Bois du Gué-Bernisson

The Gué-Bernisson woods are a wooded area in the Sablons neighborhood, accessible notably from rue de Suède, as well as from rue d'Italie or rue d'Allemagne. You can have a picnic there, with several tables set up under the trees, and walk over to the nearby Maison de l'Eau. Every Wednesday in July and August, the woods become a free, family-friendly activity space: playful, musical and artistic workshops for young and old, 3–5:30 PM. A simple, shady neighborhood nature spot rather than a large landscaped park.

A bit of history

The woods take their name from Gué-Bernisson, one of the farms that worked the floodable farmland on the right bank of the Huisne until the 1960s. A farmstead first mentioned in the 11th century, it was replaced in the second half of the 18th century by a small pleasure château, built in the 18th and 19th centuries and demolished around 1966. The Sablons neighborhood emerged from the ZUP Sablons-Gazonfier, created by ministerial order on July 21, 1960: the flood-prone land was filled in and raised. Chief architect Pierre Vago set aside 15 hectares, or 10% of the ZUP, for green spaces, laid out from 1962 to 1976 while preserving as much of the existing vegetation as possible.