Arche de la nature

L'Arche de la Nature is a vast peri-urban natural area managed by Le Mans Métropole, spread across the communes of Changé, Yvré-l'Évêque, and Le Mans, along the Huisne river. The estate is organized around three thematic “houses”: the Maison de l'Eau (aquariums, a former 1906 pumping station with its 8,5 m-diameter Sagebien waterwheel, and a small hydroelectric plant), the Maison de la Forêt (arboretum, a trail of remarkable trees, and an exhibit on forest management), and the Maison de la Prairie (vegetable garden, orchard, beehives, and heritage livestock breeds), the latter located about 1,5 km from the other two.

Free and open at all times, the site offers bike and canoe rentals, horse-drawn carriage rides, disc golf, an orienteering course, a mountain bike and BMX park, an outdoor fitness trail, and many marked hiking trails (loops of 6,5 km, 8 km, and 12 km, plus routes adapted for wheelchairs). Nature programs and educational activities (water, forest, farm, garden) are offered year-round to schools and adult groups.

With more than 500 000 visitors a year and about 17 000 students taking part in school programs, L'Arche de la Nature has become an essential green lung on the edge of Le Mans, as much for family walks as for discovering local biodiversity.

A bit of history

The L'Arche de la Nature project took shape in the 1990s, driven by local authorities who wanted to give the public a large protected natural area on the edge of Le Mans, at a time when the site had been used only for more limited leisure purposes. The estate was officially created at the end of the 1990s (1997–1998 according to sources) and entrusted to the urban community, now Le Mans Métropole. It now covers roughly 450 to 500 hectares, depending on how the boundaries are counted, spread across hedged farmland and forest in the communes of Changé, Yvré-l'Évêque, and Le Mans.

The project was built early on around biodiversity conservation, with three educational “houses” dedicated to water, forest, and meadow. The Maison de l'Eau relies in particular on a former pumping station built in 1906 and its Sagebien waterwheel, restored as a small hydroelectric plant (renovation begun in 2012, commissioned around 2015). The site has also hosted emblematic renewable energy installations, such as a Bollée windmill (2007) and photovoltaic panels (2009). A program to protect local grass snakes and other snakes was launched in 2006.

In 2020, visitor reception was reorganized and moved to the Maison de l'Eau. Year after year, L'Arche de la Nature has expanded its trails, activities, and educational features until it became one of the most visited peri-urban natural areas in the region, with more than 500 000 visits a year.