Bressolles lies on the left bank of the Allier and on the northern boundary of the Val d’Allier National Nature Reserve. Anyone wishing to rent a holiday apartment in Bressolles can include this village in their personal travel plans.
Culture and history
Of the Château de Bressolles, a round tower with a 13th-century base and a square tower with 15th-century tracery windows have been preserved. The Église du Sacré-Coeur is a neo-Gothic church with a Greek-cross floor plan and semicircular apsidioles; its original spire was removed in 1934. In the Maison du Bailli, the lord of Bressolles formerly dispensed justice.
The Château de Lys has been documented as a fief since the 15th century. Originally, it comprised a pavilion flanked by two round towers and attached to a residential wing. The Domaine d'Aigrepont has existed since 1442; later, among other features, a chapel, terraces, orchards, hedges, vineyards and formal gardens were created there.
Smaller structures also preserve traces of everyday life in the past. The bread oven in Piroir in Bressolles is located in a small building separate from the dwelling. It could be used by several residents and thus had a public or semi-public character. The house of Longvé in Bressolles is one of the area’s notable surviving medieval half-timbered buildings.
The Oratoire de Longvé was built at the beginning of the 19th century near the Longvé priory house to accommodate a stone statue presumably originating from the neighbouring chapel. The original is now in the Louvre; one of two plaster casts made was placed in the Oratoire de Bressolles.
Nature and landscape
The Val d’Allier National Nature Reserve protects a largely free-flowing river and a dynamic mosaic landscape of gravel and sandbanks, oxbow lakes, meadows, heathland and alluvial forests. Mammals found in the Val d’Allier include the Eurasian beaver, Eurasian otter and wildcat.
The Sentier des castors is freely accessible from the Pont Régemortes in Moulins to the Château de Lys in Bressolles, covers 6 km and has information panels. The Sentier des castors also offers an approximately 15-kilometre hike between Moulins and Bressolles. From the north, it leads into the Val d’Allier nature reserve and includes educational observation facilities.
Routes and activities
In the Val d’Allier National Nature Reserve between Saint-Loup and Bressolles, visitors can go hiking, canoeing, mountain biking and fishing, and observe nature. For cycling, the fully paved greenway La Via Allier runs from Moulins southwards to Bressolles. On the Moulins–Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule cycling stage, cyclists turn right towards Bressolles after riding along the RD2009.
More local pages: Bézenet, Lavoine, Saint-Désiré, Chazemais, Saulcet, Vicq, Voussac, Verneix
