Circuit cyclable 10 - Découverte du Val-du-Mignon, 3 communes en 1

A place of passage between the plain of Aunis, the Marais Poitevin and the sea, Usseau derives from Ussena meaning a hillock planted with vines. Attached to the canton of Mauzé-sur-le-Mignon, the commune is made up of five hamlets known locally as "les écarts": Antigny, Le Grand Breuil, Olbreuse, Le Plénisseau and Ussolière. Located at the crossroads of an ancient Roman road leading from Saintes to Nantes, the village tells the story of 2000 years of local history. Remains of several ancient sites have been revealed during the digging of trenches, gardening and ploughing. A former Huguenot centre, Usseau is the birthplace of Eléonore Desmier, born in 1639 in Olbreuse. Through marriages, her descendants are present in seventeen European dynasties, hence her nickname of grandmother of Europe. Every two years, a summer show is organised in the courtyard of her castle to honour her memory.

At the end of the 10th century, Guillaume, lord of Usseau, gave the Benedictine priory of Saint-Pierre to the abbey of Saint-Florent in Saumur. The 12th century church was enlarged in the 14th century. It was devastated during the Wars of Religion. The upper parts of the church were subsequently redesigned. Its western facade is flanked by buttresses crowned with circular overhanging elements corresponding to the stumps of watchtowers, a reminder that the building was fortified. To be seen: medieval sarcophagi from archaeological excavations, an incomplete sarcophagus decorated with crosses on a staff at the head and bottom, tombstones from the 17th and 18th centuries.

She was the wife of the Duke of Brunswick-Lunebourg-Zell, Elector of Hanover. In 1685, she welcomed into her duchy all the Protestant nobility of Poitiers who were under threat. Through intermarriage, the blood of the D'Olbreuse family is present in 17 European dynasties, hence its nickname of grandmother of Europe. There is a genealogical relationship with the Mitterrand family.

Rebuilt in the 13th or 14th century, the castle consists of a quadrilateral flanked by four corner towers with four tiers of loopholes to guard against bands of prowlers during the wars. One of the walls was removed in 1760 to allow the construction of a wing perpendicular to the central dwelling, the enlargement of the windows and the raising of the first floor of the main building. At the end of the 19th century, the first floor of the wing was raised, its roof was replaced by a zinc-covered framework and the back tower was demolished. After a slow deterioration due to lack of funds, the castle was renovated in 1967 by Christiane Desmier d'Olbreuse and her husband Félix Maingueneau. It was listed in 1973. Private property. Free guided tour of the exterior from July to mid-August. For more information, contact Geneviève de Réals 05.49.04.98.65. and olbreusereals@free.fr

One of the southernmost communes of the Communauté d'Agglomération de Niort, on the border of the Deux-Sèvres and the Charente-Maritime, the smallest and least populated of the canton of Mauzé-sur-le-Mignon, Priaire(s), which is written with or without a final s, is mentioned for the first time in 1044 in the cartulary of the abbey of Saint-Jean-d'Angély and belonged to the Aunis region, under the jurisdiction of the generality and election of La Rochelle, then of the Deux-Sèvres in 1790. Its terroir was once in one of the Cognac appellation areas. The vineyards, cultivated over a large area, produced an excellent eau-de-vie until the phylloxera crisis of 1873, which gradually gave way to cooperative dairies and cereal crops.

In 2019, the village will merge with Usseau and Thorigny-sur-le-Mignon to form the new commune of Val-du-Mignon and become a delegated commune with Usseau as its chief town. It is a rural village, and today it is home to the only certified sustainable agriculture farm in the department and a tobacco producer. It is by taking the time to stroll along the Subite and the Coudre that one discovers the richness of the built heritage strongly inspired by the architecture of the neighbouring Charente department. Its warm limestone hillock is also favourable to the blossoming of some thirty varieties of orchids growing in the woods and along the berms (narrow paths between a canal and an earthen embankment): Goat orchid, Spider orchid, Woodcock orchid, Hanging man orchid, Bird's nest orchid...

In a charter of July 1039, William I, Lord of Parthenay (990-1054), invited by Pope John XIX to take under his protection the abbey of Saint-Jean-d'Angély, grants it the court (curtis) of Priaire(s). This donation is the origin of the foundation of the priory (now disappeared). Formerly part of the diocese of Saintes and the archpriesthood of Surgères, the church was united with the parish of Usseau in 1813. It replaced the old sanctuary, whose poverty was highlighted by the 1688 and 1718 visits. To be seen: baptismal font from 1629 and a curious bell tower-wall with a bracketed arch and a cross.

The smallest commune of the Niort Agglomeration Community, situated at the south-western tip of the canton of Beauvoir-sur-Niort, is so named to distinguish it from Thorigné, near Celles-sur-Belle. The village developed on the left bank of the river Mignon. In the Middle Ages, the seigneury depended on the election of Saint-Jean-d'Angély, the generality of La Rochelle and the seigneury of Frontenay, which meant that it belonged to the provinces of Saintonge, Aunis and Poitou, which led to complications. The buildings date mainly from the 19th century; the oldest are located near the old 18th century water mill.

The absence of decoration on the facades and the simple frames reflect a modest habitat turned towards agriculture. In 2019, the village merged with Usseau and Priaires to form the new commune of Val-du-Mignon and became a delegated commune with Usseau as its chief town. Thorigny has the Notre-Dame church at its heart and, with the smallest number of inhabitants, forms a large family. The village is a farming and stockbreeding centre, and every summer it organises farmers' markets in its park, as well as its traditional country fair on the last weekend in August. It is also the starting point for four hiking and mountain bike trails.

This green lung of 73 hectares, located in the west of the commune, was identified in 2002 as a Natural Zone of Ecological, Faunistic and Floristic Interest (ZNIEFF) by the Regional Scientific Council of Natural Heritage (CSRPN).

The church was built in 1041 by the abbey of Saint-Maixent. In the 14th century, a fee of three gold florins was paid to the bishop of Saintes. A national asset during the Revolution, the sanctuary was demolished by its purchaser and the parish was attached to that of Belleville. A subscription launched by the inhabitants and a subsidy from the State led in 1829 to the blessing of the new church by the dean of Beauvoir-sur-Niort. In 1851, the parish priest was installed after the purchase of a presbytery. Since 1908, the parish has depended on Saint-Etienne-la-Cigogne. Two Franco-Polish volunteer youth work camps have created a fresco and three stained glass windows for the building, as well as the openwork gateway to the cemetery depicting a rising sun (a reference to the sunflower, called the sun, which adorns the street signs and echoes the sunflower in the church fresco).

Located near the old mill, the former farm appears on the Napoleonic cadastre of 1819. Its main building is composed of two levels of elevation to the south corresponding to the living rooms; one to the north for the cellar and the barn. Its south façade has bolt holes with a flight stone, which testify to the presence of a dovecote. Inside, two fireplaces and a "kitchen garden" have been preserved. Opposite, the outbuildings (animal shelter and bakehouse), of more recent construction, delimit the courtyard.