Nohant - La Berthenoux

Red and yellow GRP®signposting In the footsteps of the Master Bell Ringers

(S) Leave the village square in Nohant by taking the grassy lane that descends to the left of the Tourist Office. At the well, turn left, then right onto Allée Maurice Dudevant.

(1) At the three-way junction, follow the road on the left marked as a dead end towards Le Chêne. Cross the D51E and continue straight ahead.

(2) Take the track on the left that crosses a stream over a metal footbridge and climbs back up to the village of Saint-Chartier. On the right, follow Rue du Champ de l'Écu, which overlooks the grounds of Saint-Chartier Castle.

(3) Go around the church of Saint-Chartier by turning right, leaving a covered wash house on your right. Continue straight ahead and, just after the Bletterie farm, turn left to go up the hill where you will have a beautiful view of the Château de la Vallée Bleue, then of a farmhouse with a barn with a door. In front of the first houses in La Preugne, turn left, then left again at the crossroads. You will arrive on the D69; follow it to the right for about 200 m (drive carefully).

(4) Turn left onto the track that climbs up a hillside. First turn left then right, going around the first house in the village of La Colterie. Join a small road on the right (with a wide view of the Vallée Noire). Leave the roads on your right and left and you will reach the D69 at Verneuil-sur-Igneraie.

(5) Leave the church of Verneuil-sur-Igneraie on your right and go up to the left along Rue des Potiers, then Rue des Tuileries, passing the Poteries de la Vallée Noire pottery workshops, until you reach a fork at Les Epingués.

(6) Turn left onto a small road. At the edge of the woods, continue straight ahead on the sunken path. When you reach a road, continue straight ahead, then turn left onto the D72. Cross a bridge.

(7) At a bend, leave the road and continue straight ahead on a wide path that climbs towards the village of La Berthenoux. Pass a wayside cross (the Croix des Granges-des-Moines) and rejoin the road.

(8) Turn right onto Rue de la Bonne-Dame. At the T-junction (church on the left), first turn right then left to follow Rue du Stade. When this turns left, turn right onto Rue des Maîtres Sonneurs and you will immediately reach the communal stopover lodge de La Berthenoux (E).

Arrival:

If you are travelling by public transport, the Remi bus will drop you off along the D943 in Nohant (take the Allée Chopin to reach George Sand's house)

If you are coming by car, there is a car park after the entrance to George Sand's house or on Allée Maurice Dudevant

We suggest visiting George Sand's house and grounds to get in the mood. You can purchase the novel "Les Maîtres Sonneurs" at the library of George Sand's house to accompany you on your journey

We have included a visit to Nohant in this stage. If you do not wish to visit Nohant, you can complete the first two stages, i.e. the Nohant - La Motte-Feuilly route on the first day (29 km)

Accommodation: Nohant-Vic, Saint-Chartier, Verneuil, La Berthenoux. For more information, see the website, section: Organise your hike.
Refreshments: Nohant-Vic, Saint-Chartier, Verneuil, La Berthenoux.
Water points: Nohant-Vic, Saint-Chartier, Verneuil, La Berthenoux.

The novel The GR® de pays "Sur les pas des Maîtres Sonneurs" (In the footsteps of the Master Pipers) A 180 km route that crosses the Cher, Indre and Allier departments. You follow the path of the Master Pipers, an initiatory journey for bagpipers described in George Sand's novel "Les Maîtres Sonneurs" (The Master Pipers). This book, published in 1853, is the story of an encounter between peasants from Berry and mule drivers from Bourbonnais. Appreciated for the quality of their playing by the local population, the bagpipers were also feared because of the rumours surrounding them: had they made a pact with the devil to master music so well? The novel "Les Maîtres sonneurs" tells the story of one of these musicians, Joset. A simple and weak child in the eyes of the inhabitants of Nohant, he contrasts strangely with his friends, Brulette and Tiennet. A loner, he shares some of Chopin's character traits. He discovers a passion for music that cannot be satisfied by the major mode inspired by the plains of Berry. He needs to learn the minor mode of the mountains and forests of Alleu, join Bastien, the great woodcutter, and perfect his art of bagpiping. Eighteen months later, Joseph falls ill and asks for his friends from Berry. Huriel comes to warn them and accompany them on the journey that will take them from the plains of Nohant to the woods of Bourbonnais

Nohant: The starting point at "La Bonne Dame de Nohant" in Nohant, we are immersed in the world of George Sand, who was raised by her grandmother in this small castle. Along the paths, a few benches invite you to sit down and enjoy the birdsong. You can imagine yourself among the guests of the "Bonne Dame de Nohant", famous for her table and refined cuisine. Nothing seems to have changed, not even the boudoir, "so small that there was no room for a bed", where the novelist wrote and had her hammock. In the Saint-Martin church in Nohant-Vic, Romanesque frescoes were discovered by chance in 1849 and have been preserved to this day thanks to George Sand and Prosper Mérimée, who had the chapel listed as a historic monument. This is where the heroes of the novel lived. Let's leave Nohant behind: "Endless fields, meadows, copses and wide communal paths ... a jumble of lush hedges and cottages hidden among the orchards"... Today's landscapes still resemble those in the novel

Saint-Chartier: George Sand takes great care to describe, among other things, the initiation rites of the brotherhood of master bell ringers and bagpipers, which took place in the underground passages of the Château de Saint-Chartrier, and the "exams" to become a bagpiper. In fact, it was at the Château de Saint-Chartier that the famous summer festival of luthiers and master bell ringers was held for many years, before recently moving to the nearby Château d'Ars under the name "Le Son Continu" (In 2023, it welcomed nearly 150 luthiers and 20,000 spectators). Let's leave the city of bagpipers and, after the Igneraie River, head back up to La Colterie, where we have a view of the "Black Valley." George Sand named it thus: "All the heights are wooded, which is what gives our distant views that beautiful blue colour, which turns purple and almost black on stormy days."

Verneuil/Igneraie: Once a pottery village, its Château du Coudray was the meeting place of Aurore and Dupin and Jules Sandeau, with whom she wrote her first novel, Rose et blanche (see George Sand), and the house of the "épingués" was the home of the poet Gabriel Nigond and the painter Fernand Maillaud. After Verneuil-sur-Igneraie, the bocage gently reclaims its rights and one thinks of George Sand, who, sensing her end approaching, had herself carried to her window. "Leave the greenery" were reportedly her last words. It must be acknowledged that some 130 years later, the novelist's wishes have been fully granted...

La Berthenoux: Notre Dame Church and the tower of a former Benedictine priory, near the village, hosts an ancestral fair in September, where "between twelve and thirteen thousand head of cattle are estimated to have been presented this year"