Travel News February 2019


ROAD TRIP AROUND NORTHERN FRANCE


NIGEL HEATH gets invited in for coff ee with


the Mayor and walks in on the execution of Mary Queen of Scots...


I


THOUGHT setting out on a road trip around small picturesque villages in Northern France on a Monday is not generally a very good plan because one is likely to fi nd many a bar or tabac closed come coff ee time.


So it was when my wife Jenny and I drove in to Parne-sur-Roc, a Petite Cite De Caractere in the in the Pays De La Loire region but a pleasant surprise was in store.


We parked in a sunny side street and wandered up to the centuries old church where all seemed silent and still with no one about as is often the case in these small places in rural France.


Ah! a sign of life. There were two cyclists who’d parked their tandem by the church steps and close by, a villager in blue shorts and a white shirt who seemed to be carrying a clipboard.


“Is there anywhere here to get a coff ee,” we asked him? It seemed a forlorn hope.


“No but I can make you one,” came his surprise reply. He beckoned to us and the French couple to follow and we all trooped after him towards the Marie or Town Hall and then we realised we were being hosted by Monsieur le Mayor!


His receptionist welcomed us with a smile as we all trooped into his offi ce where, because of our poor French, a rather disjointed but humorous conversation ensued courtesy of Google translate. Forget TGI Friday, I thought as we waved goodbye to Daniel Guerin the mayor and to Olivier and Marie our fellow guests from Nante because for us it had been TGI Monday!


Like the village of Lassay les Chateaux, where we have our holiday home, Parne-sur-Roc was another of the little towns and villages in the in the Pays De La Loire region awarded the distinction of being named as ‘Petite Cities Du Caractere.”


Our plan on this tour was to visit a selection of these delightful places all renowned for their heritage and so it was that we drove on to picturesque Saulges


The magnifi cent Chateaux Serrant, just one of the Chateaux that Nigel visited


with its 11th Century Church of St Peter and famous Rochefort and Margot caves in the wooded limestone valley below.


Luckily the patron of the hotel and restaurant opposite the church did not seem to mind that it was Monday so we dined on vegetable wraps with a salad garnish followed by a trio of fi sh at a table set out in the gardens under a shady tree.


That afternoon we visited Asnieres-sur-Vegre, whose church of St Hilaire has an outstanding collection of 16th Century wall paintings before moving on to the small town of Parce-sur-Sarthe for a pleasant walk along the shady banks of the River Sarthe. Now it was time to head further south to Thorigne de Anjou where we were booked for two nights at a lovely 1850s guest house set in its own mini parkland on a tributary of the River Mayenne.


Our hosts Laurence, an excellent cook and Serge, who grows all their own vegetables, could not have been more welcoming and we dined al fresco in the charming company of a Belgium couple who were on a cycling holiday along the river.


Now we planned to make a petite fore into the Loire Valley but luckily we got side tracked by visiting the magnifi cent Chateaux Serrant, whose survival intact through troubled times is largely due to two remarkable pieces of luck.


Jean-Luc Duvignon’s woodcarving studio


It escaped the ravages of the French Revolution because it had been acquired by the Walsh family of Irish Catholic descent. and then during WW2 it was taken over as an hotel for offi cers whose Wehrmacht Field Marshall made an extensive itinerary of its possessions to prevent looting. Ironically one guest also contributed to the chateaux’s heritage by painting a mural of Prussian


offi cers on a wall in the servant’s quarters. We rounded off our sunny day by wandering around the quaint little streets of Behuard, the only department on an island in the Loire river and visiting Jean-Luc Duvignon’s woodcarving studio.


He was raising funds for a school in Brazil so we bought a necklace made from deep red Brazilian seeds Then it was back to the guest house where Surge had hooked a delicious Sandre fresh water fi sh from the river for our supper.


The quaint village of Behuard on an island in the Loire


rooms only to open a heavy oak door and come upon the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots!


We’d stumbled on the dramatic set of an historical documentary fi lm being made for French TV, as was explained by a young man called Maxime who was playing


The Duke of Norfolk and spoke excellent English due to time spent at the University of the West of England in Bristol where we both grew up. There was now just time for the traditional 13.50 euros three course lunch in a typical French hotel and a wander around Saint-Denis D’anjou, our fi nal Petite Cite de Caractere, before beginning our mid afternoon drive home to Lassay Fact File


We picked up a booklet on Petites Cites De Caractere in the Pays De La Loire in a local tourist offi ce and used mostly minor roads to complete our three day tour around an area encompassing the small cities of Mayenne, Chateau Gontier and Angers and mostly linked by the Mayenne River.


We stayed for two nights at Le Rideau Mine near Thorigne d’Anjou (tel 0033 02.53.61.19.13) email lerideaumine@gmail.com


Our tour began in Lassay Les Chateaux, which


off ers some b&b accommodation and is an hour and three quarters drive south from the Caen Oustram ferry port served by Brittany Ferries.


The writer and his wife Jenny are pictured with the mayor of Parne-sur-Roc


For further information on ferry travel, Brittany Ferries package holidays or to book a trip, please go to brittanyferries.com or call 0330 159 7000.”


The magnifi cent chateaux Le Plessis-Bourre where the writer, Nigel Heath, walked in on the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots


As if being hosted by a village mayor wasn’t enough of a surprise, we were in for another the following morning when we crossed the drawbridge and entered the magnifi cent 15th Century family fortress of Le Plessis-Bourre which is surrounded by a lake sized moat.


Armed with a plan of the castle, we set out on a self guided tour through its beautifully furnished state


FRANCE 11


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