The best traffic-free bike rides around Miermaigne

This ancient fortified castle dominates the Huisne Valley at 360° with its imposing keep. The building, with its troubled history, has undergone numerous modifications in its architecture and functions. A visit is essential to understand the complexity of its history and to observe the architectural evolutions.

A must-see that overlooks the valley.

Superb castle in the Perche!

Built on an old feudal motte, which is still visible and was completely destroyed during the Hundred Years' War, it was replaced in the second half of the 15th century by the castle, the remains of which can still be seen today. The Saint-François Tower remains as it was, with its Grisons base and rows of white stone. Halfway up the circle is the Cord of Saint Francis of Assisi, with its coils and knots. A Renaissance building was added in the 16th century, and new buildings were constructed in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The church has a Latin cross plan. It has a single nave and a flat chevet. A small building is attached to the chevet. A bell tower flanks the building. Buttresses support the drip walls and the gable wall. Pointed arch bays with tracery illuminate the building. The portal, in a low arch, has its external arched voussure.

Church built in the 12th and 16th centuries. Listed apse from the 12th century. 4-storey bell tower. Corner buttress bell with staircase turret. Renaissance portal. Large Gothic window above the portal. 16th century roof and nave. Stone statue of a bishop, 16th century paintings.

The Saint-Martin church, listed as a Historic Monument, is located in Nocé, Normandy. It was probably built in the 12th century near the ruined and abandoned Nocé castle after the Hundred Years' War. Originally, the church was surrounded by a cemetery that was moved in the 18th century. In the 15th century, the walls were razed and the Romanesque framework of the nave replaced by a new paneled framework. In the 16th century, after the troubles of the Hundred Years' War, the building was modified: a single large roof was built in place of the various previous volumes and the framework was transformed, a new chapel was added against the south facade and a stone bell tower was built to the right of the nave. This tower, square from base to top, stands twenty meters high. The church is composed of a rectangular nave, three bays and a choir with a Romanesque semicircular chevet. A succession of three chapels opens a side aisle separated from the nave by pillars. The chapels are covered with ribbed vaults. A sacristy is fitted out behind the church. Note the altarpiece and the tabernacle in painted and gilded wood with steps, installed in the choir and lit by two bays with tracery, a painting presenting the disciples of Emmaus and one of the Annunciation, as well as a polychrome terracotta statue and a stone statue of Saint Madeleine without forgetting a stone statue of Our Lady of Pity.

Very pretty trompe l'oeil