Basse-Goulaine: Chapel, Menhir and Canal Paths

Basse-Goulaine offers several specific points of interest for a stay: historic buildings, circular trails with different focuses, a river and canal landscape, and local cultural and leisure activities. If you are looking for a hotel in Basse-Goulaine, you can plan your stay around your interests—for example, heritage, a walk along the canal, the park or the weekly market.

Heritage spanning different periods

The Chapelle Saint-Michel combines a history of restoration with an uncertain date of origin: following restoration in 2013 and 2014, it can host exhibitions; its origins are believed to date back to the 16th century. When flooding could make access to the Saint-Brice church impossible, the chapel served, in a sense, as an alternative or secondary church. This role is part of its history and does not describe current access arrangements.

Another heritage site is La Pierre Frite, a 3.25-metre-high quartz menhir. It is associated with the megalithic civilisation that flourished between 5000 and 3000 BC. The chapel and the menhir thus offer different ways to explore local heritage: through the history of a religious building and a cautiously worded prehistoric attribution.

Circular trails for heritage and nature

The Circuit des manoirs is a circular walk through the heritage of Basse-Goulaine. The route is approximately 3 kilometres long and leads to places and historic manor houses, including the Château de la Ravelonnière, the Domaine de la Champagnère and the Manoir de la Prétière. If you want to keep track of the names of the individual stops, the manor houses and historic sites provide specific points of reference for this walk.

A longer option is the Circuit du canal de Goulaine: this easy circular walk covers 8.2 kilometres and takes two and a half hours. It passes a wetland designated as a Natura 2000 site and the Goulaine Canal. Compared with the approximately 3-kilometre Circuit des manoirs, it is the longer route; the two trails also have different focuses, between the canal and heritage.

The local walking routes also include the Canal de Goulaine, the Sentier des Vallées and the Circuit du Gué, as well as a walk through the heritage of Basse-Goulaine. The municipality provides downloadable route guides focused on nature and heritage. This lets you take the different route names and their themes into account when choosing.

River, canal and park

At Basse-Goulaine, the River Goulaine reaches the Loire via the Goulaine Canal. The canal was built in the 17th century by the workers who drained the marshland. Its history connects the waterway with the work of draining the land; on the canal route, you can also experience this landscape in relation to the wetland and the canal.

The Parc de la Grillonnais covers about 3 hectares. Its character comes from a partly wooded, semi-wild area and a well-maintained meadow; there is also a play area for children. In the park, visitors can observe the bees at three colourful beehives. At the end of summer, the honey harvest also provides an opportunity to learn about beekeeping practices and taste honey.

Weekly market and Médiathèque

Under the covered market hall at Le Grignon, the weekly market offers, among other things, fruit and vegetables, dairy products, seafood, delicatessen items and honey. There are also takeaway meals, crêpes and galettes, poultry, and meat and charcuterie. The range and mix of stalls may change over time.

The Médiathèque René Guy Cadou offers another way to access local culture. Entry to the media library and access to its documents are free for everyone; access arrangements may change, so it is worth checking before your visit. Its public programme includes exhibitions, reading evenings, visits by storytellers, competitions, performances, meetings with authors and conferences. The programme varies by season, so you can check what is on before planning a visit.

Discover more destinations: Petit-Mars, Clisson, Saint-Mars-Du-Désert, La Bernerie-En-Retz, Saint-Lumine-De-Clisson, Saint-Colomban, Mouais, Indre.

For the overview of the wider area: Loire-Atlantique.