The Val Briard is ideal for gentle, green tourism, with hiking, cycling and forest trails popular with horseback riders. Don't miss a visit to Lumigny's two animal parks: Parc des Félins and Terre de Singes. A stone's throw away is the Cueillette du Plessis, where you can fill your basket with fresh, home-grown fruit and vegetables. And in 2023, a new asset will enrich the Val Briard with the opening of l'Envolée, a space for experimental artistic creation in a rural setting.
A friendly, fertile and largely wooded region, the Val Briard is distinguished by its delightful landscapes, alternating between cereal fields, grazed orchards, woodlands and meadows irrigated by streams and ponds. It's a rural environment with villages of just a few hundred inhabitants. The village centers are lined with medieval houses and listed churches, while in the countryside, farms and châteaux are a sight to behold, with their stone and brickwork, half-timbering, gazebos and parks with century-old trees. Two communes with larger populations than the others, Fontenay-Trésigny and Rozay-en-Brie, stand out, with 5,000 and 2,800 inhabitants respectively, concentrating urban services with a cultural hall, swimming pool, gymnasiums, supermarkets, secondary schools, high school..
Val Briard: 21 rural communes in the Paris region
To the southeast of Paris, the Val Briard covers some 340 km², stretching 40 km from west to east, on either side of the Nationale 4 and Nationale 36 roads. This is the territory of the Val Briard Community of Communes, created in January 2017 from three former Communities of Communes. Chaired by Marc Cuypers, mayor of Crèvecoeur-en-Brie, the CCVB now comprises 21 communes and 30,000 inhabitants. Its head office is located at the Ferme Communautaire Jean-Jacques Barbaux, in Les Chapelles-Bourbon. The site also houses a Maison des services à la population (transport, Relais d'Assistantes Maternelles, cultural services, home-delivered meals, youth services), and residents can go to France Services for help with administrative formalities. A remote medical consultation booth is also available in Rozay-en-Brie. The third and final phase of the inter-community project is currently underway, with the construction of the Envolée cultural center, due to open in 2023. L'Envolée builds on 10 years of cultural development initiated by the CCVB.
An experimental art and lifestyle project
The Val Briard is breaking new ground with this creative hub in a rural setting, the only one of its kind in the Paris region. An artistic hub for the Val Briard and the département, l'Envolée brings together 2,000 m² dedicated to creation and dissemination, a point of convergence between the performing and visual arts, and between audiences and artists. For the past twelve years, the Communauté de Communes du Val Briard has been working with local residents to develop an innovative cultural policy. Over the course of the seasons, the artistic offerings have travelled to the heart of the region's 21 communes, attracting growing audiences and renowned companies. The opening of l'Envolée is an extension of this momentum, offering a showcase for experimenting with art in its various forms, in liaison with the local population and forging links between the generations. On the menu: art in motion, beyond appearances. Here, we experiment, break free from norms to question ourselves and take a step to the side. An incubator for artistic experimentation, l'Envolée provides a stage where artists and audiences can meet. As a bridgehead, this structure will irrigate the region and breathe cultural momentum into the Val Briard, the Île-de-France region and beyond, like a wave. All this in line with current aesthetic, environmental and societal concerns.
A partner in contemporary creation
Nothing is set in stone, nothing is excluded! Theater, street arts, dance, music, circus, visual and digital arts: the artistic season will be a hybrid, mixing disciplines, continents and evolving arts. The program will include meetings, workshops and conferences. L'Envolée is a partner of the Pôle Art et Handicap en Seine-et-Marne and of the Festival Imago, and is also committed to welcoming hearing- and visually-impaired audiences, while maintaining a pricing policy that is accessible to all.
