The area around Brégion, starting from Sepvret

Start from the car park at Sepvret cemetery.

(S/E) Leave the car park by carefully taking the D108 road westwards, towards Sepvret.
Walk to a tree-lined clearing, take the Chemin du Marronnier on the right and, shortly afterwards, turn right onto a narrow track which almost immediately becomes a small footpath. Follow the footpath downhill, straight on, to the Fontaine du Bireau.

(1) Start walking back up the path and turn onto the first track on the left, which joins a small road.
When you reach it, turn left and follow this quiet road, which ends at a place called Le Grand Moulin.
Carry on straight ahead along the farm track that follows on from the small road until it begins to climb to the right at a right-angled bend.

(2) Turn left into an open grassy area on the banks of the Sèvre Niortaise and cross the bridge.
Carry on along the narrow path, which soon begins to climb and leads towards a second fountain on the right, the Brunetière. This section can be wet in very rainy weather as the path also acts as a drainage channel for heavy rainfall.
After the fountain, continue up the path to a crossroads at the edge of the woods.
Turn left onto the farm track heading west, which leads in a straight line to the hamlet of Circé.

(3) At the corner of the first property on the right – after you have passed it – turn right and follow the farm track which runs alongside the property wall and then passes between farm buildings (permission to walk through granted by the farmer – see practical information –).
The farm track turns at the corner of the first building on the left. Then turn onto the farm track that branches off to the right, heading north. This runs alongside a building on your left.
Carry on straight ahead until you reach an area where the farmer stores silage. Go round it on the right and head uphill to a junction with a farm track.
Cross the farm track and continue straight on along the grassy farm track heading north-east.
Follow it straight on until you reach the hamlet of La Granerie.
On arrival, the track turns into a small road. At the first junction, turn left and carry on straight ahead until you leave La Granerie and quite soon reach a T-junction with a small road.
Turn right and continue for about fifty metres, until the road takes a right-angle bend to the left.

(4) Take a grassy farm track on the right which descends towards the Ruisseau de Fonblanche.
When you reach it, turn right and follow the stream for a few metres until you come to a pretty little bridge, then cross the stream.
After crossing it, take the path that climbs steeply up through the Bois du Côteau. At the top of the climb, it comes out at a junction of farm tracks.

(5) Turn right onto the farm track that runs alongside the Bois du Côteau (this is the^GR® 655 or the Way of St James).
Follow it straight on to the hamlet of Chassandré (hard to spot as there is only one building) before beginning a steep descent towards the hamlet of Foucault. On arrival, the forest track gives way to a small road serving the hamlet.
Here, you can admire various remarkable old houses, in particular a 16th-century dwelling featuring, amongst other things, a very beautiful window.
After passing the house on your left, turn right onto the small road leading downhill and, immediately afterwards, turn right again to cross the Ruisseau de Foucault shortly afterwards.
The small road climbs up to a T-junction with another road.
Turn right and follow this very quiet road with care; it runs alongside the woodland on your right and leads to the hamlet of La Maisonnière, where you can see fine examples of traditional Poitou architecture.
Cross through the hamlet and continue along the farm track which follows on from the small road.
Carry on to a junction of farm tracks.

(6) Turn left and take the farm track leading towards the junction with a small road known as la Croix du Chemin Vert. Continue straight on towards Brégion.
Carry on to the junction with the road leading to Brégion: you’ll reach it after passing a farm and a house on your left.
At the crossroads, look out for the fully restored Brégion Dovecote on your right (a place of interest to visit off the route).
The route leaves the^GR® 655 here.

(7) Turn left onto the road, walk past an old farm building and, about a hundred metres further on, turn right onto a downhill farm track.
It passes over a spring and the remains of an old swimming pool (?) before crossing the Sèvre Niortaise at a place called La Serpe.
The track then climbs again. Follow it to a small road and a crossroads immediately beside it.

(8) Turn right and follow this small road carefully to pass through the hamlet of La Ripaudière and continue towards Faugerit.
Please note that the farm track on the left, whilst clearly marked at the start, is subsequently impassable as the farmer has incorporated it into his field and is ploughing it! Consequently, it is best to follow the road.
Once past the first houses in Faugerit, the road reaches a crossroads; turn right and, about fifty metres further on, turn left onto a farm track.
This leads onto a small road in the centre of Faugerit. Continue straight on along the road known as the Chemin de Saint-Jacques.
At the junction with the Chemin de l’Engachet, carry on straight ahead until you reach the junction with the D108.

