Meilhac features a rural bocage landscape, and a circular trail starts here. It is also home to evidence of sacred and Gallo-Roman history: in the Église Saint-Denis, opposite the church and in Flavignac. When planning your trip, it is worth considering the landscape, trail and different heritage sites separately. This gives you a clear picture of the highlights Meilhac offers for a stay.

Rural Landscape and Circular Trail

Fields and meadows in Meilhac are still largely bordered by hedges and rows of trees. This bocage landscape is not simply a general term for green surroundings: the boundaries divide the open spaces and shape the rural character of the area. If you are primarily looking for this kind of landscape, it is a defining feature that sets Meilhac apart from open farmland.

Les sentiers de Meilhac starts in Meilhac, follows a circular route and is 19.4 kilometres long. The estimated duration is five hours on foot and one hour and 30 minutes by mountain bike. The comparison shows how much the time required varies depending on how you travel. So plan the route as a separate part of your day and use the time estimate for your chosen activity as a guide. The route has been included in the Haute-Vienne département’s PDIPR walking and hiking trails plan since September 2015.

A regular bus service to Limoges runs as route 50. This gives you a practical point of reference for planning a trip to Limoges, in addition to the circular trail. If you want to include the bus in your day’s itinerary, check the route 50 timetable for your travel date.

Exploring the Church and Cultural Heritage

One bay of the Église Saint-Denis retains its original rib vault. The keystone is decorated with a lily. A bay is a section of the church interior, and the keystone sits at the apex of the vault. This makes it possible to see the lily motif as part of the architecture, rather than simply as a decorative detail. The church floor also offers a glimpse into its history: it contains gravestones and the tomb of an abbot.

Another object is located opposite the church: a Gallo-Roman oval cippus is set into the wall of the garden of the former presbytery. Its shape and position in a garden wall give this piece of evidence a different setting from the features inside the church. Anyone interested in cultural heritage can thus distinguish between two different sites and types of historical evidence.

The Châsse dite de sainte Valérie dates from the first quarter of the 13th century and is classified as a protected object. It is kept in the treasury of the parish church of Assomption-de-la-Très-Sainte-Vierge in Flavignac. This location is important for planning: the reliquary is not kept in the Église Saint-Denis in Meilhac. Alongside the vault, burial sites and cippus, it offers another point of interest in cultural history, but at a different location.

Discover more destinations: Saint-Just-Le-Martel, Eyjeaux, Saint-Hilaire-Les-Places, La Jonchère-Saint-Maurice, Couzeix, Rancon, Bussière-Poitevine, Saint-Junien-les-Combes.

For an overview of the wider area: Haute-Vienne.