Château et cité de Sainte-Suzanne

Sainte-Suzanne-et-Chammes

This is the village that said no to William the Conqueror. Around 1083, the duke-king, master of England and Normandy, laid siege to the rocky spur where Hubert II de Beaumont had entrenched his fortress, above the valley of the Erve. For four years, from his camp at Beugy, William wore himself out against the rock: Sainte-Suzanne is held to be the only stronghold ever to have resisted him, and the chroniclers relate that the garrison grew rich on the ransoms of captured Norman knights. The 11th-century Romanesque keep, with its formidable walls, still bears witness to that feat. The story does not end there: taken by the English in 1425 during the Hundred Years' War, the town was retaken in 1439 — tradition has it that an English soldier married to a local girl helped the matter along. In 1604, Guillaume Fouquet de la Varenne, minister and confidant of Henri IV, bought the ruins and began an elegant lodging in the French manner, cut short by the king's assassination in 1610. Since 2009 this lodging has housed the Mayenne's Centre for the Interpretation of Architecture and Heritage (CIAP), the ideal gateway to understanding the region. Listed among the Plus Beaux Villages de France, the town — ramparts, wall-walk, mills and lanes — is explored on foot, and the walk along the ramparts offers one of the widest panoramas in the Mayenne, from the Coëvrons to the Alpes Mancelles.

Getting there : 1 rue Fouquet-de-la-Varenne, Sainte-Suzanne-et-Chammes (D7 from Évron, or Sainte-Suzanne exit off the A81). Castle courtyard free to enter; CIAP admission charge (from 4 €, free for under-18s and on the first Sunday of the month), free audio guides. Keep under restoration, exterior visible.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound