The best road cycling routes around Les Verchers-Sur-Layon

The contemporary art center of national interest, La Chapelle Jeanne d’Arc de Thouars, is today a leading venue for contemporary art in the western region. Along with the Château d’Oiron and the Syndicat Mixte de la Vallée du Thouet, which runs a program of public commissions for contemporary works, the art center's work is carried out in partnership across the entire territory of the Pays Thouarsais community of communes and, more broadly, in the northern part of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Within the region, the art center is a recognized player in the Astre plastic and visual arts network. Developing an artistic project that takes into account its geographical location and its architectural envelope, a neo-Gothic chapel, the art center maintains a privileged relationship with the heritage of Thouars. Guest artists, hosted for residencies or exhibitions, appropriate the chapel space by creating an original work designed for the venue. They also bring their perspective to the city, urban planning, landscape, and rural areas of the Thouars region and the Thouet Valley. Since 1993, nearly a hundred artists have been invited for residencies or exhibition projects. In recent years, the art center has paid particular attention to emerging artists from art schools, particularly those from the regional Le Grand Huit network. In addition to its programming, the art center also engages in outreach activities in the form of off-site exhibitions, workshops, and events (meetings, lectures, and workshops). A mobile device, La Mar(g)elle, was created in 2015 by the artist Marie-Ange Guilleminot to offer interventions in partner locations, particularly within schools and structures in the social and medical sectors. For its educational action, the art center benefits from the action of the municipal art school of Thouars, to which it is connected within the visual arts department of the City of Thouars.

The church, located in the village of Saint-Rémy-la-Varenne, dates from the first half of the 11th century and was then dependent on the Abbey of Saint-Aubin d'Angers; its rich past is reflected in its architecture. We enter the vaulted chapel (added to the original building in the 19th century) with the baptismal font. We discover the nave, which is connected to a bay whose 13th century vault rests on older walls. We then enter the choir, the only part of the building with a 12th century vault, where we can admire the ceiling with a pointed barrel vault. Outside the church, we see the Benedictine priory of Saint-Rémy-la-Varenne, a picturesque building founded in 929 that was formerly dependent on the Abbey of Saint-Aubin d'Angers. This church, open from Easter to All Saints' Day, is part of the network of "Reception churches in Anjou" open to the public. Source: https://www.anjou-tourisme.com/fr/diffusio/visites/eglise-de-saint-remy-la-varenne-brissac-loire-aubance

A large wide beach is waiting for you here. Enjoy the golden yellow vast sandbank and the wonderfully fresh water.

The Abbey of Saint-Maur de Glanfeuil is an abbey in Thoureil. According to legend, in the 6th century, Saint Benedict sent a disciple named Maurus , a monk from Monte Cassino , to Gaul . There he founded the Abbey of Glanfeuil, the first Benedictine abbey in Anjou , which he governed for almost forty years. The Abbey of Saint-Maur, which was destroyed by Norman invasions around the middle of the ninth century and rebuilt in the same century under the reign of Louis the Stammerer , was built and fortified as a war zone, according to the custom of the time. During the reign of Charles V , the English , driven out of Maine by Bertrand Du Guesclin , had withdrawn from Pontvallain to the Abbey of Saint-Maur. Until the 1980s, the abbey was owned by the Assumptionists ; it was a reception centre. They sold it to the Apprentis d'Auteuil, who, because they had no right to build workshops, sold it in turn to the Maine-et-Loire departmental council. The building was classified as a historical monument in 1958, classified in 1979 and registered in 1996. Today, the Abbey of Saint-Maur is managed by the OVAL association. It has converted this place into an activity centre where discovery lessons are given during school terms, but also camps during the holidays. Source Wikipedia

The Fête du Thoureil, a festival of Loire barges, is an Angevin tradition that takes place every year in spring on the banks of the Loire at Thoureil, in Maine-et-Loire, between Saumur and Angers. The programme includes barges and old Loire sailing ships, and Loire festivities. It is considered the first festival of Loire barges between Nantes and Tours.

The community's house of worship stands out on the horizon with its tower like a landmark.

We can finally see the Loire! A very pretty passage through the village.

Very beautiful view of the Loire