The best traffic-free bike rides around La Bruffière

From 1805 to 1827, the sculptor François-Frédéric Lemot (winner of the Prix de Rome in 1790) transformed a former hunting forest belonging to the lords of Clisson into an idealized landscape. Influenced by the gardens of Ermenonville and Méréville, guided by his classical education and the memory of Tivoli, Lemot freely designed his garden whenever his official duties in Paris allowed. It is now a park managed by the department, freely accessible for a relaxing break with a beautiful view of the château.

19th century church whose unfinished bell tower was topped with a slate spire which clashes a little - a lot - with the rest of the monument.

The last remaining witness to the region's papermaking industry, the association "Pour les arts graphiques en Vallée de Clisson" (For Graphic Arts in the Clisson Valley) has been working with local authorities since 1998 to revive the 19th-century papermaking industry at Le Liveau in Gorges. The Moulin du Liveau is a superb example of the region's Italianate architecture. With the active support of local authorities, the mill, owned by the municipality of Gorges, was restored to its original purpose as a paper mill. This magnificent site on the Sèvre Nantaise River in the Clisson Valley opened to the public in spring 2015. MORE THAN A MUSEUM, IT'S A LIVING WORKSHOP The association "Pour les arts graphiques en Vallée de Clisson" offers activities centered around the history and manufacture of paper. Children and adults alike can discover the mechanisms of the paper mill, handcraft their own sheets of paper, and learn about printing. An informative journey through history, accompanied by the ever-present pleasure of playfully recreating the gestures of the past. Inside, a hammer mill powered by a paddle wheel driven by the Sèvre River evokes the preparation of paper pulp from rags. Visitors can also practice calligraphy, participate in writing workshops, take bookbinding courses, and enjoy many other activities.

The Liveau Paper Mill in Gorges in the Clisson Valley (Loire Atlantique, 44) offers guided tours, educational outings, group visits to the paper mill, papermaking workshops, events, and exhibitions. The mill welcomes you south of Nantes and also offers a shop with a wide selection of paper, stationery, and books. The Liveau Paper Mill is located in Loire-Atlantique, in Gorges on the banks of the Sèvre Nantaise. Two flour mills, one on the right bank, the other on the left bank, made up the Liveau hydraulic site, first mentioned in 1407. Until 1561, it was owned by the lords of Clisson. • 1826, transformation of the right bank mill into a paper mill, a more prosperous activity at that time, and construction of the drying rack (drying rack), marked in its architecture by the strong Italian influence prevalent at that time in the canton of Clisson. • 1827: Papermaking begins at the mill. It produces "large gray paper" or "envelope paper" (wrapping paper) sold to the sugar refineries of Nantes. • 1850: Papermaking ends. • 1851 to 1952: Milling resumes. • 2001: The municipality of Gorges acquires the abandoned mill. • 2004: The "Pour les arts graphiques en vallée de Clisson" association wins first prize from the Fondation du Patrimoine for its project to rehabilitate and promote the Moulin du Liveau, with the support of Gorges elected officials and the Clisson Valley community of municipalities. • 2006: The Fondation du Patrimoine approves the project and brings in financial partners. • 2008-2009: Airtight and watertight construction of the buildings (mill and dryer), half of which was financed by the Total Foundation. Additional funding was provided by the Fondation du Patrimoine, the Crédit Agricole Foundation, parliamentary funds, the Pays de Loire Regional Council, the Loire-Atlantique General Council, the Clisson Valley Community of Communes, the municipality of Gorges, and various private funds. . 2014: Rehabilitation work in preparation for an artisanal papermaking activity, for cultural and tourist purposes. • April 2015: The Liveau paper mill in Gorges welcomes its first visitors.

The Trinity Church is getting a makeover in the heart of Clisson Off-limits since 2018, the Trinity Church in Clisson is undergoing extensive restoration work until 2027, accompanied by reinforcement and safety work. The Trinity Church in Clisson has been off-limits since 2018 due to pieces of tufa stone found on the floor of the building, raising concerns about safety issues. The restoration has been decided upon, along with reinforcement and safety work. This work is expected to continue until 2027. The construction site will soon be explained to the residents of Clisson, using signs. The artwork and furnishings have been protected and stored, tarpaulins protect the building and the workers, the vaults and framework will be restored, and the wall plasterwork will be examined and redone where necessary. The work will concern the side aisles until next summer, the nave for the following twelve months. Then it will be the turn of the choir and transepts between January 2026 and spring 2027, then the sacristy, the bell tower and the outbuildings.

