Anjou

The Anjou is rich in history and places of interest. Walking, bicycling or driving in the area you will be able to feast your eyes on superbe views. The Anjou Chateaux, the charming villages, the beautiful countryside and the romantic parks and gardens….All this is within a short distance from Briottieres. Francois and Hedwige de Valbray are ready to advise you on where to go and what to see in the area.

Places of interest:

For further informations, you can visit the site of www.briottieres.com

Le Lion d'Angers, Chateau du Plessis Bourre, the Cointreau Museum, The pottery works and studios at Malicorne-sur-Sarthe, the Chateau de Montriou and its gardens, the Chateau de Brissac, the Chateau d'Angers and the stunning Apocalypse Tapestry, the Chateau de Serrant, the Gregorien Chants at the Abbaye de Solesmes, the Chateau de Montgeoffroy.

ANJOU : Romantic and Discreet

Anjou covers the Pays de Loire, Val de Loire, Maine, Mayenne and Touraine regions. It will always be remembered for the great and glorious House of Anjou which reigned at one time over Hungary, Sicily, Naples, Jerusalem and Provence. With rulers like Foulques “the Redhead“ (d. 941), King René (d.1480), Richard 1 (Lion Heart) and Geoffroy V (nicknamed “Plantagenet“ because he always wore a branch of broom genêt in his hat), it has to be admitted that France's Capetian monarchy was a pale shadow beside the Angevin Empire.

The soil of Anjou is littered with monuments, making it one of the most fertile areas for studying French history through its architectural treasures like Serrant, Montreuil-Bellay, Plessis-Macé, Montgeoffroy, Brissac, Plessis-Bourré, Saumur and indeed its capital Angers (immense feudal castle and its magnificent Apocalypse Tapestry which is unique in the world), all of which leave little to envy from the famous sites of the Tours area.

This is where the pale gleam of tufa stone and the bluish sheen of slate bathe the houses in a shimmering halo and where you find all the poetry of the Renaissance. It's the land of beautiful language where all is harmony, the place where the poet du Bellay, born in Liré, had his beloved home... “Qui m'est une province, et beaucoup davantage...“ (Which to me is a province, and much more).

The “douceur Angevine“, perhaps gives Anjou a more gentle and subtle character than the regal Touraine, as lovely old Anjou, with its meadows and vineyards, fine restaurants and altarpieces, does have a wonderful way of hiding its real treasures.

One of them, emblazoned with ermine and fleur-de-lis, lies secluded in farmland very close to Angers and the “Marches de Bretagne“ and traces a path to centuries of exciting history between France and Brittany. The current Château des Briottières (built in the 18th century) definitely rests on much older foundations. A distant aristocratic presence can still be felt here, even in the seigniorial chapel which witnessed the events in a great family which showed strong devotion to the Sacred Heart, as was proper in the west.