Circuit A la découverte de la ville de Sillé-le-Guillaume

*Along the route and in the town centre, don't miss the signposts and panels showing the various points of interest in the town. These have been installed by the local council with the help of the Petites Cités de Caractères *.

Start/Finish point: Car park of the Château de Sillé-le-Guillaume.

From the church forecourt, walk past the presbytery and down the steps into the ruelle du Doyenné, cross the rue de Fresnay, and take the stairs into the rue de la Fontaine Saint-Martin (you'll get a great view of the church, the Collegiale Notre-Dame and the château when you turn round).

This alleyway runs alongside a former tannery: as part of a regeneration project, the town decided to build the Médiathèque there. From the panoramic viewpoints (Ferme de la Geslinière to the south, Haut-Eclair to the north), the walk takes in the successive stages in the town's history: the medieval town with its narrow streets at the foot of the castle; the town of the 18th and 19th centuries with its wider, straighter streets, squares and railway station, with the arrival of the train in 1854.

Finally, the 20th-century town to the west, with its factories, underlines the important industrial activity of the Pays de Sillé.