Dollon walks

This route will allow you to discover the villages of Lavaré, Dollon and Semur-en-Vallon. These villages developed in the Middle Ages on land that was often sandy or stony, not particularly suitable for farming before modernisation. The villagers therefore found additional sources of income through textile crafts and the extraction of building materials. Situated away from major transport routes, these villages have retained their vitality despite the rural exodus that affected them following the decline of rural industries and traditional activities. Furthermore, these villages have managed to maintain a vibrant community life, fostering the development of unique events and venues such as the tourist train in Semur-en-Vallon and the Museum of Mechanical Music in Dollon.

This rural village had a population of just over 1,000 in themid-19th century before seeing its population gradually decline due to rural depopulation until 1962, when it fell to 643 inhabitants. The closure of many small farms gradually freed up the least productive agricultural land for building. Thanks to a proactive policy by the local council and the presence of a construction company in the village, Le Luart experienced considerable suburban development, leading to a spectacular rise in its population, which reached 1,445 inhabitants in 2012. Since then, the population has tended to stabilise.

A few archaeological finds attest to human presence in Thorigné as far back as the Neolithic period. In Gallo-Roman times, a large agricultural estate (villa) is thought to have been the origin of a permanent settlement, which is better documented from the Middle Ages onwards. Despite the destruction of its medieval castle, which was replaced by a bourgeois house in the19th century, Thorigné stands out as a fairly large village offering a wide variety of civil architecture, spread out along the main axis linking the Dué valley to the church. Probably of Romanesque origin, the church was enlarged in the16th century and remodelled inthe 18th century . It houses interesting stained-glass windows and furnishings, such as the high altarpiece dating from 1669 and the18th-century side altarpieces.

The present-day commune of Coudrecieux consists of the former parish of the same name, which was merged with that of Les Loges in 1808. Their place names reflect the wooded environment of these villages, which are still 50% forest today. Coudrecieux refers to the hazel wood known locally as ‘coudre’, and Les Loges to the light dwellings, made of branches and heather, temporarily occupied by charcoal burners and other forest workers. The Coudrecieux route will allow you to discover the rich architectural and landscape heritage of this commune. This is evidenced by the Manoir de la Cour, the Château des Loges, and the church of Les Loges (with its renowned stone bell tower dating from the year 1000)… These features are highlighted by information panels.

The village of Duneau is located in a dominant position on the left bank of the Huisne, on a route that has been highly sought-after since prehistoric times. The Pierre Fiche menhir and the Pierre Couverte dolmen, dating from the Neolithic period (around 4000 BC), bear witness to this. These are the only visible archaeological remains among many others covering the periods of Antiquity and the Middle Ages.

Bordering the Huisne valley to the west and the Vibraye forest to the east, Saint-Maixent is first mentioned in the13th century. Although the settlement is largely scattered (27 farms and 59 cottages in 1841), there are large hamlets such as Les Blousières, whose houses, clustered around a now-vanished pond, once housed up to 40 people, likely hemp workers. The village, crossed by the medieval road known as the “Chemin aux Bœufs” leading to Paris via Châteaudun, grew considerably in the 19th century thanks to the trade generated by this route.

This walk follows the Huisne Valley and crosses the meadow where an American airfield was set up following the liberation of France in August 1944. A sign on site recounts the history of this temporary airfield.

Bouloire is nestled in the heart of a vast, hilly agricultural region crossed by the Dué and Tortue rivers. Human presence along the ancient road between Le Mans and Orléans is attested to by a coin dating back to the Merovingian period. Its name comes either from a Celtic place name meaning "fortification" or from an etymology meaning "between two coasts ". The town centre is rich in ancient architectural heritage. The Church of Saint-Georges, destroyed by a fire that ravaged the village in 1680, bears the coat of arms of Marshal Guillaume Testu de Balincourt, who enabled its reconstruction. The town's coat of arms is also linked to this figure.

Nuillé-le-Jalais, first mentioned in the9th century , still has a small Romanesque church. Surprisingly, many of the local place-names refer to birds: La Pie qui Couette, La Grande Oiselerie and Le Chardonneret. The route’s signposting is a nod to this unique feature.

Le Breil and Nuillé are two villages of ancient origin. In the Middle Ages, Le Breil, or Breuil, was a seigneurial hunting ground. Nuillé, first mentioned in the9th century, still has a small Romanesque church.

