The Sèvre Niortaise in the Sepvret area

The car park is located below the school in Sepvret.

(S/E) Leave the car park and take Rue de la Mantelière northwards downhill. At the crossroads, turn left.
A little further on, pass Impasse des Ouzines on your left and take the farm track opposite, which slopes gently downhill, leaving the street on your right. The path leads to an open space.

(1) At the crossroads, turn left towards the Ouzines wash house fountain.
Follow the path that runs alongside the water flowing from the fountain, which empties a few metres further on into a second, much smaller basin with a wooden "water wheel" (the small lighthouse that was next to it has disappeared).
Continue along the path through a fairly large meadow with the Sèvre Niortaise river on your right.

(2) The path then winds along the side of the valley with the Sèvre Niortaise river at the bottom and several springs (Les Deux Jumeaux, etc.).
After a slight climb, the path reaches the edge of a field. Walk along the field until you reach a downhill path with a small wooden bridge.

(3) After crossing the small wooden bridge, you will reach the source of the Sèvre Niortaise. This area has been developed with a picnic table. A few dozen metres along the road to the north-west is the Grandes Fontaines wash house fountain. (See section "During the hike or nearby").
Retrace your steps.

(2) Returning to the place where the space widens, you will see a ford allowing you to cross the Sèvre Niortaise and climb gently up the other side of the valley to find a farm track leading to the road from Sepvret to Fondeboire, near a Y-junction.
At the crossroads, take the road on the right and then the next one on the right, which leads to the hamlets of Tuilerie and Circé. After Tuilerie, the road overlooks the Gardoux fountain, which is now private property.
Continue along the road, passing a path on the left and the locality of Circé. The road turns into a farm track. Continue straight ahead.

(4) At the four-way junction, take the path on the left which goes uphill, then downhill and finally uphill again. This path runs along the edge of the field on the left and then on both sides on the second uphill section. Towards the top of the hill, turn right onto the farm track, which turns into a road at the first houses in the hamlet of Brégion.

(5) At the first crossroads with a farm track, turn right and walk alongside the house (you can see a beautiful courtyard through the porch).
The path turns left shortly after the house and you will see a magnificent, fully restored dovecote. On the side of the house is a low door which, if it is not closed, allows you to admire the interior of the dovecote, its framework and its 2,200 nesting boxes. Close the door properly when you leave. Return to the road via the same path.

(5) At the crossroads, turn right onto the road and walk alongside the Brégion house on your right. Further on, ignore a road on your left that leads to a house and heads towards fields.
At the next crossroads, turn right onto the farm track leading downhill to La Serpe, where the track crosses the Sèvre Niortaise. The track leads to a road via a slight incline.
When you reach the road, turn right and immediately turn right again at the T-junction. The road crosses La Ripaudière. Pass a path on your left and immediately after that a road on your right, then a second and a third, these roads leading to houses in the locality.
The road (Rue de la Ripaudière) turns left and descends.
Towards the bottom of the descent, leave a farm track on your left and, shortly afterwards, take the farm track that branches off to the right.
The path curves into an S shape. Pass a path on the left that leads to Faugerit (in the "S") and stay on the main farm track that runs alongside a building and continues downhill towards the hamlet of Le Petit Moulin and the Sèvre Niortaise river.

(6) At Le Petit Moulin, a bridge crosses the Sèvre Niortaise. Just before this, you will see a fountain on the left and, at the foot of the low wall, an old stone kilometre marker (Chey and Sepvret).
After crossing the Sèvre Niortaise, take the path to the left that climbs up the side of the valley. It quickly leads into the Bois des Talles. Keep taking the paths on the left-hand side until you reach a crossroads you passed earlier.

(4) Back at the four-way crossroads near Circé, take the path on the left which descends, slightly enclosed at the start (do not take the paths you took at the start of the hike).
After a right-hand bend, the path passes by the Fontaine de la Brunetière, where there is a beautiful view of the valley of the small mill.
Continue down the path. The path levels out as it approaches the Sèvre Niortaise, which it follows for about a hundred metres. This area can be wet in case of heavy rain.
The path arrives at a stone bridge that allows you to easily cross the Sèvre Niortaise. An open space (with a biodiversity sign) is a good place to take a break.

