Allier

Cradle of the bourbon dynasty and fief of the lords of la palice, the allier is also a land teeming with castles, fortresses and stately homes waiting to be discovered

Montluçon, guided tour in the bus  Montlucon: guided tour in the bus.  Discover the various districts of Montlucon with a guide lecturer.  Montlucon, a town that has many faces.  Historical Montlucon: history of the Bourbons, historical town.  industrial Montlucon : district St Jacques, Dunlop.  cultural Montlucon : Athanor, Guinguois.  Natural Montlucon: parks, Réaux

montluçon and the cher valley  Guided tour of the Castle of Louvière by a guide lecturer. In 1926, FJ Troubat ordered to build Louvière, on the model of Versailles small Trianon, to shelter its collection of paintings and decorative arts. The park is a harmonious compromise between French and english garden. This visit mixing master peaces, and copies of all times and all styles, plunges the visitor in a baroque giddiness.  Lunch in Montlucon  Néris-les-Bains, guided tour of the thermal town: old typical station of 1930, Roman thermal baths, Gallo-Roman amphitheatre, merovingian necropolis, Roman church Saint-Georges (11th century), walk of the Casino...  Commented visit of an artisanal miellery. Video presentation. Tasting of products.

The garden orchard in malicorne and the delbard seedbe  Guided tour in the alleys of the orchard garden and the experimental orchard. Discover various fruit-bearing forms, trained or of full wind, in an extraordinary academy (on 6 ha) of fruit-bearing varieties. Each season has its charm when are distinguished initially on the trees, the flowers then the fruits, associated to the climbing rose trees, long-lived and annual. Discover new varieties of rose trees in roseries.  Guided tour of the seedbeds of production. Discover production on 600 hectares, at various stages of vegetation. All the collection of the great families of Delbard rose trees, production of fruit trees in all its forms. Profit from the councils of our gardeners!

Tronçais forest,in allier  Forest of Tronçais: guided tour of the Forest of Tronçais and history of the solid mass; Grove Colbert, recognise the principal assences, oaks classified, practises forestry local, the die ois, the site of the Forging mills with Tronçais (XVIIIe, registered site), the Viljot Fountain and its legends.  Departure for Hedgehog by the Valley of Aumance. Guided tour of the medieval village: discovered small streets, door of the hell, its old houses and the vestiges of the fortress of the Dukes of Bourbon.  Montlucon: pedestrian guided tour ensured by a guide lecturer of the medieval town. Nested next to its castle, it preserved splendid houses with wooden side of 15th century. Its narrow streets are interlaced in the heart of the town. You will discover the private mansions of the street of the Fountain, the district Saint Pierre and its church of the 12th century, the passage of the Deanery. Possibility to discover the town by bus.

from néandertal to la palice  Chatelperron: PREHISTORAMA. Visit with audio-guide of chatelperronien area. Chatelperron became famous with the discovery of prehistoric remainders occupation in the Caves of the fairies: the castelperronien. Discover with the wire of windows presenting the reconstitutions of objects cut out of flint or bone, in a space combining new technology and life of men who lived of gathering and hunting here are 35 000 years.  Lunch in Jaligny-on-Besbre. The marked out road of castles follows the course of Besbre.  Arrival in Lapalisse.  Lapalisse: guided tour with accompanying notes Castle built in the 15th century by Jacques II of Chabannes.  Discover the truth on the Truths of Mister of Palice. Entirely furnished and inhabited by the same family since 1430, the castle presents many historical memories  Bert: visit commented on duck breeding: laboratory, dry steaklet, duck rillettes.  foie gras Tasting

Chouvigny overhanging the gorges de la sioule  Arrival in Chouvigny: guided tour with accompanying notes on the strengthened castle of the 13th century, built on a rocky outcrop overhanging the Gorges de la Sioule (Classified Natural Site). This strong castle bourbonnais occupies a beautiful site in the valley. Large room and show of honor. Large terrace from where one discovers a beautiful sight on the gorges.  Lunch in Bellenaves  Echassières: Single in Allier, WOLFRAMINES: space museographic with the setting in original scene (SCENOVISION) recalling by pictures and the sound, human and scientific adventure of wolfram discovery , tungsten ore, which upset the life of this area lasting all first half of the 20th century. Discover, thanks to areas of exposure, a walk with accompanying notes close to the old career of kaolin, the secrecies of the formation of minerals and their use.  Prolong the strange environment of your day by the visit with accompanying notes of the House of Autruche in Echassières. What could be more astonishing than to meet ostriches To combine some. Accustomed to live under more exotic latitudes, they were acclimatized perfectly to their new environment. Discover the life of these funny birds as the one of their cousins move and nandous.  Tasting of products such as the pots or sausages.

medieval wealth in the village of charroux  Charroux: guided tour of the town : medieval paces and its museum (reconstitution of a workshop of violin maker and factor of hurdy-gurdies). Charroux is classified "one of the most beautiful villages of France"  lunch in Bellenaves  the road crosses the vineyard.  Saint-Pourçain: guided tour of the Cellar of the Union of the Vine growers: comments on the soils and type of vines of the vineyard of Saint Pourçain, one of oldest of France. Installations of wine making, the cellar with barrels, tasting white, red and rosy wine, with a speciality bourbonnaise, the pump with grattons.