Randonnée La Foye-Monjault – La ronde de cantines

La Foye-Monjault Hike – The canteen round

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DEUX SEVRES DEPARTMENT

OT NMP

DEUX SEVRES DEPARTMENT

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Canteens in the vineyards? Vineyards in Deux-Sèvres? Discover the winegrowing past of the commune of Foye-Monjault.

Route details

LA FOYE-MONJAULT

pedestrian

Historical, Oenological

Description

Passing through the woods and fiefdoms with evocative names, you will see the canteens or vineyard houses. These small houses were used by the winegrowers who took shelter there and stored their tools there. You will discover an old vineyard, mills, cross the woods…

Happy hiking and remember that you are not alone on the trails you are about to travel. We therefore invite you to respect nature: avoid picking flowers and plants, do not leave any trash behind, respect inhabited places, stay on the trails, keep dogs on a leash.

DifficultyEasyDuration03h00Distance11,0 km

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La Foye-Monjault Hike – The canteen round

Distance:11,0 km

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Step 1

This village, made up of six hamlets, takes its name from the ash tree (faia), thus confirming that at the end of the 1080th century, La Foye was covered with wood, especially beech trees. This word then became Faya Monacalis, the beech grove of the monks, then later La Foye-Monjault. From 1, the monks cleared land to cultivate cereals and grapes. The village has long produced the most famous wine in the department, the wine from the lips of kings, consumed at the courts of the monarchs of France (Francis I, Henry IV) and England. François Rabelais enjoyed it. The memory of this popular beverage of yesteryear is revived by the Wine Fiefs association, born in 2000, which is working, for example, to restore the vineyard cabins, witnesses of this glorious wine-growing past.

Step 2

In the surrounding area, you can observe truffle oaks. Oak trees are known for producing truffles. The truffle is the queen of mushrooms. Its scent is inimitable, powerful and complex.

Step 3

In the past, around the village of La Foye-Monjault, we found many vineyards. The maintenance of the vineyards was significant in terms of personnel but also equipment, especially since this work was often carried out during cold and rainy periods. Since the vines were far from the workers' homes, they did not go home for lunch at midday but were also unable to eat outside due to bad weather. To remedy this, they built cabins next to the vineyards giving this name “canteen”. We can see on the left, at the edge of the Route de Beauvoir, a small renovated canteen: “la Chagnasse” or “cantine à Martin”.

Step 4

It is an old vineyard located at a crossroads. We can still see a few vines there, some of which are sadly abandoned.

Step 5

Viewpoint over hamlets: on the left the Grand Bois, and on the right the Puyroux which owes its name to its ferruginous water.

Step 6

You will be able to see the remains of an old windmill, called the Ussolière mill.

Step 7

Lodges were huts that lumberjacks built for shelter.

Step 8

Opposite, view of the La Rochénard bell tower. La Roche-Aynardi was mentioned for the first time in 1287. But its name certainly appeared between the 40th and 1881th centuries at a period when people settled on the heights for defensive reasons and its founder was named Enard. Located in the heart of a limestone plain, the rural commune rises to 338 m. high and is crossed by the small stream Le Coquet. Its habitat is grouped around its old water tower. Classified in the Cognac zone, ordinary wood, its main prosperous activity is vines. In 538, phylloxera ruined XNUMX ha out of XNUMX, forcing wine growers to engage in livestock farming, then, later, in mixed farming. After the Second World War, La Rochénard was one of the first towns to be electrified, to put into service a mobile laundromat and to found a retirement home for workers.

Step 9

In the distance opposite, we can see a white dot in the sun, it is the recently restored Plante aux Moines canteen. These houses had one or two rooms. They had a fireplace, a sundial and sometimes a cistern.

Step 10

If you want, you can come forward to take a closer look at the Plante aux Moines canteen. Restored in 2006 by the municipality: it is possible to discover it by going back and forth along the small grassy path.

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