The best road cycling routes around Moutiers-Sous-Chantemerle

The navel of the world is here, exactly here! In the street of wonders, a stone's throw from the Château d'Hérisson. Born in 1990, on the initiative of storyteller Yannick Jaulin, the Festival du Nombril du monde takes place every two years in Pougne-Hérisson. It presents itself as "a comical event that offers shows and fantasies around the performing arts. You meet storytellers, street artists, musicians, visual artists, poets, writers, speakers, and dreamers... A great excuse to get together and share an artistic, poetic, and human adventure with the locals and people from elsewhere. A festive and impertinent moment given to the world to question it and believe in its reinvention." From this festival, which has become a local institution (oh sorry, no... global!), what would today be called a 'tiers-lieu' has remained, offering "for 30 years a wheelbarrow full of cultural, tourist, educational, and professional activities, in order to promote storytelling and the performing arts." A truly unique place nestled in the heart of the Gâtine, where you can enjoy a touch of fantasy, with a hint of poetry, all accompanied by a good dose of humor.

The church of Saint-Pierre-du-Chemin houses within its walls the relics of Saint Valentine, the patron saint of lovers but also of travellers!

The "Filles de Bressuire," monumental sculptural works by Franck Ayroles, adorn the Bressuire train station square. Installed in 2021, they welcome travelers as an artistic nod to the city.

It is from Place de la Solidarité, near the village hall, and in the light of a sunny afternoon, that visitors can best admire Courlay's church, firmly anchored on a hilltop, built in the middle of the village. It is squat and austere, like a fortress, a half-Gothic, half-Romanesque building whose square bell tower dominates the surrounding houses. Crossing the square, created on the site of the former cemetery relocated in 1900 and now adorned with a beautiful fountain where water cascades over granite chirons, note: the square bell tower with two small bays on each side (11th and 12th centuries); to the east, the large wall of the church's apse; on the north facade, a small rectangular tower resting on the bell tower and housing the stone staircase providing access to the bells; on the south facade, the turret topped with a slate pinnacle, the modillions of the cornice, a small door at the top of a few steps, and the Romanesque portal or main gate.

The church was built in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. It was embellished in the 19th century in a flamboyant Gothic style and equipped with rich furnishings and stained glass windows.

This old quartzite quarry was active until 1953. Beautiful rock walls dominate the quarries, now redeveloped into a bucolic body of water.

Bressuire Castle is a medieval ruin dating from the 10th century and having belonged to the Beaumont family. You can discover the 700 meter long enclosure and its 38 towers, admire the romantic remains of the 15th century dwelling and enjoy the view of the chapel and the old slaughterhouse from the esplanade. The castle also hosts temporary exhibitions, sculpture symposia and treasure hunts in summer.

Woods/Forest. Very nice forest climb.