Rated as easy, this hike crosses the Vibraye Forest. To make it a circular route, allow about 3 hours and do not leave the marked trail, which is public. Unlike the forest, which is private, the route is marked with round signs 10 cm in diameter reminiscent of the work of the forge. You are in the Haut Maine region. In the Middle Ages, this region was home to a significant metallurgical industry, made possible by the presence of iron ore, extracted from flint clay and quartz sand, as well as the large quantities of wood needed for the forges. The forest was managed by cutting down coppice wood every 18 years to renew the resource. The dominant species is oak, but the forest also consists of aspens, birches, chestnuts and pines. This pleasant route describes a craft activity through the display boards scattered around the former mining sites.

Situated in the Huisne valley, inhabited since prehistoric times, Connerré developed in the Middle Ages around a religious centre comprising the Church of Saint-Symphorien and a priory. The town, enclosed by a wall at the end of the 16th century, opened up at the end of the Ancien Régime thanks to the construction of bridges replacing fords and the expansion of transport links: the construction of the Paris–Nantes royal road around 1780, followed by the opening of a station on the Le Mans–Paris line in 1854. These developments fuelled the economic boom of the 19th century through fairs and markets and the growth of industry. The market town modernised and expanded gradually, then more rapidly from the 1970s onwards. Today, Connerré is an attractive small town, situated halfway between Le Mans and La Ferté-Bernard.

This route owes its name to the shape of its route, which evokes the silhouette of a leprechaun for dreamers. It offers a path between Jalais, a bocage plain on the Soulitré side, and the Huisne valley.

The route through the countryside around Tuffé takes us to the Château de Chéronne and the church of Saint-Denis-des-Coudrais. The Chéronne, which feeds the Tuffé lake, crosses and recrosses the sunken paths several times. This route is best enjoyed in good weather as the dirt tracks can be quite wet.

Tuffé-Val-de-la-Chéronne is a new commune formed in 2016 from the merger of the communes of Tuffé and Saint-Hilaire-le-Lierru. Inhabited since the Neolithic period, as evidenced by the Grandes Brières dolmen, Tuffé began to develop in the Early Middle Ages with the founding of an abbey around 650. From the Middle Ages to the Revolution, the monastery of Tuffé was also a large seigneurial estate bearing the title of barony; its power sparked emulation and, at times, rivalry with the neighbouring lay lords of Chéronne. At the end of the 19th century, the railway gave the village a new lease of life; it encouraged the establishment of an industrial estate on which the town’s current economic vitality still partly rests.

The village of Villaines, situated near the ancient Le Mans–Chartres road, developed in the Middle Ages around the church, on the hillside. You will appreciate its rural charm and the well-preserved architecture of the village houses and the old farmhouses scattered across the countryside. Their materials – terracotta for the tiles and bricks, limestone rubble and lime plaster coloured with local sand – blend beautifully with this scenic setting, offering fine views over the Huisne valley.

This route through valleys and bocage will allow you to explore the countryside around Boëssé le Sec. You’ll discover a beautiful avenue of pollarded trees.

The village is characterised by the presence of the forest. This enabled its owner, the Marquis de Vibraye, to establish forges on the Braye river in Champrond in the early 17th century, where charcoal from the forest fuelled the furnaces producing pig iron and wrought iron until 1913. The trail partly follows the route taken by the convoys laden with heavy iron bars to the workshop in the hamlet of La Fenderie, on the pond of the same name. At La Bouverie, another vanished hamlet, eight houses provided accommodation for the forges’ carters, whilst charcoal burners and miners lived in makeshift huts. Now silent once more, the forest retains of this past activity only the network of paths. Part of it is now a Natura 2000 site.

The village of Maisoncelles, described as a ‘street village’, has developed linearly along the road linking Bouloire to Tresson and Écorpain, running perpendicular to the Ruisseau de l’Étangsort. Although difficult to date precisely, the imposing Church of Notre-Dame, possibly dating back to the Romanesque period, is undoubtedly the oldest building in the village. You can, however, see typical rural features from theThird Republic, such as the public pump at the foot of the church. Heading towards the cemetery, you will see on the right the old communal washhouse, recently converted to welcome walkers, and further up, a former school recognisable by its two-storey structure and brick window frames.

