pineau d'Aunis Tasting Eye: bright, ruby red color. Nose: finesse and lightness. Nose of red fruits and flowers (iris, violet). Palate: rather supple, sometimes very dense, with fine and velvety tannins. Serving temperature: 16-18°

Montreuil, or small monastery, and Bellay, named after Lord Berlay installed in 1025 by Foulque de Nerra, founder of the rich province of Anjou, has been a walled town since the 13th century. Located at the crossroads of Anjou, Touraine and Poitou, the city became a strategic and commercial issue from the Middle Ages. This interest is reflected in the construction of fortified enclosures. A first belt (11th century), direct protection of the castle, is completed by an impressive rampart (13th century) encompassing the upper and lower towns, while a third enclosure ensures control of the ford. Six monumental gates, four of which still exist, were opened by the lords of Harcourt. These great builders endowed Montreuil-Bellay with exceptional architecture, which characterizes the appearance of the town even today: tuffeau lacework on the facades of the houses, the bossage of the towers of the Porte Saint-Jean, the tangle of the roofs of the house of the castle, turreted manors, castle chapel turned collegiate church, castles, Saint-Jean hospital... The 15th century is undoubtedly the golden century of Montreuil-Bellay, which can now be discovered in this preserved setting.

Old fortified castle originally built in the 11th century by Count Foulques Nerra who was one of the founders of Anjou; he fortified the entire rich province through 27 castles and forts including this one, marking the southern line of its defense. Today listed as a Historic Monument, the building underwent several alterations in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries before being burned during the French Revolution. Purchased and renovated at the beginning of the 19th century, Château de Passavant became an important wine estate recognized among the Côteaux du Layon. The road passes under the access bridge to the castle.