Cholet, Parc Oriental de Maulevrier, September 7th 2018

In the morning we set off for Mortagne sur Sevre which Christophe had said was a pretty town. We couldn't see much pretty about it so continued on to Cholet where we parked in Place Travot and set off to find the tourist office, We walked for ages. It was obviously the tourist route. Fortunately we had Notre Dame Church as our orientation place. I was even able to direct a passer by to it and me not local or even French!

Almost all the stones on the facade of the Notre Dame Church are marked in red or black. These are the initials of the stone cutters which enabled them to be paid. On the side facades are several gargoyles (see photo above). At that time gargoyles served to ward off evil spirits.

We visited the Church which has some interesting stained glass. It also has lots of confessionals. Considered a confession after 45 years – fortunately there was no priest so I left without forgiveness!

This is the Tour du Grenier de Sel - a 16th century tower for storing salt subject to tax. It has a corbelled turret.

This is the tree with weather vanes - L'Arbre a Girouettes. (Sorry it's not a great photo.) It pays tribute to Roland Garros, the famous French aviator who was the first one to cross the Mediterranean Sea. He obtained his pilot's licence in Cholet.

This building is called, locally, the typewriter. We could see it from the castle ramparts. It is the Town and Agglomeration Hall and was inaugurated in 1976.














There were lots of other things to see in Cholet but we wanted to spend lots of time in the Oriental Garden outside Cholet so off we went. This is a mature garden and the largest Japanese garden in Europe. It is lovely to walk around. The walk to it was nice too.

En route we had a great view of Chateau Colbert.

The Japanese Garden represents Japanese countryside with its rocks, seaside, islands, hills, waterfalls etc. It includes elements of shinto and buddhist mythology and elements of taoism. There is a lack of symmetry in order to present a natural appearance.

The red bridge signifies the importance and sacredness of the place.

These metal figures signify something but I can't remember exactly what.

This contraption made a drum-like sound every time it was activated when filled with water.

After a reviving cup of coffee we exited by a walk in the woods which had photos of other gardens in Japan as well as seasonal ones of this one. All 3 of really enjoyed the Japanese Garden.

 Then we went to Pouzauges to see the castle. It is a medieval fortress in the town of the same name.

Then we headed for home. A bit later we set out for Auberge de Poupet in Saint Malo de Bois. Christophe had told us it was a nice restaurant in a nice setting. When we finally found it it was in a lovely setting along the rive.We had a very nice meal. Then we set off for home to discover there was a diversion so a journey that should have taken 8 minutes took 45!