The parish underwent a re-demarcation in 1836: certain farms such as La Bardouillère and houses in the village were part of Volnay. Since then, the south-eastern boundary has been formed by the Ruisseau la Sourice. Under the Ancien Régime, the parish seigneury was annexed to the Château du Coudray, which you will see to the right of the hill as you head towards La Bardouillère. The village still has traditional houses near the church; it has gradually expanded towards the crossing point over the Sourice, where the roads from Surfonds to Bouloire and from Le Breil to Volnay used to meet, later transformed inthe 19th century into the main road from Tuffé to Le Grand-Lucé.

The present-day commune, formed by the merger of two former major market towns, stretches out parallel to the Huisne valley across uneven terrain. The old Pont de Gennes is at the lowest point (60 m), whilst the highest point (100 m) is at Montfort-le-Rotrou. The former is a crossroads village situated at the mouth of an old crossing point over the Huisne. The latter, situated on a strategic defensive site, is a linear settlement built under the protection of the castle. The two were joined by a gradual urban expansion in the 19th century. The walk takes you past the starting point of the first major motor race organised by the Automobile Club de France (ACF) in 1906, the forerunner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Although local tradition places the first village at Bresteau, the Church of Saint-Martin, rebuilt by the monks of Saint-Vincent in the early 12th century, provides clear evidence of the antiquity of the village of Lombron. This beautiful church, open during the day, is well worth a visit both for the quality of its architecture (Romanesque choir and lantern tower, nave and chapels remodelled in the 14th and 15th centuries on their original foundations) and for its furnishings (16th-century statues including the Crucified Christ, the seigneurial bench of the Montmorency family, lords of Bresteau, terracotta bas-reliefs by Lebrun, circa 1760, 18th-century nave pews, etc.).

Situated on a small hill overlooking the surrounding area, the village, which takes its nickname from the Échelles farm, the former seat of the parish seigneury, offers a well-preserved architectural and landscape setting, dominated by the Church of Saint John the Baptist. Built inthe 12th century, this church underwent embellishment work in the16th century: what remains is the painted panelled vault, resting—an extremely rare feature—on posts placed against the walls, and above all the remains of an extraordinary altarpiece in carved and painted limestone, dated 1558. The décor was redesigned in the18th century with the installation of three new altarpieces.

The former parish of Saint-Denis-des-Coudrais developed under the influence of the lords of Chéronne, who held the parish seigneury, until the Revolution. Under the Ancien Régime, the village fell under the jurisdiction of the Perche (right bank of the Chéronne) and the Maine (left bank of the Chéronne). Whilst the local economy was primarily agricultural, deposits of very high-quality white clay were exploited from an early stage to supply the nearby pottery workshops, notably those in Tuffé, Bonnétable and Prévelles. This activity ceased in themid-20th century with the closure of the last workshop in Prévelles in 1962. The place names bear witness to this history: Les Caves, la Fosse (now called Les Merisiers), and les Terres Blanches.

Montaillé has developed around two centres: the village centre, built up around the church, and La Brenaille, a cluster of hamlets and farms to the north of the village. The site of La Brenaille appears to have been inhabited since ancient times, whilst the village centre seems to have been settled during the Gallo-Roman period, as evidenced by the route of an ancient road between Le Mans and Orléans. ‘Montaillé’ likely derives from a contraction of the Latin ‘montem’, meaning mountain or high ground, and the name ‘Alhierus’, a Germanic name that may have referred to the landowner following the barbarian invasions ofthe 5th century. As the name suggests, the land is situated on high ground and is close to a stream, the Pibeau, and a spring, the Fontaine Saint Jean-Baptiste.

The name adopted at the time of the merger refers to the location of the two villages situated in the valley at the confluence of the Arche and Hune streams. The area has been inhabited since ancient times, as evidenced by the dolmen on the border with Tresson, dating from the Neolithic period, and the ancient road – the Via Turniacensis – linking Le Mans to Blois; passing through Volnay and Saint-Mars-de-Locquenay before heading towards the Loir Valley. This facilitated the development of large agricultural estates, explaining the presence of numerous fiefdoms in medieval times, of which few traces remain (Champion, Pois, Le Grand Yvay, Mèleve, Sargilet), with the exception of La Chesnaye, which incorporated most of them during the Modern Era (16th–18th centuries).

