La Cressonnière and the Chemin des Wagons

Park in the cemetery car park located on the left after the lake when coming from the D31.

(S/E) Leave the car park via the small wooden footbridge spanning the ditch at the top right and continue straight on along Rue des Acacias. After a right-hand bend, you’ll reach Rue de la Forge; turn left onto it, with your back to the town hall.

(1) Walk alongside the church car park, staying on this street.

(2) Turn right onto Rue du Logis and then right again onto Rue de l’Église to return to the bend in Rue de la Forge.

(1) Head down to the left into Rue du Lavoir, then veer to the right after the washhouse to head back up Rue de la Forge. Continue straight on, passing the town hall.

(3) Leave the road and take the path on the left. After about 150 m, leave the path and head towards the pond. Walk alongside it until you reach the picnic area.

(4) Cross the D63a road and head up the path opposite, which follows the route of the old railway line.

(5) Turn slightly left onto the grassy path running parallel to the road. Facing the D89, turn right onto one of the paths between the rows of trees.

(6) Turn right onto a grassy path lined with hedges until you reach a junction.

(7) Turn left onto the stony path. After about 500 m, turn left again. After crossing a small stream, continue to the left along a sunken path on the edge of the Bois des Rochettes.

(8) Ignore the path leading off to the right towards the hamlet of La Gare; instead, turn left and walk past the football pitch. Continue along a stony path until you reach the D31.

(9) Cross the road carefully and continue past the Ferme des Gazelles until you reach the path on the left (^GR® de Pays de Mélusine – former railway line). A little further on, veer right to join the road at the hamlet of La Cressonière. Continue straight on, passing the château, and you’ll reach the D63a.

(10) Turn left and, at the junction 100 metres further on, turn left again onto the track (note: the signposting turns right and indicates the route of a different walk). Cross the D89 and then the D31 with care .

(5) At the junction with the start of the route, carry on straight ahead along the small road.

(7) At the next junction, which you have already passed on the way out, turn right onto the road and, after about 200 m, at the left-hand bend, go straight on to enter a shaded path and arrive at the cemetery car park (S/E).

Before point (4), there is a picnic area with tables, a shelter, toilets and a boules court.

In winter, at point (6), to avoid the sunken track near the Bois des Rochettes – which can be very muddy – head straight to point (9) by continuing along the D31.

This trail is signposted in yellow by the Vendée-Pays de la Châtaigneraie Tourist Office.

- Saint-Hilaire Church (listed as a Historic Monument), built in the 11th century on the site of an older church.
- The seigneurial manor house and its dovecote at point (2) (listed as a historic monument). This manor house dates back to the early 15th century and was extended in the 16th and then the 18th centuries, before finally becoming the centre of a farm in the 19th century.
- The wash house at (1)
- The village lake and its leisure area, at (4).
- The Chemin des Wagons (between points (4) and (6) and also on the^GR® du Pays trail after LD les Gazelles).
- The Château de la Cressonnière (15th and 16th centuries) at point (10)