L'Envolée aims to contribute to contemporary artistic creation by offering artists a wide range of spaces: workshops for set and costume design, a large rehearsal hall for various artistic practices with a special dance floor, the stage and stage equipment for a 400-seat theatre, workshops for visual artists, not to mention the support of qualified staff. There's also a Maison des Artistes that can accommodate up to 10 people, and indoor and outdoor exhibition spaces. The Val Briard is committed to co-producing and supporting artistic projects. Tomorrow's creators are invited to take root in the area and establish a dialogue with its inhabitants.
Eco-renovation of a Briard farmhouse
Les Vieilles Chapelles, in the outskirts of the commune of Les Chapelles-Bourbon, has a lot to offer: it's in the center of the département, close to a developing industrial and craft zone, and at the same time in a peaceful setting surrounded by unspoilt nature. Let's look back at the history of this environment. Here, monks practiced raniculture, i.e. frog breeding, on several chapels, hence the name of the locality. The approximate date of construction of the farmhouse is around 1770, but there are few records of this.
When the local authority acquired the site, it housed an archetypal Brie farm, with spacious farm and residential buildings arranged around a central courtyard. To the rear, a moated woodland, bordered by a vegetable garden, moat, orchard, pond and frog pond. The architectural and landscape heritage still visible today inspired the Communauté de Communes du Val Briard's project. The renovation was carried out in line with an environmental quality approach, integrating renewable energies (photovoltaic panels, solar hot water, underfloor heating, etc.), bio-sourced insulation (concrete and hemp panels, etc.) and appropriate rainwater management (34m3 rainwater recovery tank). The rehabilitation work favored the reuse of tiles, earth and cobblestones, while respecting the structural characteristics of an old building that had been remodeled many times, and integrating contemporary elements for the interior fittings and extensions. L'Envolée is the third stage in the rehabilitation of this magnificent site.
Visit Festi'Val Bri'Art, an itinerant festival
Among the region's recurring cultural events, one of the highlights is the Festi'Val Bri'Art, which welcomes international companies to an annual traveling festival, with decentralized events and cultural activities designed to develop equal territorial access to culture. Scheduled in March-April, the festival is entirely free of charge. The Festi'Val Bri'Art is organized by the intercommunal body every year in a different commune, and runs for 5 weeks. The program includes concerts, theater, clown shows, circus, workshops... and shows for all local schools. Festi'Val Bri'Art celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2022, in Neufmoutiers-en-Brie.
FUTURE INFO
Where?
With its proximity to Paris, this destination is perfectly feasible in all four seasons. However, it's best to avoid heavy rain if you're coming on foot, horseback or by bike.
The site attracts family gatherings and even brides and grooms. Spring is the right time for this! Finally, recurring cultural events such as the Festi'Val Bri'Art in March-April or the Foire d'Automne in early October, at Les Chapelles-Bourbon, make your stay worthwhile.
Duration
From Paris, you can spend the day in the Val Briard visiting the zoos or picking your own seasonal fruit and vegetables in Lumigny. You can easily take two full days to discover this region. And when l'Envolée, a cultural space offering top-quality shows and cultural events, is up and running, these will justify a two- or three-day getaway in the Val Briard to enjoy them to the full.
Budget
The Val Briard is not an expensive destination. You can reach the area by train (line P), and there are plenty of affordable bed & breakfasts and gîtes for groups.
The plus points
- If you want to enjoy a quiet environment, untouched by the mass tourism of Paris, the Val Briard is the ideal place.
- Even if you decide at the last minute, you'll have no trouble getting organized.
Getting there
Located in the Paris region, Val Briard is easily accessible from Paris. The SNCF network serves Marles-en-Brie and Mortcerf stations, and the TER serves Tournan-en-Brie station.
Getting around
The Val Briard is served by the national roads 4 and 36. You can enjoy cycling along small, little-traveled roads linking hamlets and villages, crossing farmland and woods, and skirting wetlands and streams.
Accommodation
The Val Briard is home to a number of hotels and campsites, but the bulk of the accommodation on offer consists of bed & breakfasts and gîtes.
Useful
Consult the département's tourism website and, for more specific information, the Communauté de Communes du Val Briard website.
