The 'circuit des mariniers de loire'

If you follow the loop 'Loire-Allier' (Nevers, Saint-Léger-des-vignes, Saint-Hilaire-Fontaine, le Veurdre, Apremont-sur-Allier) you will discover the history of the mariners through towns and villages.

The Val de Loire is listed as world heritage by UNESCO, et includes the Loire valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes-sur-Loire. 

It is an exceptional site thanks to its biological diversity and its historical and cultural richness (Parks, castles and towns). 

The Chaussade castle is located few kilometers from Nevers in a park by River Nievre.

The castle was built in 1759 and was part of an industrial complex back then and housed the royal forges. Today, the domain includes the castle, the northern courtyard, the lower stable yard and the green yard.

The Cosne museum is located within the old Augustines convent (17th siècle) and has two different parts to it : an ethnographic part dedicated to the Loire and a fine-arts part with a collection of modern paintings from the Montparnasse school of art.

Nevers earthenware has a great number of boat decoration (18th century).

The earthenware pieces started the popularity for earthenware with the famous salad bowl called 'au pont de Loire'.

The priory of Charité was founded in 1059 on the banks of the Loire river and with a capacity of 5,000 people and was the hub around which the city organization developed as well as being a stop over on Saint James's way.