Château de Senonches walks

Itwas believedthat sheltering a swallow’s nest under one’s roof would bring happiness to the home. The sheltering of children from Soissons, who took refuge in Senonches from the end of 1914 until the end of the war, was, for the families of the mobilised soldiers, as much a humanitarian act as a fanciful “talisman” meant to ward off misfortune. Alas, 76 names were nevertheless inscribed on the town’s war memorial in 1922! Lucien Descaves, author of works now largely forgotten, co-founder and later president of the Académie Goncourt, had owned a second home in Senonches since 1910. Having lived through these events, he recounted them in his novel *L’hirondelle sous le toit* (*The Swallow Under the Roof*), published in 1924.Join Nanette and Nanand as you set off to explore this small town situated between Beauce and Perche, renamed “Bourg en Thimerais or Bourg en Forêt”. The book, recently republished, serves as the guiding thread for this walk, which can also be undertaken simply for the pleasure of discovering the town and its forest.