(7) Cross this open space, climbing slightly until you reach a farm track: take it to the right and after a few hundred metres you will reach a place called Le Grand Moulin. When you arrive at this place, the track turns into a road. Continue along the road, which climbs slightly.

(8) Take the first farm track on the right. This track crosses a stream and arrives at a poplar grove on the banks of the Sèvre Niortaise. Continue along the track.
Towards the other end of the poplar grove, the farm track gives way on the left to a simple path that winds along the edge of the Saint-Martin woods (many trees have fallen to the ground following the storms that have hit the west in recent years).

(9) The path opens out onto a more open space. One path leads to the left and another to the right, downhill towards a wooden bridge (not visible on the map). Take the path on the right and cross the Sèvre Niortaise once again via the small wooden bridge.
Immediately afterwards, turn left into the first lane of the poplar grove. Follow the Sèvre Niortaise to a wooden staircase that leads to the road from Sepvret to Fondeboire.
Turn left onto the road to cross the river one last time and, immediately afterwards, turn right onto the farm track that leads to the Ouzines fountain and wash house.

(1) From this crossroads, turn left onto the farm track, which climbs slightly. When you reach the first houses, leave the Impasse des Ouzines on your right and a road on your right to continue straight ahead.
At the next crossroads, turn right onto Rue de la Mantelière, which climbs uphill. You will arrive at the car park below the school in Sepvret (S/E).

This route combines a wide variety of paths, some of which run close to streams, so sturdy footwear is essential.

The Logis and Pigeonnier de Bregion

The "logis de Brégion" and the dovecote (2,200 nesting boxes) were built in the 15th century and belonged to various lords and nobles, including Suzanne de Baudian, lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne of Austria and Queen Marie-Thérèse.
Text displayed on the premises when acquired by its current owner: "Farmers can now enjoy these premises thanks to the revolution of 1789 and their ancestors who preserved them; they are delighted to welcome you."

The Sèvre Niortaise

The Sèvre Niortaise river basin covers two regions (Nouvelle Aquitaine and Pays de la Loire) and four departments (Deux-Sèvres, Charente-Maritime, Vendée and Vienne). It stretches for around 100 kilometres towards the Baie de l'Aiguillon and 50 kilometres from north to south.
The Sèvre Niortaise is the main coastal river that drains the basin over nearly 160 kilometres (excluding the secondary network of wetlands). It rises in Sepvret, at an altitude of 153 metres in Deux-Sèvres, and then crosses the Marais Poitevin before flowing into the Baie de l'Aiguillon. Its main tributaries on the right bank are, from upstream to downstream, the Chambon, the Egray, the Autize and the Vendée, and on the left bank, the Lambon and the Mignon.

Origin of the name "Sèvre"

"Severa" is the oldest preserved form of the name (dating from 932). It comes from Sav-Ara with the pre-Indo-European root Sav/Sab "hollow" and the hydronymic suffix -Ara. The name "Sèvre" in Nantes (the river north of the Deux-Sèvres department) has the same origin.

History of the sources of the Sèvre Niortaise.

The Sèvre-Niortaise rises from nine sources near Sepvret, in the Mellois region south of the Deux-Sèvres department.
At a place called Fontbedoire, by the side of the road (a little beyond the point (3)), not far from each other, are two of these sources: the first, called "Les Grandes Fontaines", also feeds a wash house. On the other side of the road, crystal-clear water gushes forth: the "source du Coin".

Its catchment area

The hydrological catchment area corresponds to surface runoff and covers an area of approximately 3,350 km² with the Vendée basin.
The hydrogeological catchment area: the waters that flow into the Dive basin to the east of the territory join the Sèvre underground.
A key feature of this watershed is that its downstream section includes a large part of the Marais Poitevin, an iconic wetland that has been developed over centuries. These developments have led to the marsh being structured into wet marshes and dry marshes, two entities with distinct hydraulic functions.