A few days in the country

The ride from Paris to Mamers can be over in around two hours without much effort. It takes a lot more concentration to make it last three or four days.  That is what we set out to do. Hiring a car in Chartres and driving via Brou, Illiers-Combray, Bonneval, Nogent le Retrou and Sure gave us a late summer sojourn in an area little explored by foreign tourists.

Brou

48°10'48" N 1°23'11" E

Located on the road between Paris and the Loire Valley and close to the Cathedral at Chartres, Brou has prospered as a place of trade for more than 800 years.  The market has been operating on a Wednesday since before 1200.  The long term prosperity of the region is reflected in the Romanesque church and chapel, the late 19th century Town Hall, wooded houses with continuous occupancy by a single family for more than three hundred years and smaller private residences with outside laundries on the river reflecting the response to the cholera epidemics of the late 19th and early 20th century. The local tourist bureau has combined these into an informative and pleasant walk which make this town worth an overnight stay.

Illiers-Combray

48°17'59" N 1°14'36" E

Illiers-Combray is famous for only one thing. Marcel Proust spent summer holidays here with his aunt and uncle and in the process ate Madeleine cakes which he later recalled in his famous book « À la recherche du temps perdu » (In search of lost Memories).  As a result, the home of his hosts has been transformed into a shrine to Proust which just had to be visited.  An enthusiastic, helpful guide, a curious tour and a superb collection of photographs of the good and the great from the early 20th century made the Thursday afternoon diversion worth the effort. 

Bonneval

48°10'56" N 1°23'5" E

Bonneval shares many of the characteristics of Brou.  The main difference is that it lies on the confluence of two small streams and has maintained its defensive moats and walls more or less intact until the present.  This provides the opportunity to walk around the small town to view the well maintained garden areas, the old fortifications, some interesting houses, gates, washing places and bridges whose ages spans over several hundred years.  The church is large and impressive, dominating the middle of town.  The morning walk and lunch by the water made for a restful and pleasant stop on the road.

Nogent le Retrou

48°19'18" N 0°49'15" E

Nogent le Retrou for me has been simply the closest train station to Mamers where I was dropped or collected during visits to Dominique’s family.  To Dominique, daughter of a butcher, it is also the location of the abattoir.  After a short morning visit, it reveals itself as a pleasant town which could be any of 10,000 French towns, with a thriving Saturday morning market and a café with drinkable coffee.

Suré

48°22'8" N 0°23'53" E

Suré a little farming village outside Mamers hosted a weekend of Agricultural Field Day events. Most interesting was the historical agricultural equipment and the man carving a human figure into a log using a chainsaw.