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Medieval Festivals 2022

Reminiscent of the big Renaissance Fairs or the all-immersive Feasts of the Hunter’s Moon in other countries like the United Kingdom or the United States, our Vendéen Medieval Festivals take you right into the heart of life in the Middle Ages with authentic food, demonstrations, reenactments, entertainment, and artist markets. The Medieval Festivals are fun for the entire family, a feast for the senses!Medieval festivals and Nocturnal events in the Vendée 2022 – TO BE UPDATED AS NEW DATES ARE ANNOUNCEDCHÂTEAU de BOURNEAU Saturday 9 July 2022 – Sunday 10 July 2022 Zaterdag 9 juli 2022  14:00 – 22:30 Zondag 10 juli 2022   09:00 – 21:30 On Saturday afternoon and Sunday, there will be entertainment around medieval camps with archers, sword fights, candle making, exhibitions of coins, tools, crockery….. – On Saturday at 7pm, the town will host a free show “La brigade de dépollution” as part of the Ricochets …

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Best museums in the Vendée

Museums are not for everybody. We get that. Most would rather spend time outdoors while on holiday and perhaps museums invoke school trips more than family vacation. One of the coolest things about the Vendée is how well educational experiences while on vacation are disguised as super fun family activities. Many of the museums here have an interactive component in such a way that children learn while playing. As family time goes… they are opportunities not to be missed! Here are our recommendations (in no particular order). Enjoy!Chocolate Museum In La Roche-sur-Yon, very close to the big shopping center, is the beautiful chocolate museum of master chocolater Patrick Gelencser… … and that is something you should not miss, especially if you love chocolate. In this museum you go on a journey through the history and flavors of cocoa, from the Mayan civilization to modern times and everything in between. A …

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Medieval Festivals Vendée 2021

Reminiscent of the big Renaissance Fairs or the all-immersive Feasts of the Hunter’s Moon in other countries like the United Kingdom or the United States, our Vendéen Medieval Festivals take you right into the heart of life in the Middle Ages with authentic food, demonstrations, reenactments, entertainment, and artist markets. The Medieval Festivals are fun for the entire family, a feast for the senses!Medieval festivals and Nocturnal events in the Vendée 2021 – TO BE UPDATED AS INFO BECOMES AVAILABLECHÂTEAU DES ESSARTS   No medieval festival announced but expanded programming in 2021 features nocturnal events three nights per week in July and August 2021 (see our events calendar or visit their website) Directions Reservations here ** Nocturne du Dimanche « Les Scènes Ouvertes » Every Sunday evening in summer from 21h00 the Château des Essarts makes its stage space available for various talented artists. Some are singers or dancers, others are comedians, some …

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Castles to see in the Vendée

Not all châteaux in the Vendée are open to the public. In fact, most are privately owned, sometimes with holiday accommodations available. The selection of twenty Vendéen castles in this article represent those accessible to view in high-season or year-round, or those which are open for sightseeing, reenactment spectacles, medieval festivals, and adventure parks.Is the Vendée paved with castles? – Yes and no. From medieval, to renaissance or neo-renaissance-style castles, and even some art-nouveau style ones, the number of chateaux in the Vendée is quite astounding. But most of them are private residences tucked away in sleepy villages or seemingly endless forests. You may run into them quite randomly or look for them in the 3rd weekend of September each year, when many have events or an open house in light of the European Heritage days (Journées Patrimoine) It’s all about the medieval – If you know just a little …

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William Chevillon invites us to discover Fontenay-le-Comte

While we are invited to rediscover the nearby territories without travelling too far, the Centre vendéen de recherches historiques (Sorbonne-University Scientific Council) is publishing a new book on the history, heritage and development of Fontenay-le-Comte. “À la découverte de Fontenay-le-Comte” is a book designed to offer a comprehensive look at the town, from prehistory to the present day, in all its diversity of landscapes and heritage.When I was offered this project on the history and cultural heritage of Fontenay-le-Comte, I thought it would be interesting to draw on what already existed and not simply evoke a past as glorious as often looked back on with nostalgia. Writing about a city is not just writing about people and monuments, it is also about trying to make people understand a global structure and to inscribe, for example, social housing and public art in the continuation of the primitive constitution of an urban …

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Make it a Saturday in Fontenay-le-Comte!

Located on the banks of the Vendée river and historically the former capital of the Vendée, Fontenay-le-Comte is picturesque at any day of the week. But on Saturday mornings there’s a popular market we don’t want you to miss!A brief introduction to the architectural pearl of the Vendée… City of Art and History  – Like the rest of the Vendée, the area of what is today the beautiful city of Fontenay-Le-Comte has seen settlements since prehistoric times. The land was rich with game for the hunting, and at the time the area bordered the Gulf of Poitou which meant abundant fishing. For a long time, Fontenay was a port on the ocean. On the small islands dotting the Gulf, abbeys were taking shape under Roman rule. Throughout the next centuries, monks used an ingenious way to claim the land and make it fertile, creating a vast landscape of canals used …

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Connecting people and places

Curious about everything and always sensitive to cultural expressions, I have developed a career path that focuses on heritage, ancient and contemporary art and the performing arts. Much more than a love of “old stones” (I don’t like this expression), attachment to heritage is for me the first step in creating a link between a person and the territory in which he or she is located. My playground is the Vendée, Brittany, Anjou, Charentes or Poitou. it is a permanent curiosity that feeds me wherever I go.My life in heritageI was 14 years old when I took my first guided tour. It was the continuation of a personal investment that started a few years before with archival research outside of school hours. An artist I like very much, Nicolas Schöffer, used to say: “To explain is to involve oneself and others.” It sums up the approach I am trying to apply in my …