Around the Sèvre Niortaise between La Mothe-Saint-Héray and Bagnault

The car park is on Rue du Stade, alongside the Sèvre Niortaise (the town hall is nearby on the other side of the street).

(S/E) Take the footbridge over the Sèvre Niortaise to enter the adjacent park. Cut diagonally across the park to reach Impasse de Crémille at the corner of the house bordering it. Note that at the end of this cul-de-sac is an old mill on the Sèvre Niortaise. Follow this short cul-de-sac westwards to the junction.

(1) Turn left onto a street, the Chemin de la Peyratte, which climbs steeply and becomes a footpath shortly after the last house. The Chemin de la Peyratte overlooks the Sèvre Niortaise.

(2) Turn left onto the first track, which continues to run alongside the Sèvre Niortaise. Carry on until you reach a small road, which you’ll come to just after passing a cemetery on your left. Turn left, walk for about a hundred metres, then take the track on the left leading to the Fontaine de Thuet.

Retrace your steps back to the path running alongside the cemetery. Cross the small road carefully and continue along the path opposite.

(3) At the next crossroads, carry on straight ahead, staying on the path on the left. After a bend to the right, the path descends and crosses the Sèvre Niortaise via a stone bridge known as the Pont aux Ânes.
Immediately after the stone bridge, turn left onto a small sunken path leading to the Fontaine de la Patinière. From there, a narrow lane opens out onto the Route de Chenay (D 307), which leads into Bagnault (Rue de la Pigeonnerie). Note that a few dozen metres further down, on the left, you can see the Saugé manor. Take Rue de la Pigeonnerie towards the village centre.

(4) At the first junction where four streets meet, turn left into the Tue de la Rochelle. Here you’ll see the Hôtel de la Rochelle. Turn right into Rue des Templiers, which takes the walker past the Templar Commandery. From the junction of these two streets, you can see the mullioned windows at the rear of the Hôtel Saint-Jacques. At the Commandery, turn left onto Rue de la Pigeonnerie, whose bridge spans the seasonal stream known as the Accourants.

From this bridge, you can see, on the right, the Logis de Bagnault – also known as the Logis de Chamberland – the former residence of the Commander. You need to walk a short way along the bed of the Accourants to see the south façade of the house with its mullioned windows, then turn into Rue du Minage to see the other façade and the small pedestrian gate. Return to the junction and turn right into Rue de la Gare, which climbs steeply. Pass the junction with Rue de l’Équerre on your left and continue to the next junction.

(5) Turn left onto a farm track (before the last block of houses). At the next junction of tracks, carry on straight ahead and follow this track straight on until you reach a small road. Turn left.

(6) Almost immediately afterwards, turn right onto a track. Carry on straight ahead until you reach a farm track. Turn right.

(7) Immediately afterwards, turn left onto a track heading north-west. Continue until you reach a small road. Turn right and follow the road carefully uphill for about 300 metres to see, on your right, the Sept Chemins dolmen, dating from around 5,500 years ago, which is the most prominent feature of the Bougon necropolis.
Return along the small road and go about ten metres past the point where you joined the road earlier.

(8) Turn right onto the path heading west, just after a hedge; the path is flat at first, then descends gently into a narrow valley at a place called La Garenne de Coudraie. Continue along the path until you reach a road.

(9) When you reach the D 307, turn left and follow it with great care. Pass above the Moulin de Grand Vault.

(10) At the next junction, turn right onto the small road leading downhill. Shortly afterwards, turn right towards Le Prieuré. Immediately after this, the road crosses the Sèvre Niortaise via a small bridge. Walk through the hamlet of Le Prieuré.

At the next T-junction, turn right onto the small, steeply ascending road. It winds round a dry-stone wall enclosing a large estate. At the top of the climb, turn left onto a path that continues to run alongside the dry-stone wall.

(11) At the next crossroads, take the path on the left. Continue until you reach a small road. Turn right and, about sixty metres further on, turn left onto a path. Shortly afterwards, at the next crossroads, take the path on the left and continue along the edge overlooking the Sèvre Niortaise.

(12) Just as the path turns into a road, turn left onto the Chemin de l’Houmeau towards the hamlet of La Planche. On reaching La Planche, turn right onto Rue des Coteaux, which climbs initially before descending slightly. After passing a building on the left, take the narrow alleyway on the left which soon joins a small path, the Impasse de la Planche. Turn left again to reach the bubbling fountain (a large basin under a canopy and a small basin with a water level gauge next to it).

Turn round and continue along Impasse de la Planche.