The name Val-de-la-Hune, adopted at the time of the merger, refers to the location of the two villages situated in the valley at the confluence of the Ruisseau de l’Arche and the Hune. The area has been inhabited since ancient times, as evidenced by the dolmen on the border with Tresson, dating from the Neolithic period, and the ancient road, the Via Turniacensis, linking Le Mans to Blois; passing through Volnay and Saint-Mars-de-Locquenay before heading towards the Loir Valley. This facilitated the development of large agricultural estates, explaining the presence of numerous fiefdoms in medieval times, of which few remains are left (Champion, Pois, Le Grand Yvay, Mélève, Sargilet), with the exception of La Chesnaye, which incorporated most of them during the Modern Era (16th–18th centuries).

Set off to explore the hills and valleys of the Saint-Aubin countryside and its varied landscapes: woods, meadows and cultivated fields.

The origins of the settlement of Tresson are very ancient, as evidenced by a dolmen situated not far from Les Basses Poches. Furthermore, the territory of Tresson is crossed by the Via Turniacensis, near which a large agricultural estate is recorded in 572. This villa was donated by Bishop Domnole to Saint-Vincent Abbey, which established a priory in Tresson. This combination of factors led to the development of the present-day village in the Étangsort valley.

The earliest evidence of human settlement in Saint-Célerin is linked to the discovery of ancient coins, including a Gallic stater (1st or2nd century BC) and a Carolingian hoard dating from around 833, the year the locality of Caliniaco (known in French as Chahanay) was first mentioned.

Situated on a small spur at the confluence of the Anille and Roulecrotte rivers, the village, first mentioned in the 13th century, retains several old houses, including the town hall, a former presbytery built in the 15th century. The church, rebuilt around 1780, features a beautiful collection of murals painted around 1860 using potassium silicate (a new technique for the time).

Setting off from this village-street with its rich architectural heritage, head along the ancient sunken paths, sections (1) to (6) ofthe GR®® 235, lined with a variety of trees – oaks, service trees, serviceberries, wild pear trees and so on – offering walkers an enchanting, shaded route. These paths, in the heart of the rolling countryside of the Perche Sarthois, are linked by a network of quiet country lanes, offering stunning 180° panoramic views from the higher points.

Val-d’Étangson is a new commune formed in 2019 from the merger of the communes of Évaillé and Sainte-Osmane. Possibly first mentioned as early as the9th century, the village on the banks of the Tusson consisted in 1829 of nothing more than the church, the18th-century presbytery with its courtyard and garden, and around fifteen houses. It expanded after 1840, no doubt linked to the opening of the road connecting the two sub-prefectures of La Flèche and Saint-Calais (now the D13).

The evolution of Saint-Calais is evident in its town planning, which developed in the Middle Ages on either side of the Anille. On the right bank, the former abbey site founded inthe 6th century is still visible in the two tall gables of the current resource centre. During the Revolution, it gave way to another administrative centre with imposing buildings and the straight streets typical ofthe 19th century. On the left bank, on the hillside between the river and the castle founded inthe 11th century to rival the powerful abbey, you can easily make out the medieval quarter, which was built around the axis of the Grande Rue on an irregular and densely packed grid of plots.

Val-d’Étangson is a new commune formed in 2019 from the merger of the communes of Évaillé and Sainte-Osmane. Dedicated to an Irish princess who became a hermit in Brittany in the7th century, the church, extensively remodelled around 1540, features a beautiful Renaissance porch with classical decorations. By undertaking the interior restoration of the building themselves, the residents have revived the tradition of the ‘fabrique’ – an assembly of parishioners responsible, under the Ancien Régime, for the building’s upkeep. In 1841, the local landscape was mainly characterised by small farmsteads, sometimes grouped into hamlets such as La Chauvière, and a few large estates, such as Rateau or a dairy farm.

Situated on the eastern slopes of the Huisne, Courgenard, first mentioned at the end ofthe 9th century, was the seat in the Middle Ages of an important barony belonging to the chapter of canons of Le Mans Cathedral. The fine Romanesque architecture of Saint-Martin’s Church still bears witness today to the power of this barony, as does the remarkable16th-century decoration adorning the chancel. In the19th century, the village still lived off agriculture and the production of hemp cloth. Today, it forms part of the La Ferté-Bernard employment area.

Spared by land consolidation, the commune of Bonnétable, best known for its medieval castle and deciduous forest, is much loved by walkers for its typical sunken paths and pleasant wooded countryside.