The best traffic-free bike rides around Saint-Denis-Sur-Huisne

A lovely artist's village not to be missed.

Built at the end of the 12th century, the church belonged to the former diocese of Saintes. It has been restored several times, notably in the 15th century. Rectangular building with a straight chevet. A single nave with a ribbed vault. Sculpted column capitals. In the transept, a dome on pendentives. Chancel with a ribbed vault and a large 13th-century chevet window. On the north side of the chancel, a large pointed arch gives access to a ribbed vaulted chapel. The western façade dates from the 13th century, with a pointed arch portal with three arches on round columns. Two chamfered pilasters separate the portal from the blind doors and rise to the top of the façade. Above this ground floor and set back are three pointed arch arcades with sculpted figures (seated Virgin, shepherds guided by an angel, three wise men). On each side, twin arcades with pointed arches with heads, fantastic animals, diamond points and crockets. On the transept rises a square bell tower.

A building constructed in the 11th and 12th centuries. It was then just a simple chapel built on a temple, which was subsequently remodeled numerous times over the centuries. The choir, narrower and higher than the rest, is believed to have been built on tombs from the old cemetery, from which a 10th-century Merovingian sarcophagus made of Roussard sandstone was extracted and is on display outside the church.

Nestled on hillsides painted with ochre, yellow, or pink sand, limestone, and lights, Mortagne-au-Perche is a must-see for anyone wanting to explore Le Perche. A favorite holiday resort of the Counts of Perche and their wives, Mortagne-au-Perche has managed to preserve its monuments and historical heritage. This medieval town brimming with character is recommended for exploring by bike or on foot.

A male yew* was planted near the entrance to the church, once surrounded by the cemetery. Its double trunk supports a crown that hides part of the building. This funerary tree is the only significant plant in the crossing of the town, whose name evokes another species that has become rare: the field elm. The church is accessed through a porch (heavily restored) recalling the Romanesque origins of the building, confirmed by the narrow and high semicircular bay above it. During the Renaissance, the nave was enlarged by two chapels lit by windows with flamboyant tracery. The flat chevet was pierced by three bays in a pointed arch forming a "triplet", from the 13th century, probably walled up at the beginning of the 18th century when the high altar was installed. In the choir: high altar (early 18th century - Cl. MH) with armorial medium-relief** in terracotta, "The Transfiguration", after Raphael; gilded wooden statues of Saint Godegrand and Saint Opportune On the gable wall of the south chapel, between a corner buttress and a Gothic window, a sundial was painted in 1991, on the site of an old one. * The yew is a dioecious species: the male and female plants grow separately. Only the female flowers will give rise to the arils, a kind of fleshy bright red berry containing a single, toxic seed. ** Offered by the abbess of Saint-Julien du Pré, in Le Mans, Catherine d'Aumont, who died in 1708, whose coat of arms was: "argent with a chevron gules accompanied by seven martlets of the same, four in chief 2 and 2, three in base 1 and 2".

The church of St Pierre des Ormes holds an important place in the heart of the village, surrounded by its pretty flowerbeds. Dating from the 11th and 12th centuries, it has retained its Romanesque portal. After crossing it, you cross the narthex to reach a second door which opens onto the main nave of the building. The wooden vault is barrel-vaulted. An extension was made in the 16th century by adding a side aisle, with two windows which would become dormers. The small door with Renaissance decoration opened onto the cemetery, then adjoining. The current choir was built in the 19th century. The altar is made with two hemp braies supporting a beautiful wooden board. Note, on each side of the choir, wooden niches, one of which houses a statue of St John (with an eagle). A pilgrimage was organized every September 8th to Saint Gourgon, because the fountain was reputed to cure eye diseases. Very popular until the beginning of the 20th century, it was gradually abandoned. The fountain, now filled in, was located in the cellar of a house near the current town hall.

The church of Commerveil is built on a simple plan with a single nave and a straight chevet. According to the town hall's research, this small church dates from the 11th, 12th and 17th centuries. Its small spire can be seen from afar and its ogival windows match its size. Inside, the altarpiece dates from the middle of the 18th century. Behind the wooden tabernacle, we discover a painting representing the Assumption of the Virgin. To the right of the large marble altar, is the statue of Saint Anne and to the left that of the Holy Virgin. On the side aisles, to the right above the altarpiece of the Sacred Heart, we see in a niche the statue of Saint John the Baptist with a sheep. To the left, above the altarpiece of the Virgin with the Sorrowful Heart, is in a niche a statue of Saint Magdeleine. These two altarpieces, in marble and sculpted stone and partly gilded, date from the 17th and 18th centuries and have been listed as historical monuments since 1982. At the top of the nave, there is a Christ on the cross, probably made of wood. A statue of St. Gilles, placed on a wooden base, is located on the back wall of the church. Note a painted paneled vault that dates from the 19th century. The restoration of the church was carried out in the early 1980s.

The Church of Saint-Rémy appears on the cartulary of the Abbey of Saint-Vincent du Mans, however, as usual, it was the Bishop of Le Mans who had the collation of the priest. Rectangular in plan, it has a single nave and a straight chevet lit by a triplet, which was hidden by the installation of a high altar. The church was enlarged in the 15th and 16th centuries by two chapels, placed to the north and south of the nave. The church has some remarkable pieces of furniture: a Christ on the cross and a Saint Anne, in stone, from the 16th century; the tympanum of a stained glass window, open in the south wall, depicting the angels carrying the Instruments of the Passion (16th century); a Pietà in stone from the 16th or 17th century; a Charity of Saint Martin, in stone (15th century). two wooden statues from the 18th century, Saint Leo Fort, pope, and Saint James (mistakenly identified as Saint Martin). Benefiting from a policy of the General Council of Sarthe in favor of contemporary artists, eight bays in this church were entrusted to Michel Madore (Montreal, 1949- ). The work focused on the restoration of the roof and the framework of two bays of the nave. The entire ridge was refinished in lead, including the simple finial, thus replacing the glazed tiles and the terracotta finial.