Le Gros Chêne et les 5 Frères

The Orléans Forest was long the largest in France; "Deep as the sea, for whoever is inside", this old saying defined it very well. This forest massif that extends north of the Loire, from Orléans to Gien, once covered 140,000 ha. It now has only a little over 34,000 ha. Damaged by coppice working and excess grazing, it was replanted in the mid-nineteenth century.

The Orléans state forest is made up of broadleaves and conifers, including oaks famous for their age and size, and venerable elms. This variety of trees is matched by a great diversity of fauna: stags, hinds, roe deer, wild boar... If you are skilful enough, you can see them grazing in the rides or drinking in the ponds. Ponds, moreover, in which the forest is rich, about thirty that mostly feed the Orléans canal, which links the Loire to the Seine and crosses the massif from west to east.

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