Bressuire - The Deux

Spotlight On...
BRESSUIRE
Top: The Highland Games. Photos Copyright AJEF Highland Games France
by Mick Austin
The 9th Grand Prix Automobile Historique, however, held over the weekend of 28/29th June, is one event definitely not to be missed this year. The Circuit Alain Métayer, around Place St-­‐Jacques, will throb to the evocative sounds of classic racing cars and sports cars from the 1930s to the 1950s. Feast your eyes on famous names like Bugatti, AC Cobra, Triumph, Jaguar, Lotus, Panhard and Peugeot – and entry to the event is free!
The grand prix -­‐ sponsored this year by your very own ‘ The Deux-­‐Sèvres Monthly’ -­‐ is not a race but a series of demonstrations with speeds restricted to 70kph, which gives you plenty of opportunity to get up close and personal with both cars and drivers. On the Saturday there will also be a special celebration to mark 80 years of the Citroën Traction Avant. You know, the one that looks a bit like a WW2 German staff car!
But there’s more to Bressuire than kilts and cars and it’s easy to get around on your own, all year round, with the help of green direction markers on the ground and a brochure from the local tourist office.
The first must-­‐see site is the Eglise Notre Dame, with parts dating back to the 12th Century. The rounded vaulting of the nave is in the Plantagenet style of the Angers area while the choir was rebuilt in the 16th Century, creating a huge sanctuary lit by stained glass windows and later decorated with frescos in the 19th Century. The 56-­‐metre high Renaissance bell tower rises high above the town and the surrounding countryside.
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Photos: Grand Prix: Sarah Berry, Through The Lens Photography Group, Eglise Notre Dame & Couléé Verte: WikiCommons
Fancy hitching up your kilt for a weekend of everything Scottish? Hammer-­‐throwing, caber-­‐tossing, bagpipes, marching bands, dancing and French and Celtic food? Sorry, but the Games are held every two years and the next one is not due until June 2015! Make a note of it in your diary, though, because Bressuire will then have the honour of hosting the Highland Games World Championships.
Pascaloue,
If you’ve come across the town of Bressuire before, chances are you’ll have heard about two of its most famous events -­‐ the Highland Games and the Grand Prix Historique.
The Grand Prix Automobile Historique
Eglise Notre Dame
Coulée Verte
The Château of Bressuire
Then it’s the Château de Bressuire, built on a rocky promontory and dominating the town and the Dolo river valley. One of the main military sites of the Poitou province in the Middle Ages, its history is linked to that of the Beaumont family. The castle was built in stages, with a first perimeter wall dating from the 11th Century and a second – including 38 towers – from the 13th Century. The ruins of the main L-­‐shaped building, built in the 15th Century, still have its staircase and chimneys in an inner area. Set slightly back stands a 19th Century Troubadour-­‐style castle in which temporary art exhibitions are held every year.
Set within the castle are the jardins thématique, which are free to visit all year round. Check out the former glasshouse overrun with honeysuckle and then follow the mineral path through time with a romantic pergola, Baroque sundial, Renaissance square and finally into Hortus Conclusus, an enclosed medieval garden where flowers, fruits and medicinal and aromatic plants grow side by side in raised beds.
Continue following the green markers and you come to le Verger des Sculpteurs (the Sculpture’s Orchard), a park where contemporary sculptures stand next to some 50 apple trees of different species. Every two years the Bressuire International Symposium of Sculpture allows both French and foreign artists to use the site to create works in wood, stone, metal etc. The next symposium is due in 2015. (www.vergersculpteurs.fr)
Your mini tour ends with a visit to La Chapelle St Cyprien. The chapel was given to the Saint-­‐Cyprien Abbey in Poitiers in 1028 and its main features include frescos and a crypt supported by a single central pillar.
Things to See
Crèche Animée. Abbot Rochard was self-­‐educated and fascinated by electricity and mechanics. He spent more than 30 years building a model Palestinian village that shows daily life at the time of Christ. There’s a 30-­‐minute automated show in the manger created by volunteers who restore and maintain all the 120 characters in this lifelike show. Details from the tourist office or call 05 49 72 80 95.
Gare de fret. Situated in a former warehouse in the old freight station is an 8.5m x 2.5m model depicting the railway system in the 1950s. A must for adults and children. Details from the tourist office.
Did you know?
Bressuire is the birthplace of famous glassblower and window restorer Max Ingrand (1908-­‐1969). He was Artistic Director for FontanaArte in the early 1950s and came up with design classics like the Fontana table lamp.
