Discover Mettray

Mettray combines a varied landscape with several historical themes. When planning a hotel stay, you can focus on the interests the area offers: the Choisille Valley and other landforms, walking and equestrian activities, or protected and historic sites. This helps you decide what to focus on during your trip without conflating different places and periods.

Landscape and activities in Mettray

Alongside the plateau and a gently sloping hillside, the Choisille Valley is one of Mettray’s three landform units. This distinction helps prevent the local landscape from being reduced to the valley alone: the plateau, hillside and valley are the three explicitly differentiated forms. Since 2011, the Choisille Valley has also been recognised as a green and blue ecological corridor of heritage interest. The landscape and its ecological classification are therefore distinct themes to consider when planning your trip.

Mettray has an 8.8-kilometre walking trail, the Sentier de la Grotte aux Fées. Its length gives you a specific point of reference when planning a walk during your stay. The Dolmen de Mettray is also known as the Grotte aux Fées; the monument is associated with the communes of Mettray and Saint-Antoine-du-Rocher. The shared name links the two designations, but by itself says nothing about the route of the walking trail.

Equestrian activities and mountain biking offer different ways to explore the area. The Ecuries de la Choisille in Mettray offer riding lessons, training courses and competitions for all ability levels. The 4Heures de Mettray is an endurance mountain bike race in which you can compete solo, in pairs or in teams of three. These are different formats: lessons and training courses on the one hand, and a race with several team-size options on the other. If you plan to time your trip around the 4Heures de Mettray, check the date of the edition you want to attend before booking.

Dolmens, monuments and the history of the Paternelle

The Dolmen de Mettray was classified as a historic monument on 18 April 1914. Another protected site is the Château du Petit Bois, which is partially listed as a historic monument. The protected property includes the château, the barn, the so-called tenant farmer’s house, the stables and the park. These examples illustrate different kinds of heritage: a dolmen classified as a monument, and an estate whose protection covers several named features.

A particularly significant historical site is the former agricultural penal colony of Mettray. It was listed as a historic monument on 11 September 2003. La Paternelle, an agricultural penal colony, was founded in 1839 to rehabilitate young offenders through agricultural work. The writer Jean Genet stayed there. These details concern the institution’s history and should be distinguished from the current use or accessibility of a site.

There is also the Maison paternelle de Mettray, which should not be confused with the penal colony. It opened in 1855 and took in disobedient children from wealthy families under the “correction paternelle” system. This distinction matters if you are exploring Mettray’s history: the Maison paternelle and the agricultural penal colony were separate institutions with different purposes and resident groups. Together, these historic sites and connections offer several distinct themes for a stay, rather than a single, simplified account of Mettray.

Plan your hotel stay around your interests

When looking for a hotel in Mettray, you can start by deciding which of these themes is most important to your trip. The walking trail has a specific route length, the Ecuries de la Choisille list several equestrian activities, and the 4Heures de Mettray has a clearly described race format. If you are more interested in history, you can explore the different monuments and separate historic institutions as distinct points of interest. If travelling for a particular race, check its date before booking.

Discover more destinations: Céré-La-Ronde, Chédigny, Pocé-Sur-Cisse, La Membrolle-Sur-Choisille, Dolus-Le-Sec, Ballan-Miré, Villandry, La Tour-Saint-Gelin.

For the broader travel overview: Indre-Et-Loire.