Saint Rémy la Varenne, Village of the Loire Valley, is both within the area of the Loire-Anjou-Touraine Regional Nature Park and within an area part of the UNESCO World Heritage.
Public heritage, free access:
The La Bajoulière dolmen and the surrounding standing stones
The La Bajoulière dolmen is a megalith erected during the fourth millennium BC. A large sandstone slab of ca 70 tonnes covers a spacious 40m2 square room. A 3m long entrance portico gives access to the room. This dolmen is the second largest of the Main et Loire department.
Several menhirs are also visible in the surroundings. A 9 km path will show you some of them.
(47°22’05.86N, 0°17’52.04W)
The twelfth century church
The Saint Rémy la Varenne church is very close to the Priory. The architecture is Gothic Angevine with sculpted masks. Documents testify the church presence since the early XIth century. The church access is free by a small door, west to the main entrance, from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm from Easter to All Saints’ Day.
(47°23’51.80N, 0°18’56.67W)
The washing-places (Fontaine, Rochereau, Marigné, Beau regard)
Four washing-places undercovers are visible in the village. A 15 km path will drive you through the countryside to discover and understand the use of these places by the washerwomen in a not so far past.
All the washing-places were restored thank to a collaboration with the Loire-Anjou-Touraine Regional Nature Park. You will discover the U shape of Beau regard and its basin in an arc; the large rectangular basin of Fontaine, the angle chimney of Rochereau and the two entrances and the lovely wood wringing-out rod of the Marigné washing-places.
(Fontaine, 47°21’55.31N, 0°17’58.50W,
Rochereau, 47°23’34.42N, 0°18’39.90W,
Marigné, 47°22’43.83N, 0°18’05.58W,
Beau regard, 47°22’56.20N, 0°20’32.78W)
Some privet properties, including:
The ‘cavier’ and the tower mills
Several mills are present in the village. Some are ‘classical’ tower mills, as the Rochereau mill. Others are ‘cavier’ mills as in the Bourg Dion. The cavier mills are specific to Anjou and unique in the world. They have a stone base, overhang by a mobile wood hucherolle. The spider (the wings) is fixed on the hucherolle.
(Cavier mill, 47°23’09.29N, 0°20’13.57W,
tower mill, 47°23’27.42N, 0°18’35.60W)
The manors
Three privet manors, still occupied, are present in Saint Rémy la Varenne: Les cloteaux, Manoir de Chauvigné et Boissay. You can appear them if you go for a walk.
The vine huts
Wine growers used the vine huts during centuries during the vine working period. Several of these small houses are still visible in the middle of the fields (at Boissay and La Grande Varenne). They testify to the wine past of the village, including the Priory.
