The best walks and hikes around Saint-Martin-Des-Champs

Here is the entrance to the park with a great view over the entire region to the sea. There are benches, shade, a playground, lawns and much more.

Beautiful houses, great city center with many small cafes and restaurants.

Beautiful old fortress that surprises you. When you get to the top there is a beautiful garden with loungers and benches. There are fruit trees, flowers and even a studio. And your own mega view over the city

From the old fortress you have a beautiful view over the roofs of the city

There is great art to discover on the street.

The old Notre-Dame des Champs church was located, as its name suggests, outside the city, to the south. This very simple church, known from a photo and a few engravings, dates from the end of the 17th century. Having become too small and work becoming necessary, the idea was accepted, around 1855, of constructing a new building, especially after the collapse of the Saint-André cathedral. Plans and an estimate were drawn up by the architect Nicolas Théberge, architect from La Manche and “child of the parish”. We also owe the latter other buildings in the neo-Gothic style such as Saint-Patrice du Teilleul in 1851, Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët in 1855, Saint-Pair de Sartilly or Sainte-Croix de Saint-Lô in 1860. However, it was not until April 12, 1863 to witness the laying of the first stone. The "neo-Gothic" style decided on by the architect involves the construction of a building with bold proportions that completely break with those of the modest church that we wish to replace. The means of the city and the parish were insufficient, especially since the reconstruction of Saint-Gervais had been very expensive, and in 1865 the mayor of Avranches and the archpriest traveled to Paris to seek help state finance. This long-requested aid was not finally granted until 1876 and the consecration of the church by Bishop Germain took place on November 13, 1892. The slow construction of the building was marred by many sometimes tragic events such as, in 1868, the death of a twenty-seven-year-old mason who fell from the height of the rose window where he was working. The architect Théberge, who died in 1866, was replaced by Cheftel. Delayed by the First World War, which mobilized all the workforce, the two towers of the facade were completed between 1926 and 1937; at this time, the large organs were also installed, the wind tunnel of which immediately benefited from electricity. In June 1944, the church was seriously damaged by a fire following the bombardment of the city. Restoration work lasted several years and the reopening to worship only took place in February 1962. The church is in the form of a nave with a façade with two towers (unfinished arrows), a projecting transept, and an ambulatory choir with an axial chapel (never built)1. The church had been provided with a set of windows signed Duhamel-Marette, destroyed by the bombings of 1944

This former fortified castle was built in the 10th century to protect the city from Breton attacks. Located on a rock, it offers beautiful views over the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel and the Sée valley.

The Château d'Avranches was built around 950 by Onfroi Le Dane, on the remains of the old Roman walls. Located on a rock, the fortress could monitor the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel and the various invaders made no mistake and occupied it; Celts with the Abrincates, Romans, Saxons, then Franks. A succession of enclosures and ditches were added to it. The Roman keep unfortunately disappeared in the last century. The top of the curtain forms a platform at the same level as the terrace. A diagram, made by Canon Pigeon, shows how keep and curtain wall were connected. This is also verifiable in a document kept in the Calvados Archives. Another detail should be noted, it is impossible to access the terrace from inside the building. Passages were obstructed after a collapse of the upper level of the building, at an undetermined time. Today, at the top of a crenellated curtain wall, one discovers a panorama over the bay and the valley of the Sée, in the heart of the various Avranchinese districts.