In the Hez Forest

The Hez-Froidmont forest was created in 1869 by combining the Hez (1,413 ha) and Froidmont (259 ha) state forests with the Saint-Lucien, Saint-Thibault and La Verrière reserves, which were originally owned by the church. Covering a single area of 2,796 hectares (with the exception of the Belle Fille valley, which is 100 metres away from the forest and represents a small 10-hectare canton), it stretches 9 kilometres from east to west and 6 kilometres from north to south.

Details

416727
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 12.49 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 4h 10 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 196 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 194 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 161 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 66 m

Photos

Description of the walk

Departure from the Magasin Forest House.

(S/E) Cross the Condé Forest Road and join the Bourbon Forest Road, heading northeast. Follow it in a straight line to the Carrefour de la Reine.

(1) Continue along the same forest road, which now winds, until you reach the Carrefour du Ruisseau de la Garde.

(2) Turn left and continue straight ahead on another forest road, ignoring the paths branching off to the right and left.

(3) At Beau Chêne, turn right onto Route Forestière de l'Étang. At the road, turn left. On your left is Étang Saint-Louis and on your right is an old wash house.

(4) Continue along the paved road, pass two streets on the right, then take the small path on the left between the oak trees.

(5) You are now at the statue of King Saint-Louis. Legend has it that King Saint-Louis was born here.

(6) Join the D55, follow it to the left for about 50 metres, then turn right. Follow theGR® (white and red markings) along the Froimont forest path. Stay on this marked path, ignoring all turnings to the left and right. Cross several forest roads and continue to the Chêne Chandelier, a sessile oak, also known as a sessile oak (Quercus petraea Liebl). The information panel indicates a height of 37 metres and an estimated age of 160 years.

(7) Turn left onto the Bresles Forest Road, which climbs opposite the Chêne Chandelier, and continue to the Carrefour du Soleil.

(8) Take the Chemin des Plaideurs opposite (note that it is not signposted). Stay on this path, which initially heads east and then north-east. Ignore all the paths on either side and continue to the Route Forestière de Condé. Take this road to your right to return to the starting point (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 148 m - Magasin Forest House
  2. 1 : km 0.93 - alt. 156 m - Carrefour de la Reine
  3. 2 : km 2.24 - alt. 77 m - Carrefour du Ruisseau de la Garde
  4. 3 : km 3.1 - alt. 111 m - Beautiful Oak Tree
  5. 4 : km 3.72 - alt. 76 m - Road after the pond
  6. 5 : km 4.26 - alt. 77 m - Statue of King Saint-Louis
  7. 6 : km 4.35 - alt. 72 m - Junction with the GR at the D55
  8. 7 : km 8.72 - alt. 86 m - The Chandelier Oak
  9. 8 : km 9.68 - alt. 141 m - Carrefour du Soleil
  10. S/E : km 12.49 - alt. 148 m - Magasin Forest House

Worth a visit

The Saint-Louis Statue, Saint-Louis Pond and Chandelier Oak Tree.

Always be cautious and plan ahead when you're outdoors. Visorando and the author of this route cannot be held responsible for any accidents occurring on this route.

The GR® and PR® markings are the intellectual property of the Fédération Française de Randonnée Pédestre.

Reviews and comments

4.5 / 5
Based on 16 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.4 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.6 / 5
Route interest
4.6 / 5
User 25406108

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 27, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A very pleasant walk in this autumn season

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Lecdid
Lecdid

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 21, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

Lovely walk. Worth repeating

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legodvicien
legodvicien
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 15, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A beautiful hike with a varied and hilly route, but without too many difficulties. A short stop in front of the beautiful little pond where calm and serenity reign.
As mentioned before, there is no beautiful oak tree at the crossroads of the same name.
Worth doing again.

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MARTDomi
MARTDomi

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 17, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

Very pleasant walk in the forest.
Well shaded
Very easy to follow

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vincent40
vincent40

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 20, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

The first third is quite busy and has overly wide paths, but the rest is much better and prettier. Very beautiful forest.

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Thierryd60
Thierryd60
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : May 18, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

The Neuville forest is magnificent. However, the route only follows wide, stabilised tracks, which is a shame as there are many small paths winding through the vegetation.

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Jyhair
Jyhair

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 08, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

I created a GPX file and followed my GPS for the hike.
I can upload this file to Visorando, but I don't know how to send it to you. The only difference is that I'm starting from the church in La-Neuville-en-Hez rather than the forest house.
If you would like to put it online, please let me know how to do so.

Kind regards
Jyhair

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dlws
dlws

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 15, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

If you don't have a GPS (as is my case), it's difficult to find your location on the route map.
Although the names of the roads and forest tracks are clearly marked on the map, this is not the case in the forest, except at point
1 and the Carrefour du Soleil; this makes it difficult to take a shortcut if you run into problems. Otherwise, it's a very beautiful walk where you are not
disturbed by other people...

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Didier CHATELAIN
Didier CHATELAIN

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 04, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

A very pleasant hike, 95% of which is in the forest. One small point to note when coming down the only steep climb towards the "beau chêne" crossroads is that this clay and loose earth path is quite slippery. Another point to note is that there is no beautiful oak tree at the crossroads of the same name... :-)

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Petit Gibus
Petit Gibus

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 10, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

A very enjoyable hike, with stunning scenery and remarkable points of interest. The explanations are clear and the map is well presented, which means you can't go wrong at point 3. In fact, there is no (or no longer) beautiful oak tree! So you have to rely on the map for the distance between points 2 and 3 and turn right at the right moment.
Other than that, I completed the circular walk in 3 hours and promised to take my wife there as soon as possible.
Thank you for this wonderful walk in the forest.
I highly recommend it.

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memere007
memere007

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 04, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

Very nice course, thank you julienq

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sainluc
sainluc

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : May 21, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

A very enjoyable Nordic walking outing.
A few detours meant we had to make some small changes to the route, but we got back on track without any difficulty.
There were some very pleasant elevation changes and the route was very enjoyable in good weather as it was very shady.
We recommend this hike.

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blooby
blooby

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : May 21, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

A very pleasant short walk in the forest. I recommend it.
We got a little lost around point 3, but it's quite easy to find your way in this kind of forest...

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grdyeiza
grdyeiza

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 24, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

Beautiful walk
However, point number 3, the beautiful oak tree, is not marked at the crossroads, which is misleading.
I have also changed the start of the walk, point 1, to go via the pond and the remains of the convent, located further east.

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emmanuel.legoix
emmanuel.legoix

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 22, 2017
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

superb forest and very beautiful hike. Worth repeating

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