The best traffic-free bike rides in Forêt De Choussy

A little curiosity on the wall of a barn

Small castle away from the crowds in a small sleepy town.

The Collegiate Church of Saint-Aignan is a French church located in the center of the city of Orléans, on the north bank of the Loire River, in the Loiret department in the Centre-Val de Loire region. It is dedicated to Saint Aignan, Bishop of Orléans. This beautiful church was originally built for the cult of Saint Aignan, whose relics were kept in the crypt. The current basilica, begun by Charles VII in 1438 but completed in 1509 by Louis XII, is not the first construction, as traces of buildings dating from the 6th, 9th, 11th, 14th, and 15th centuries have been found. They were all destroyed by fire, floods, or human hands. The people of Orléans, and in particular the canons, have always been keen to rebuild this building because Saint Aignan is an important figure in the history of Orléans, due to the role he played against the barbarians in the 5th century. While bishop of the city, he is said to have miraculously defended it against the Hun invasion in 451. https://www.tourismeloiret.com/fr/diffusio/visites/collegiale-saint-aignan-orleans_TFOPCUCEN045V501HHG

Saint Aignan, who died in 453 after defending the people of Orleans against the Huns, was buried in a first tomb. As veneration of his relics grew, a basilica was built. A community of monks settled there, and canons replaced them in the 9th century. Following the damage caused by Norman attacks and the fire of 999, Charles the Bald began reconstruction, and Robert the Pious completed the Romanesque church with its crypt housing the relics of Saint Aignan. This church was consecrated on June 14, 1029. We will soon celebrate its millennium. https://collegiale-saintaignan-dorleans.fr/la-crypte/

Collegiate Church of Saint-Aignan https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coll%C3%A9giale_Saint-Aignan_de_Saint-Aignan

Collegiate church and crypt with frescoes https://www.val-de-loire-41.com/visite/collegiale-et-crypte-avec-fresques-pcu41aasor100182/

Located in the heart of the Loire Valley, the castle of Fougères-sur-Bièvre built at the end of the 15th century is the image of the ideal fortified castle with its keep, its machicolated entrance curtain and its fortified postern. Built by Pierre de Refuge and modified by Jean de Villebresme around 1520, the castle acquired its definitive appearance in three generations and will retain it. A castle designed for entertaining, its defensive Gothic architecture allows Pierre de Refuge to assert his social status and his belonging to the French nobility. Acquired by the Lambot family in 1738, René Lambot had the idea of creating a spinning mill in the castle from 1813 to 1901. This made it possible to largely preserve it from revolutionary damage and to maintain life and activity there. Classified as a historic monument in 1912, put up for sale after the stock market crash of 1929, the castle of Fougères-sur-Bièvre was acquired by the State in 1932. The castle of Fougères-sur-Bièvre has a double face: an entrance facade with a particularly defensive Gothic appearance and a courtyard facade decorated with Renaissance decorations. Particularly well preserved, the castle today remains very close to that of 1525-1530 with its military exterior facade, the civil and domestic architecture of its interior courtyard and its medieval interior plan with rooms in a row without distribution corridors. The castle of Fougères-sur-Bièvre stands out from the great castles of the Loire by its sober and powerful architecture, very little altered over the centuries. It illustrates the art of building in the region with its walls made of limestone rubble from Beauce and its sculpted parts in tuffeau from the banks of the Cher. Young and old alike will easily find all the military attributes and the interior layout of a particularly well-preserved small castle from the end of the 15th century.

Pretty village of Saint Aignan, the Domaine de Saint Aignan located on the banks of the Loire, houses a park and a castle dating from the end of the 19th century. This superb private property belongs to the Beaucorps family. The castle is available for rental.