berry

Welcoming area located between the Loire river in the east and Berry of George Sand in Tronçais that is THE largest OAK FOREST of France planted by Colbert in the south, and the hills of Sancerrois in the north, it is the Country of the Three Valleys: Germigny, Aubois, Vauvise.
The Country of the Three Valleys is of an easy access by the major roads and railway which irrigate it: motorway A 71 - main roads 7, 76 and 151 - railway of Paris in Clermont Ferrand putting it at two hours from Paris and leading towards the sunny horizons of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. To discover the Country of the Three Valleys,
- is to practise our favorite sports on the numerous specialized grounds: tennis, golf, swimming, equestrian sports, game of bowls...
- is to tease fish: pike, pike perch or crackling, even the salmon...
- is to make halt in our "ports", if you sail on our channels;
- is to benefit from the always attractive spectacle of the locks of the tubular bridge of Guerin.
But,
- is also to go on a journey in our past that is rich in illuminated Roman churches, in castles and gardens, typical villages with their laundrettes, Cistercian abbey;
- is to live again the last century great metallurgical time of our area;
- it is to attend for several times per annum the horse-races on the hippodrome of Guerche;
- is to see each week the astonishing spectacle of the first European market of the cattle in the Park of Grivelles in Sancoins;
- is to find good lodgings and the well arranged camp-sites. Come to share our cultural past and our present, our leisures, our gastronomical specialities;
Come to know our economic activities;
Friends! good stay among us.

BERRY. COURSE, BLOW OF HEART
The Berry course is in the center of this old province with the prestigious past which gave rise to the two departments of Cher and Indre. The nature course is between Val de Loire and the buttresses of the central massifs . There is a Course of initiators on this vast plateau with the varied landscapes, since the wood of Sologne to the small valleys of Boischaut, while passing by the serene extents of the the countryside of Berry and ponds of Brenne.Moreover there is a historical course that is marked by the patronage of the princes or the financiers, like the duke Jean de Berry, prince of Talleyrand or the banker Jacques Coeur. In addition there is a romantic course for this country which inspired Alain-Baker this so picturesque remark of an area whose hidden charms are discovered only on the condition of knowing to draw aside the branches...

THE SEDUCTION IN V.O.
Berry conceals several villages of charm, whose landscapes sometimes inspired the painters. The museums of Chateauroux or Châtre exhibit canvas of the school known as de Crozant,that is a contemporary artistic current of the impressionism, inspired by the landscapes of the valley of Creuse. Gargilesse, that George Sand called "small Switzerland", was then the holiday of many Parisian artists. The borough did not lose anything of its attractions and becomes animated each year by the festival of harp. Other communes are classified today among the "most beautiful villages of France". In the borders of Berry and Poitou, Saint-Benoit-de-Sault, fixed on its rocky outcrop, overhangs the valley of Portefeuille. In Apremont-sur -Allier, the castle dominates the river and the medieval village which form a true landscape painting. The local identity passes sometimes by curious turnings. Thus the city of Aubigny-sur-Nère seems a worthy representative in France of the Scottish culture...! It perpetuates the old tradition of Auld Alliance, that is the treaty of 1295 which sealed for several centuries the french-Scottish agreement. .
Not far from there, the Museum of the Sorcery of Concressault puts in stage, in a teaching and ludic way, another speciality for which Berry is undoubtedly more known. They are not evil spells but rather magic spells which accomodate the traveller in Berry during the "fair to the wizards" in Bué-en-Sancerre and during the fair of "Bonnu in sorcery" in Cuzion. If it is a phantom which haunts the landscapes of Indre, it is indeed George Sand. The memory of the writer is everywhere; first of all in his house of Nohant and along the historical road which bears his name. With the memory of " la bonne dame de Nohant "( the good lady of Nohant), it is not only the time but the romantic heart which lives again. The Romantic Festivals and the Meetings of Frederic Chopin accomodate music and literature in the old sheep-fold of Nohant.
It is in 1853 that appeared the novel of George Sand entitled” Les Maîtres sonneurs”( the bell ringers Masters). It inspired a festival of traditional musics of an exceptional size,that is the international Meetings of the violin makers and bell ringers masters of Saint-Chartier, hold each year around July 14. The literary heritage of Cher is already inhabited by the figure of Alain Fournier. No one knew better than to translate the discrete magic which animates the landscapes of Sologne, Boischaut and the valley of Cher. The memories of childhood of the author of “Grand Meaulnes” relive in the Vault of Angillon, in Nançay, as well as in the school of Epineuil-le-Fleuriel .
But by way of magic, they are especially the craftsmen and the industrialists of Berry who have today the appearance of wizards of the matter. Their know-how only requires to be revealed. The Road of the Porcelain thus joins together several companies and two museums; the Pole of the Porcelain in Mehun-sur-Yèvre and the Living Museum of the Porcelain created in Foëcy by Philippe Deshoulières. In Saint-Amand-Montrond the museographic space of the city of gold recalls that the city is today the third French pole of manufacture of jewels. Other know-how gave birth to the Museum of shirt manufacture in Argenton, and the Museum of the silk wire in Vierzon or to the Museum of the circus with Vatan.. Some of these specialities remain quite alive, like the stringed-instrument trade in Saint-Chartier and in Châtre. Discover the pottery in Verneuil and in Borne (Henrichemont), which a village that joins together a number of galleries, workshops andmuseums. Let us not forget either that it is in Berry, in Sainte-Sévère, that Jacques Tati filmed his "Jour de fête "(Feastday)! A stream of events - festivals, artisanal or traditional festivals follow one another starting from spring to the autumn: in Bourges, it is spring, but also the Nights Light where the concerts of a Bourges summer; in Chateauroux ,in August, the international festival of dance and music DARC... It is necessary to add to it, in Issoudun, the Legendary ones and the Fair of everything, and elsewhere the fair of Lignières, the fair of forgotten vegetables of Tranzault, the secondhand trades of Touchay and the district of the Sailors in Chateauroux, or also the fairs of Pesselières, Saint-Louis in Rosnay, the show of books in Vesdun and still many fairs and markets...

THE GARDEN OF THE CASTLE OF VILLIERS
THe Castle is preceded of outbuildings of the XVIIth century made up of buildings in the shape of U surmounted of a rectangular dovecote,with the whole covered with old tiles.
The current main building formerly formed part of an architectural unit built ' at the end of the XVth century around a closed court; this one was prolonged by a 2nd court on the site of which the garden was created.