Here is the full text of the article which was first published in Bonjour Paris on 27 November 2020

Discovering the River Yerres: mills, menhirs and the Maison Caillebotte

In between confinements this year, I began following the tributaries of the Seine and the Marne in search of new walks near Paris. These minor rivers are generally not far from a railway station, stations which I had always assumed served faceless built up suburbs. Wrong. Yes, suburbs have sprung up around the medieval villages and hamlets on these little rivers but at the heart of them you will find traces of a many-layered past, existing side by side with modern infrastructure. And usually the closer you get to the river, the further back you journey in time and the more surprising and picturesque the walk becomes.

Brunoy on the River Yerres, a tributary of the Seine 21 km south east of Paris, is a good example. In the seventh century it was mentioned as a royal possession, prized for the good hunting to be had in the nearby Forêt de Sénart. Its famous château was demolished in the Revolution but Brunoy continued to attract successful Parisians who built several imposing country residences there, some still standing although put to other uses. It is still essentially a residential town.

5 km walk along the River Yerres from Brunoy to Yerres

From Brunoy station take the Place de la Gare exit marked ‘Bus’ which will bring you to the Rue de la Gare with a big brasserie/tabac on the corner. Follow it round to the right, past the modern Mediathèque and a small war memorial. You will see the spire of the church above the skyline on your left. Turn left to face the grandiose Mairie (1898) set in a little square with an imposing plane tree in front of it and the Tabac de la Mairie beside it in the Grande Rue on your right. This is a good place to stop for a drink, savouring the relaxed, almost provincial feel of the scene in front of you. In the Middle Ages this part of Brunoy with its 12^th century church, built on the site of an earlier one, was surrounded by a rampart along what is now the Grande Rue, and it is still the heart of the modern town.

With your back to the Tabac de la Mairie turn into the first street on the left, the little Rue Pasteur, then take the first right, the tiny Rue St Nicolas. Turn left into a narrow un-named cobbled street, more like a passage, which will bring you to the back entrance of the Eglise St Médard, built in the 12^th, 13^th and 16^th centuries, embellished in the 18^th century and restored in 2005. Turn right and go down steps into the Place St Médard. The main entrance to the church is up the steps on your left.

From the church main entrance turn left and follow the Rue Montmartel round to the left. At the crossroads turn right downhill onto the Rue du Pont Perronet. You will pass a picturesque old mill which is now a hotel, on the site of an earlier mill belonging to the château.

Continue across the bridge and take the pedestrian crossing onto the Ile de Brunoy, passing a restaurant called Le Pavillon de l’Ile on your right. It would be a good place to have lunch as it is in a beautiful setting and modestly priced. I have only had coffee here but the food has enthusiastic reviews on French TripAdvisor. Its terrace has an excellent view of the Neolithic menhir, La Pierre Fritte, on the opposite bank of the River Yerres. Continue along the path a little way and walk down to the river on your right, opposite the children’s playground, to see the menhir.

La Pierre Fritte dates from around 3000 BC but its function remains a mystery. The name derives from la pierre fichée (figée) en terre, literally ‘stone stuck in the ground’. At 2.5 metres high, with another metre buried in the soil, it is the tallest stone visible of a group of three There is a much smaller one next to it and a bigger one submerged in the river beneath it.

Further along the path you will see a wooden barn, La Grange de l’Ile, which dates from the 19^th century and has been recently restored. You could continue for a little wander along the island, which is an attractive public park with two picnic tables and paths along the Yerres on both sides, crossed by an impressive viaduct built in 1849.

Retrace your steps to the Pavillon de l’Ile and cross the bridge to the other side of the river. The Pont Perronet, built around 1784, is named after its engineer who also designed  the Pont de la Concorde in Paris. It has a tasteful Greek border running along its parapet. Take the steps down from the bridge and follow the path with the river on your right.

The entire walk is waymarked with the red and yellow GRP stripes. See http://www.annabelsimms.com/wp-content/uploads/French-footpath-signs-explained-pdf.pdf

You will pass quite a few locals en route but the walk feels rural rather than suburban, with towering trees, leaf-strewn paths and the sound of ducks and moorhens.

You will soon have another view of the mill with the church at Brunoy behind it. There is a heron visible in the photo if you zoom, down from the church spire.

The path ends at the picturesque Pont de Soulins, built in 1745 and painted by Caillebotte in 1874.

Cross the road and turn right onto this bridge, which has a footpath on the left leading to a gateway into the Parc de la Maison des Arts. The Maison is a villa, Le Réveillon, built in 1870 and now an arts centre, which you will eventually pass on your right.

The path soon goes under another impressive viaduct. Continue following the river, watching out for a discreet GRP left turn sign which will take you across a footbridge and up an embankment onto a main road. Cross the road straight ahead of you, if you can (the pedestrian crossing is further away) to a small road directly opposite showing a height restriction of 1.90 metres for cars. This is the unmarked continuation of the river footpath, next to a children’s playground in the Parc des Deux Rivières at Yerres.

Cross the next little footbridge over a dam and turn right to follow the Yerres onto the Ile Panchout. There are extracts from poems along the path which I personally found rather irritating, although well-intentioned. You may glimpse a fenced-off herd of Highland cattle, introduced here for ‘l’éco-pâturage’ i.e. to crop the grass in a sustainable way.

Turn right across the next footbridge and continue to follow the river. When you see a roadbridge ahead leave the path and take the steps on your right up to the bridge and a bus stop. Cross the road and turn left, over the river. The Maison Caillebotte is the white building straight ahead on the right.

Admission to the grounds, which contain some remarkable trees, is free. I have not visited the house but the grounds alone are worth the trip.

The Caillebotte family bought the property in 1860 and spent their summers there until they sold it in 1879. It had been transformed by a previous owner in 1824 who turned the extensive grounds into a landscaped jardin à l’anglaise, complete with orangery, ice-house and other fashionable fabriques. The former ‘chalet Suisse’ now houses the restaurant and tea-room and the walled kitchen garden, where I helped myself to some raspberries,  has been beautifully restored and is run by volunteers.

Like most of the owners of elegant villas in Brunoy and Yerres, Caillebotte père had made his fortune in Paris, in his case by supplying the French army with sheets and blankets. His second son, Gustave (1848-1894) became a talented painter of independent means, champion and patron of the Impressionists. The bucolic river and garden setting at Yerres inspired several of his early paintings. His outstanding collection of Impressionist paintings now forms the heart of the collection at the Musée d’Orsay.

To return to Paris turn right from the Maison Caillebotte onto the main road and continue on the right past La Grange au Bois, a 19^th century villa in the fashionable ‘rustic’ style, now a music and dance conservatory, along the long Rue de Concy. When you come to a roundabout, turn left into Rue de la Gare and continue uphill. Cross the road and take steps up on the right to the RER station at Yerres.

RER D trains from Gare de Lyon to Melun run two to three times an hour, stopping at Brunoy 28 minutes later. Trains from Yerres run every 15 minutes, taking 24 minutes to Gare de Lyon.  www.transilien.fr

Free app using GPS to track your route on IGN maps