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Haut
Bocage Review by Tate
The Haut Bocage - Part 1
It was a beautiful
spring morning in late April here in the Vendée and I must admit I didn’t expect
that by the end of the day I would have fallen hopelessly in love. The day had
that fresh bright light that makes photographers drool along with the promise
that the temperature was likely to rise to the low to mid twenties. Trevor
arrived with the latest additions to his bow, a bicycle and a map. We were
headed into the Haut Bocage, an area that was largely neglected, even by the
Vendéens and certainly that few holidaymakers know about let alone find. Our
principal aim was a visit to the Vallée des Poupets.
Our starting point
was Pouzages in the North-East of the Vendée, having filled up with diesel in
the local Super U we headed off towards Les Epesses, but almost immediately we
turned off down a country lane on the way to La Flocellière. The countryside was
much like Devonshire with small fields in an undulating landsape. From La
Flocelliere we carried on to Châteaumur home of the smallest castle in the Vendée,
and from there on to Les Châtelliers-Châteaumur with its panoramic
views of the surrounding area. Next stop was Mallièvre a town renowned for being
the former home of weavers. Its steep narrow streets wind their way down to the
Sèvre Nantaise, and in doing so pass some of the purportedly 50 individual water
sources and the ancient Maison de Tisserands which houses an exhibition of life
in a weaver’s cottage. Our main reason for visiting Mallièvre was to photograph
the river with its pool and weirs and the beautiful eight arched bridge which
crosses the river. It is true to say that this trip was to be centred on this
stretch of the Sèvre Nantaise which forms part of the boundary between Deux
Sèvre and the Vendée and Loire Maine and the Vendée. In my opinion the Sèvre
Nantaise which winds its serpentine way through the Haute Bocage is the most
beautiful river in the Vendée. It slips silently in broad languid bows, into
large still mill ponds and babbles over the boulders and weirs. It passes
under superb stone bridges, bisects the lush green countryside and glides
through arched canopies of trees. Nowhere is this beauty more evident than our
next stop. The Vallée des Poupets is simply a magical place, a well thought of
Auberge, which I hope to review at a later date, a weir topped by a stepping
stone crossing from an old mill and a large flat picnic area sits alongside a
campsite and an open air auditorium, with a large covered stage and tiered
seating, which hosts music festivals headlined by artists such as Lenny Kravitz
and the Cranberries. One would think this would be incongruous but somehow it
all seems to fit. All of this is alongside a lovely stretch of the meandering
Sèvre -Nantaise with a five kilometre riverside walk into St Laurent-sur- Sèvre.
Trevor and I plan to revisit the area, I will drop Trevor in St Laurent-sur-
Sèvre and he will cycle the route alongside the river I will have a quick look
around St Laurent, a town steeped in religion, and will then meet up with Trevor
again at the Auberge at the Vallée des Poupets for lunch, I can hardly
wait.
As we had decided on saving lunch at the Auberge for another day we
went quickly on through Treize-Vents and St Laurent-sur- Sèvre to lunch at the
Auberge in Rochard. There was a small flaw in our plan however, we had not left
a lot of time to find lunch and on our arrival we found the Auberge at Rochard
closed. I suppose it shouldn’t have surprised us, even though the weather was
more like July it was in fact late April. We were now between a rock and a hard
place and looking for somewhere to eat became a priority before Trevor started
gnawing the car seats or worse. Accordingly we made a mad dash through
Mortagne-sur- Sèvre and Pont de Grenon looking for lunch without success, there
were plenty of restaurants, but none were open. We arrived in Tiffauges and
there on the hill opposite the castle which was the home of notorious Bluebeard
was Le Relais des Arches, and halleluiah, it was open. We had a decent enough
lunch, for anyone interested I’ve written a separate review of the meal in our
restaurant guide. With lunch over we wandered off without the need of urgency
that we had felt before lunch, and made another gem of a discovery, Les Trois
Provinces. I never believed in love at first site until we crossed the stone
bridge and I fell instantly in love with this enchanting little village. Turning
off the road at the end of the bridge there is an Auberge, which annoyingly
enough was open and looked like it might have been a great place to have had
lunch, alongside the Auberge the road then leads to a few houses next to the
mill pond and an old broken down mill. The village lays at the confluence of not
only three current Departments, the Loire Atlantique, the Loire Maine and the
Vendée, but also the three ancient provinces of Poitou, Anjou and Brittany,
hence its name. Sitting at such a crossroads the area has had a turbulent past,
having become at one time a buffer zone between the three provinces. During this
period it was exempt from both tax and conscription. With those days long gone
this has become a sleepy, timeless place, the brooding silence of the large
forebodingly dark millpond is juxtaposed with the rocky babbling natural weir
and the quiet imposing stone facade of the mill, ripe for renovation, which
still retains its wheel although, it is in need of repair. It was hard to tear
myself away from this captivating place, but we were intent on visiting the
12th century ramparts and old part of Montaigu which we reached via
La Bruffiere and Treize Septiers. We drove through the old part of town and
parked in the car park of the castle which overlooks the Jardin des Ramparts.
Having looked around the top of the ramparts Trevor went off on his bike saying
he would meet me next to the church, where he went I do not know, but I managed
to wander around the old streets and discover amongst other things a music
conservatory. As arranged we met at the church and I would have liked to go up
the main street of the old town and find somewhere to have a coffee. Trevor had
however discovered a small drawback with the bike, he had already tried going
the wrong way up the street on his bike only to be shouted at so instead we
crossed the street and went down through more steep narrow streets to the bottom
of the ramparts where we discovered a lake and an Auberge. We would have loved
to wander around the beautiful gardens which we had seen from the ramparts
above, unfortunately the swinging gates at the entrances designed to keep the
cyclists out also precluded me from accessing the gardens with my mobility
scooter and so somewhat saddened by our exclusion we skirted the park and made
our back to the car park. By then we had both had enough and so we fired up the
engine and wended our weary way home.
This was a delightful day in an
area which for me was previously totally unknown and was in fact surprisingly
beautiful. Like so many places I was pleased to have visited out of season,
because as with most places I’m sure that this area is better if you don’t have
to share it with too many people. Going out of season does throw up some
problems as there are many places that are not open, but I can live with that.
If you can’t visit out of season then you should still try to visit this unique
and beautiful part of the Vendée. We will most certainly be returning to this
area and be visiting other parts of the Haut Bocage, so look out for Part 2. In
the meantime I highly recommend that you make a visit to see for yourself. Tate
- 2010
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