The Château du Rozet

Park at the War Memorial, opposite Vendat Church.

Red signposts.

(S/E) From the church, take Rue Marx Dormoy opposite the church. Continue to the junction with Rue de la Croix.

(1) Turn left onto a steep, sunken path leading downhill – an old ‘coursière’ (shortcut) leading to Le Rozet. At the bottom, join a tarmac path and follow it as it continues (ignore the Chemin du Bois des Granges, which branches off to the right). Walk past a pumping station, cross a stream, ignore a path on the left and you’ll soon reach a junction at the hamlet of Le Rozet.

(2) Then turn right onto Rue du Rozet. Walk past the Château du Rozet (guesthouse) and continue straight on along the path for about 500 m. Enter the woods and follow a track for 200 m until you come out onto a path that runs through the fields. Turn left and follow the path to a crossroads.

(3) Turn left onto a stony track and continue to a crossroads (hunting lodge). Then turn left. Pass through Lignière and continue along the track.

(4) On leaving Lignière, at a three-way junction, follow the path on the left to Le Rozet (the red-rendered castle).

(2) Carry on to the right and cross the Ruisseau la Guêle again. (A red ‘R’ is painted on the EDF pole with an arrow pointing to the right to indicate the return route to the church after completing a circular route around the château.) After the pumping station, at the bend, continue along the path opposite and join Rue Marx Dormoy.

(1) Turn right to return to the starting point (S/E).

Shortly after the houses that make up Lignière, 50 metres to the right, a fine tree bears the letter B on its trunk. Opposite, on the other side of the path, an uprooted tree has revealed an old ‘rubbish pit’ belonging to a brickmaker and tile-maker who was based here between 1790 and 1810.