Beauce,
take my breath away!

Did you know...?

In Beauce, with its immense linear horizons, the sky occupies 80% of the landscape. It is the perfect place to admire stunning sunsets at dusk and the star-speckled sky before dawn.

Since the 15th century, the vast stretches of windy plain here have led to the installation of many windmills. Most of the old wooden post mills have disappeared, but the stone-built Artenay windmill still turns its roof to this very day, so that its blades face the wind. The modern-day landscape is scattered with wind turbines!

Yet, Beauce is not just a land of plains! The valley crossed by the rivers Oeuf and Essonne also offers an undulating environment. Here, nestling on a small hilltop overlooking the River Rimarde, stands the Yèvre-le-châtel fortress, in the heart of one of the Most Beautiful Villages of France. From Pithiviers to Malesherbes, the Essonne valley, partly listed as a 'natural protected area', is pure paradise for hiking enthusiasts.

Pithiviers, fondant or puff?

Beauce is a nourishing earth with its field crops of wheat, sugar beet and barley. Visitors are more surprised to learn that cress and saffron are also grown here. However, THE local gourmet speciality is undoubtedly the Pithiviers, a sweet cake or pastry. But which one will you prefer? The puff pastry version or the sweet fondant cake version? Time will tell...

Amateurs claim that the true Pithiviers recipe is the fondant one. Of Roman tradition, the recipe is indeed the oldest. The puff pastry Pithiviers was first made in the 18th century. But, when it comes down to food, it's all a question of taste, so try... and decide for yourself...

I discovered an organ... a perfume organ.

Here, you can contemplate the wheat fields as far as the eye can see... but there's not a lavender field in sight! The Château de Chamerolles is nevertheless home to the perfume museum: a trail through centuries of perfume, fragrance, toiletries and personal hygiene.

So why here? Because Loiret is part of the 'cosmetic valley', the world's first competitiveness cluster in the field of perfumery and cosmetics. Over your visit, you will discover several exceptional pieces: a reverberatory furnace, a toilet commode, bathtubs, perfume burners and... a perfume organ! Yet, not a single musical note to be heard! No, this organ is a semi-circular piece of furniture, used to organise the bottles that contain the raw materials required to create a perfume.

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