Forêt de Bercé — Futaie des Clos

Jupilles

Set aside as early as 1647, then systematically protected from all felling from 1890, the Futaie des Clos concentrates the oldest oaks of the forest of Bercé, some of them three hundred years old. This patient management, exceptional for its time, has made Bercé an international reference in forestry: its sessile oaks, renowned for their fine grain and straightness, have been sought after for centuries for stave wood (cooperage timber) and luxury cabinet-making. In March 2021, events gave the forest an unexpected national resonance: eight oaks of around 230 years were selected here among the some 2,000 trees taken from all over France to rebuild the roof frame and spire of Notre-Dame de Paris, ravaged by the fire of 2019. The forest also keeps the stump of the Boppe oak, an emblematic tree struck by lightning in 1934, around which a tradition of "christening" the finest oaks has grown up since 1894. Awarded the "Forêt d'Exception" label in 2017, Bercé shows how forest management begun under the Ancien Régime continues, four centuries later, to supply exceptional timber for the country's most prestigious heritage projects.

Getting there : Access by the D257 from Jupilles; waymarked paths in the Futaie des Clos and around the Belvédère; the GR 36 crosses the forest.

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

Ambient sound