(9) Cross the D108 road with care and take the farm track opposite, which heads towards a telecoms pylon.
In front of the pylon, the farm track turns sharply right, then crosses the plateau.
Continue to the T-junction. Turn right onto a shaded farm track. Follow it to the first junction with a farm track on the right.

(10) Turn right and follow this track, which runs alongside some recent livestock farm buildings, just before joining the D108 road.
Turn right and follow the D108 road with care to reach the nearby car park, which marks the end of this walk (S/E).

This walk across varied terrain requires suitable footwear.

This route follows a few signposted sections of^{the GR®} 655 (Way of St James), marked in red and white, and a route marked in yellow by the Deux-Sèvres Departmental Hiking Committee
of Deux-Sèvres – Brégion and Foucault: two villages on the Sèvre – but the bulk of the route is unmarked. Consequently, you must follow the directions in the route description and on the map, whilst also reading the landscape. Do not rely on any markings you encounter, as these may lead you off the proposed route.
The^GR® 655 is followed at the start of the route, from Sepvret to just beyond (2), then between (5) and (7).

At Circé, the route passes between the buildings of a farm. The farmer, whom I have contacted, has given his consent for walkers to use the farm track; however, he has prohibited all other users (cyclists, etc.). Please respect his decision and, of course, keep dogs on a lead at this point along the route, as there are farm animals (cows) in some of the buildings.

Walk completed by the author on 17 August 2018

Sepvret
Places and monuments
Source of the Sèvre Niortaise.
The Sèvre Niortaise is a coastal river which rises near Sepvret in the Deux-Sèvres department, flows through Niort, then winds its way through the Poitevin Marshes – where it forms the main waterway – before finally emptying into the Atlantic Ocean at the Anse de l’Aiguillon, opposite the Île de Ré.
The river is 158.4 km long. Downstream from Niort, the Sèvre Niortaise and its tributaries form a navigable stretch of over 100 km, organised into seven leats stretching from the Comporté Lock (Niort) to the Brault Lock at the river’s mouth in the Bay of L’Aiguillon.
Forming part of the Sèvre Niortaise waterway system, the Brault maritime canal – or the Marans–to-the-Sea maritime canal – was dug at the end of the 19th century to serve the port of Marans. This canal is a diversion from the Sèvre Niortaise and connects with the Marans Canal at La Rochelle.
The upper reaches of the river retain good water quality, but since the Middle Ages the watercourse has been altered: on the one hand, by the disappearance of beavers and their dams, as well as natural log jams; and on the other, by a non--seasonal slowdown in the water flow from its source at Nanteuil (lentic conditions over approximately 50 per cent of the total length), exacerbated by several structures built across the watercourse, such as those at Pamproux, Bougon and Tranchée Chevaleresse.
The river is locally characterised by active bio-mineralisation processes. In this watercourse, encrustations generally form on mats of aquatic mosses (bryophytes) or Marchantiophyta.

The Béronne rises at the Fontaine de Triangle, situated on the boundary between Sepvret and Saint-Léger-de-la-Martinière in the Deux-Sèvres department, and flows into the Boutonne at Vernoux-sur-Boutonne.
It is 29.5 km long and has a catchment area of 268 km

Notable figures associated with the commune
Ulysse Dubois is an author from the Deux-Sèvres region who writes in the Poitevin-Saintongeais dialect, specifically one of its Poitevin variants spoken in the Deux-Sèvres, namely that of the Mellois area. He is also a specialist in the Poitevin-Saintongeais dialect. Born in 1925 in the south-west of the Deux-Sèvres, near the Poitevin Marshes, he moved with his parents to Sepvret in the Mellois region (south-east of the Deux-Sèvres) at a very young age, where he still lives today.
Source: Wikipedia (excerpts)

The Logis and the Dovecote of Brégion
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 at the time of acquisition by the current owner: ‘Today, peasants are able to enjoy these premises thanks to the Revolution of 1789 and to their ancestors who preserved them; they are delighted to show you round.’
Source: Le Parisien