He produced many stained glass panels for religious buildings, hotels and public places and was awarded the French Legion of Honour.
Photo: www.patrimoine-histoire.fr
The fabulous stained glass panels at Saint-Pierre Church ,
Yvetot, produced by Max Ingrand.
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Photo Chateau de Bressuire, WikiCommons: Twingoman
Next stop is the Art and History Museum, located in what was once the town’s grain granary. As well as the old buildings, documents and works of local artists, on the first floor you’ll find 18th and 19th Century French earthenware galleries and ceramics from the Middle Ages. On the ground floor, in the Galerie des Arcades, the Les Amis des Arts association regularly features exhibits of works by contemporary artists, sculptors, painters, ceramicists and calligraphers. BRESSUIRE
FACT FILE...
Airvault: 35 mins
Argenton-­‐les-­‐Vallées: 20 mins
Cerizay: 8 mins
La Forêt-­‐sur-­‐Sèvre: 20 mins
Mauléon: 25 mins
Parthenay: 35 mins
Thouars: 35 mins
The orchard sculptures, photo: www.coeurdubocage.fr
Leisure Amenities
A pleasant walk for the family is the Coulée Verte at the foot of the Bressuire château. You’re bound to come across legendary goblins in the Vallon des Douves, some beavers too fat to scarper at your approach and some strange sculptures among the apple trees. Call in at the tourist office for details on the 20-­‐plus walking tours available.
If you find life easier on two wheels, why not rent a bike at Vélo Cité in Bressuire and discover the Pays du Bocage Bressuirais via cycle tracks or mountain bike tours. Details from the tourist office.
If it’s raining try the 12-­‐lane indoor bowling at the Bocapole or swimming at the Centre Aquatique Coeur d’O with its seven pools and a spa centre offering hot tubs, steam room and sauna.
Bressuire is in the dept. of Deux-­‐Sèvres in the region of Poitou-­‐Charentes
Population: 18764 in 2011
Airports: Poitiers (82 minutes), La Rochelle (117 minute
s), Nantes (88 minutes) & Tours (137 minutes)
Nearby places to visit:
• Old historical towns of Parthenay (32km) and Thouars (30km)
• Niort, capital of the department (73km)
• Saumur (63km)
Contacts
• Tourist office: 6 place de l’Hôtel de Ville, 79300 Bressuire. Tel: 05 49 65 10 27. Website: www.tourisme-­‐bocage.com and www.ville-­‐bressuire.fr
• Musée de Bressuire. Tel: 05 49 74 32 24. Website: www.musee@ville-­‐bressuire.fr
• Bocapole bowling. Tel: 05 49 80 30 55
• Grand Prix Historique. Website: www.automobile-­‐club79.com
• Le Centre Aquatique Coeur d’O, Boulevard de la République. Tel: 05 49 80 71 90.
Fishing Lakes
Cycle Routes
Picnic Locations
Bars & Restaurants
Cashpoint
Fuel Stations
Campsite
Supermarkets
Mick Austin is a freelance journalist based in the Pays-­‐de-­‐la-­‐Loire. He has had his work published in several expat magazines and newspapers and has also written the Mayenne Tourist Board’s only English-­‐language brochure. He also runs a gîte business at www.gitefortwo.com
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BRESSUIRE MARKET
by Jessica Morris
Every Saturday morning for the past three years I have been working on a fishmonger’s stall in the traditional Bressuire market. I have lived in France with my parents for 13 of my 19 years, currently being educated in Nantes.
As I am studying advertising and marketing, I recently did a six week work experience placement with ‘The Deux-­‐Sèvres Monthly’ magazine, promoting local businesses. The market traders at Bressuire have been very supportive and believe in a very strong community spirit. I now feel very much a part of that community and I’m keen to spread the word.
Starting their working day in the very early hours, the market traders bring fresh produce from local farms and collect freshly caught fish and seafood from ports in the West and the North. They then prepare their stalls (some arriving as early as 7am), ready for their first customers.
Other stalls sell freshly baked bread, organic products, Spanish tapas, meat, dairy products and even English cupcakes. You can also buy local wines and on a Tuesday morning, the regular wine tasters have a little terrace where you can relax and appreciate the merchandise and there is also a traditional French restaurant across the road.
My job on the fish stall involves giving information and suggestions, weighing, preparing and selling the fish and seafood to our French and English customers. It can be difficult early on cold winter mornings, but there is such a friendly and busy atmosphere that we soon warm up! Even though my studies have taken me further afield now, I hope to be able to keep my part time job and continue to be part of the local community.
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