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The Tronçais Forest

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The Tronçais Forest stretches over nearly 11,000 hectares. It is one of the most beautiful forests in France. Although parts of the forest have been cut down many times, it has grown back again and today boasts many trees that are centuries old.


250 years !

Beeches and larches were once planted in this large oak grove so that the oaks have to rise higher and higher in search of light. Some of the trees (after some 250 years!) are therefore 40 metres tall, the canopy as high as a cathedral dome. As a result, the forest has maintained its unique, majestic atmosphere. Julius Caesar travelled through it, Colbert restored it, Gaulish resisters used to set up camp in it, Gallo-Roman sites are to be found in it - man’s presence since prehistoric times can still be seen in the forest. Leisurely exploring the undergrowth, walkers can really discover and appreciate the forest, remnants of its rich past or cool springs.

For water gushes forth in many places, creating brooks beneath leaves and between roots. About forty springs have been found in the woods. Although most of them are now secret, untouched, they were once carefully tended, so precious was their pure, life-giving water.



The forest has always been inhabited. In the parish of Le Brethon, the Saint Mayeul chapel of the Bouteille priory still exists, evidence that Benedictine monks came to the forest a thousand years ago to live away from the rest of the world.

In the 19th century there were still a large number of huts and cabins in the undergrowth. Tree-fellers, woodcutters and coalminers lived near their place of work and built their shelters according to their profession. The “mérandiers” still work in the forest, fashioning wood to make barrels for the finest of Bordeaux wines.

Remarkable oak-trees

Some 350-year-old oaks live on to this day, often because their particular shape was not suitable for exploitation.

The square oak (near the Rond de Viljot) apparently dates from 1630. The Sentinelle, with its 6.55-metre circumference (near the Rond de Richebourg) is probably one of the oldest listed oaks in the Tronçais. Its first leaf is said to have appeared around 1580! The Jumeaux (Twins) nearby apparently grew from the same stump 403 years ago! As for the Stebbing, it is reputed to be the most beautiful exploitable tree in the forest. In all, 19 remarkable trees are marked – just follow the signs.

Legends from the Pays de Tronçais

Many legends abound in the 300-year-old forest. The story about the Viljot spring is one of the best known. It tells how young girls would come to consult the spring water to see whether they would soon be married. They would drop a pin into the water and, if it stood upright in the bottom, it meant that the girl had “pricked” someone’s heart and would find a husband within a year.

The legend of the Hanged Man and the Mule’s Print explains how the print of a mule’s hoof came to be found in a rock in the Braize area. A forest girl (so the story goes) had once agreed to be changed into a mule by the demon to save her imprisoned fiancé. (The rock is to be found at the junction of the D28 and the small road leading to Braize church.)

Near Le Brethon, the legend of Saint Mayeul, who came to visit the Bouteille priory shortly before his death, tells how he made a spring gush forth at the foot of a ravine by striking the earth. (From the chapel, follow the sign to the spring.)

In spite of the lightheartedness surrounding these legends, people passing through the forest find themselves looking for signs of mysterious happenings – no doubt troubled by the whispering stillness of the undergrowth.

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