(1) At the crossroads, turn left into Rue du Pont. Cross the Sèvre Niortaise and carefully cross Rue du Stade to continue along Rue du Pont. At the end of this street, turn left into Rue de la Vieille Pierre, then immediately right into Rue du Coq. As you round the next bend, you’ll see the beautiful Boissec manor house, one of Exoudun’s former seigneuries, and a little further on, Saint-Edouard Church.
Continue along Rue des Treilles, which follows on from Rue du Coq. It leads into Rue des Granges, skirting around Exoudun Castle.

As you walk down Rue des Granges, you’ll enjoy a lovely view of Exoudun Castle. Turn left into a small street which offers a lovely view of Saint-Édouard Church (seen from below). After a right-angle bend, the street joins Rue de la Vieille Pierre; head up this street to the left towards the town hall. There are some beautiful house doors here. Continue along Grande Rue towards the town hall.

At the corner by the town hall, walk up the Route de Loubigné on the left for about a hundred metres and you’ll see a dolmen on the right. At the same point, on the other side of the road, you’ll see the north façade of the Logis de Boissec, which you caught a glimpse of on Rue du Coq. In line with the driveway, to the right of the main building, note a beautiful dovecote roofed with slate tiles. Head back down the street towards the town hall.

Carry on straight ahead at the corner by the town hall, cross Rue du Stade with care and head back to the car park (after Rue du Coq) (S/E).

The car park is on Rue du Stade, alongside the Sèvre Niortaise (the town hall is nearby on the other side of the street). Please ensure you leave the bus stop space clear.

This walk takes place over varied terrain, so suitable footwear is essential.

Most of this walk is signposted in yellow. The rest of the route is unmarked. Consequently, it is advisable to follow the directions in the description and on the map, whilst paying close attention to the landscape. The waypoints, with their GPS coordinates and the distance from the starting point, serve as aids for walkers exploring the route for the first time.
This walk is loosely based on the route published by the Deux-Sèvres Tourist Office: ‘The old towns of Exoudun and Bagnault, from fortified strongholds to Renaissance residences’

Hike completed by the author on 7 September 2018

Exoudun
Exoudun is a small French village situated in the Deux-Sèvres department and the Poitou-Charentes region. Its inhabitants are known as Exoudunois and Exoudunoises.
The commune covers an area of 26 km² and had a population of 592 according to the latest census in 2007. With a population density of 22.8 inhabitants per km², Exoudun has seen a 4.4 per cent decline in its population compared with 1999.
Surrounded by the communes of Chenay, La Mothe-Saint-Héray and Sepvret, Exoudun is situated 31 km north-east of Niort, the largest town in the area.
Situated at an altitude of 92 metres, the River Sevre Niortaise is the main watercourse flowing through the commune of Exoudun.
Source: http://www.poitoucharentes.visite.org/ website (excerpts)

Places and monuments
- Former feudal castle known as the ‘Tour Rasée’;
- Protestant church built in 1855
- The source of the Sèvre Niortaise, known as the Fontaine-Bouillante: the Fontaine Bouillonnante takes its name from the bubbling waters that feed it. These waters, which resurface from the Dive basin, then flow into the nearby Sèvre Niortaise.
It is said that in the 4th century, Saint Martin used these waters to baptise new converts.
For many years, a local custom saw young women from Exoudun come here to throw two pins into the water… If they fell in the shape of a cross, it was a sign of a future marriage.
Source: Wikipedia (excerpts)

Bagnault
Like its administrative centre, Exoudun, Bagnault is a town of character and a major centre of Protestantism in the Poitou region
The village of Bagnault is situated to the east of the market town of Exoudun, at the confluence of the Accourants and Sèvre Niortaise valleys, at the foot of the Saint-Sauvant plateau, occupying part of its base and the riverside escarpments. Almost submerged in winter by water from its fountains and numerous seasonal springs, in summer it rests beneath the cool, delightful shade of its poplars, ash trees and fruit trees.
As one walks through this humble hamlet, one is struck by the fact that it possesses all the hallmarks of a small town: neatly aligned houses, streets whose names date back several centuries, local place-names recalling some local event or a long-vanished ancient monument, tall and spacious houses with openings adorned with delicate carvings, grand gateways, wide chimneys, gables bearing coats of arms, old shops with broad stone sills—in short, an ensemble that evokes a wealth and prosperity dating back a very long time.
Apart from the houses lining the main streets, others are set back, out of the way, in a garden or an enclosed courtyard, where their white façades stand out strikingly against the backdrop of greenery that frames them. All are occupied by farmers; the local industries, which once employed many craftsmen, no longer exist.
It is one of the few villages which, along with Melle and Chizé, has retained its medieval character and the appearance of centuries past right up to the present day.
Extract from a very interesting account of Bagnault by F. Dubreuil (1935):

Numerous photos of this charming town, a major centre of the Knights Templar, can be found on André BIANCO’s page: Photos