Time will presumably fly too fast and you will leave without having experienced all that you had intended to. No worry: you will just come again!
Art and religion: altarpieces in Mayenne
The oldest altarpiece in Mayenne dates back to 1401. Altarpieces in stone, in marble or in wood, dating from the Middle-Ages, the Renaissance Period or the XIXth century, are scattered around the Mayenne region: follow their trail from church to church, and you can be sure you will be bedazzled.
Sport: you are a golf lover ?...
… then you can practice your favourite sport just 15 minutes away from Chanay, on the golf course of Sablé-sur-Sarthe. Set in a glorious landscape on the banks of the River Sarthe, on an estate of more than 350 acres, the course includes three nine hole rounds as well as a beginners course. The club-house will welcome you for a relaxing break between two rounds.
Jublains, former Roman City
About 40 kms away from Chanay, you have the opportunity to go back in time to the first centuries A.D., in the Gallic country of the ‘Diablintes’, a local Gallic tribe. You can visit the archaeology museum, the fortress, the antic theatre and the temple. On your way back, why not make a detour through the Roman Baths of Entrammes, next to Laval?
The Mayenne River: a wealth of activities available
It would take several pages to describe all the activities offered along the river Mayenne.
From Ambrières-les Vallées in the North, to Daon in the South, there are 85 kms (approximately 50 miles) of towpaths turned into paths open to walkers, mountain bikers and horse riders alike.
If you like fishing, you will enjoy to look out for pikes, pike perches or carps.
You can rent a motor boat or canoe and admire the beautiful villages and splendid castles lining up the river.
You could even try water-skiing.
The river Mayenne, which is meandering and often embanked, used to be a transit route for various goods.
Today, it only flows down quietly for your pleasure. Discover it, from lock to lock, from mills to castles; but beware of sunburns! We will be happy to tell you more about any activity you would be interested in.
The opportunity of a spiritual experience
Why not take advantage of your stay in Chanay to experience a deep spiritual time? In Pontmain, on 17th January 1871, the Virgin Mary appeared to four children. A basilica has been erected to welcome the numerous pilgrims coming from all over Europe.
The impressive Benedictine abbey of Solesmes, 25 kilometers (about 17 miles) away from Chanay, is one of the key guardians of Gregorian plainchant. In the wonderful abbey church, the monks will welcome you for high mass or vespers.
The basilica of Evron awaits you with its Romanesque tower dating back to the XIth century, and its Notre Dame de l’Epine chapel with its wall paintings from the XIIth century, or the oak and silver statue of the Virgin Mary.
You like music? The theatre? The opera?.
You will have too much to choose from. With the Meslay-Grez’s jazz festival in May, the ‘Nuits de la Mayenne’ –the Nights of the Mayenne region– in both July and August, the festival of baroque music in Sablé-sur-Sarthe at the end of August, the Festival d’Angers in Summer or the ‘Nocturnes du Patrimoine du Pays de Château-Gontier’, to name but a few, you will be spoilt for choice of how to spend your evenings.
Discover a period of French history:
From the Summer of 1792 to Cadoudal’s death, on the guillotine on 25th June 1804 on the Strand, the whole area fought to protect its freedom. Why not take the opportunity of your stay in Chanay to learn a bit more about this upraising, known here as the ‘Chouannerie’?
Chanay is one of these historical places where the clash of the ‘Chouannerie’ of the Duchess of Berry was heard in May 1832.
A region where the horse is king
Horseriding, horse races…: you will find many stud farms which will enable you to practise your favourite sport if you wish to.
And everywhere, an exceptionnal architectural heritage
From Chanay itself to the other end of the department, in Château-Gontier, Laval or Mayenne and along all the smaller country roads, there is no end to the beautiful buildings to be discovered in the Angevine Mayenne: chateaus, mansions, manor houses, churches, or romantic villages.