The Church of the Trinity was originally a Benedictine priory, with a parish, dependent on the abbeys of Saint-Martin-de-Vertou and Saint-Jouin-de-Marnes. In the 11th century, it was occupied by the canons regular of the Order of Saint Augustine. In 1645, Fontevrist nuns from La Regrippière en Vallet settled there. The convent burned down in 1794 by the infernal columns of the Republican armies. From the 11th century onwards, the church had a choir with an apse, side chapels, and a square bell tower. In the 17th century, the Benedictine nuns replaced the Romanesque choir with an elongated one, featuring a remarkable Baroque altarpiece. They demolished the southern part of the choir to build their oratory. During the French Revolution, the church returned to the parish. Around 1867/1868, work was undertaken. The façade was redone in a neo-Romanesque style, while the neo-Gothic style was preferred for the interior of the religious monument.

. Originally, there was an ovoid-shaped enclosure flanked by about ten towers and a gatehouse, located to the northeast. The fortified town was located to the north of the fortress and extended a little to the east. A dry moat separated the fortified town from the fortress. A barbican protected the gatehouse. A Romanesque keep of the Niort type, with its courtyard and small enclosure, was located in the castle courtyard, roughly in the middle in the north-south direction and located to the west. The fortified city extended from the rue de Gaulle, a gate was located at the level of the Carré de l'Europe (the porte de Nantes), then the ramparts continued along the rue de la Place du Champ de Foire, then went back down the Esplanade des Olivettes, where a gate was located towards the roundabout of the rue des Jardins (porte de Tiffauges) then the ramparts ran along the Asson to go up the rue du Pont Jarlet and around the barbican not far from the Presbytery The dry moats surrounding the city were 16 meters deep in the 15th century, today they are flowered and are the subject of different colored squares decorating this part of the ramparts.

In the 9th century, a castrum, a wooden castle built on a mound of earth, was built to counter the Viking raids that had previously sacked the city of Durivum (Saint-Georges-de-Montaigu). For strategic reasons, this fortress was built on a rocky spur at the junction between the Maine and Asson rivers. Maurice I of Montaigu, the first known lord, witnessed the consecration of the church of Saint-Nicolas de la Chaize-le-Vicomte in 1099. His successor until 1174 was Brient I of Commequiers, married to his daughter, Agathe de Montaigu. Later, his grandchildren, Brient II, Maurice II "the Younger," and Marguerite, succeeded him. It was perhaps this Brient II who had the Romanesque keep built in 1218, a large square tower with flat corner towers. He also removed the wooden palisade, replacing it with a wide moat extending to the Saint-Georges Gate. The Montagues (also known as Belleville by marriage around 1180) pledged allegiance to the Plantagenets, Henry II, Richard the Lionheart, and John Lackland. Margaret of Belleville-Montaigu, daughter of Brient de Montaigu and Agnes de Belleville, granddaughter of Maurice I de Montaigu, sister of Maurice II de Belleville-Montaigu, married Hugh of Thouars in 1203. In 1227, the couple submitted to Philip Augustus through the ceremony of homage. Hugh of Thouars died in 1229, and Margaret remarried in 1235 to the Duke of Brittany, Mauclerc, whose real name was Pierre de Dreux. Marguerite de Montaigu died in 1241, childless. The lordship of Montaigu fell to her nephew, Maurice III de Belleville-Montaigu (d. c. 1297; son of Maurice II). He became lord of Montaigu upon the death of Mauclerc in 1250[2], and his son Maurice IV (d. c. 1292) ensured the succession through his children Jeanne (d. 1284 Geoffroy II David de La Flocellière) and Maurice V de Belleville-Montaigu (he married 1° Sibylle, daughter of Geoffroy VI de Châteaubriant, then 2° Isabelle/Létice de Parthenay, daughter of Guillaume V Larchevêque de Parthenay). Jeanne de Belleville (c. 1300-c. 1359), daughter of Maurice V of Montaigu and Létice of Parthenay, married Olivier IV of Clisson for the second time in 1328. Olivier IV was executed by beheading after being suspected of "felony" against the English, during the Hundred Years' War. Jeanne became a privateer with her children Olivier V and Jeanne de Clisson, in revenge, and was banished from the kingdom of France. While she attacked French ships, the fortress of Montaigu was held by the English, according to the Treaty of Brétigny-Calais, a garrison of which engaged in pillaging the surrounding area. Jeanne lost her ship and withdrew with her children to England. Olivier V, having grown up, rallied to the king of France, recovered his property in 1362 and fought the English with Bertrand du Guesclin. In 1373, Olivier and Bertrand succeeded in driving the English out of Montaigu, and Olivier ceded the lordship to his sister Jeanne, who had married an English captain, Jean Harpedenne. The latter sided with the King of France in 1373 and became Jean de Belleville. His grandson, Jean III, married Charles VII's half-sister, Marguerite de Valois, in 1433. Louis I de Belleville succeeded Jean III. King Louis XI advised him to fortify the town between 1464 and 1468 to protect it from the Bretons.