Domaine de la Garenne Lemot

After the destruction of the Vendée wars, the sculptor François-Frédéric Lemot, creator of the statue of Henri IV on the Pont-Neuf in Paris, bought the Garenne wood, facing Clisson castle, at the beginning of the 19th century. He laid out a park as a tribute to the landscapes and architecture of Italy: a neo-Palladian villa overlooks the Sèvre Nantaise valley, while temples, grottoes, statues and Tuscan-style houses dot the woods.

Bought by the département in 1968 and listed as a historic monument, the 13-hectare estate is open for walks free of charge. The villa and the gardener's house host contemporary art exhibitions. Together with Clisson castle and the town rebuilt 'in the Italian manner', it is one of the most original landscaped ensembles in western France.

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