Blismes: Hiking Trails and Architectural History

Blismes combines marked hiking trails with buildings from different centuries and an open, hilly landscape. This offers different ways to plan your trip: you can compare trail lengths, explore the history of churches and châteaux, or take in both. If you are looking for a hotel in Blismes, this overview can help you decide what to focus on during your stay.

Hiking trails of different lengths

The Fontaine-Morin hiking trail starts at Place de l’Église in Blismes. It is 6.7 kilometres long and marked in blue. At 10.6 kilometres, Les Chardonnerets is the longer of the two routes described and is marked in yellow. The stated lengths differ by 3.9 kilometres.

This makes it easy to compare the routes: Fontaine-Morin is the shorter one, and Les Chardonnerets the longer. The marker colours also provide a simple way to distinguish between the two trail names.

Check the latest trail information before setting out. The markers may change. Place de l’Église is listed as the starting point for Fontaine-Morin; no starting point is specified here for Les Chardonnerets.

Churches and châteaux from several periods

Château de Quincize was rebuilt between 1636 and 1660. In 1759, Simon-Pierre Sautereau acquired the château and redesigned it. These two historical milestones are separated in time, giving the building a history that is not limited to a single date.

Different centuries are also represented at the parish church of Saint-Martin in Blismes: the choir dates from the 12th century, and the side chapel from the 16th century. Château de Poussignol was built in the 18th and 19th centuries. Its chapel dates from the 19th century and has nine stained-glass windows created by the glass artist Lobin in Tours.

Those interested in architectural and art history will find several specific points of interest: the choir and side chapel of Saint-Martin, the different construction phases of the two châteaux, and the stained-glass windows in the chapel at Poussignol. The dates span the 12th to the 19th century, making the different historical connections easy to distinguish.

Open slopes and wooded valley floors

The landscape of the Vallons de Blismes is open and hilly, with pronounced rolling terrain. Large plots and a mix of meadows and arable land shape the landscape. Woodland is found on the steepest slopes and in some valley floors. The landscape is therefore neither entirely open nor continuously wooded: cultivated areas and wooded sections are distributed differently depending on the terrain.

Blismes lies on a slight pass, from which the surrounding roads radiate. This location adds a point of orientation to the landscape. Along with the two hiking trails of different lengths and the historic buildings, it offers several themes to consider when planning a trip, without confusing hiking with architectural history.

When planning, you can first consider whether you would like to focus on shorter or longer hikes, are mainly interested in historic buildings, or would like to combine both. The trail lengths, markers and dated construction phases provide concrete points of reference.

Discover more destinations: Isenay, Toury-sur-Jour, Corancy, Thianges, Beaulieu, Colméry, Ouroux, Ciez

For the overview of the wider area: Nièvre.