Etape 4 La Chevauchée du Pays d'Auge à la Seine : Notre-Dame-de-Courson - Orbec

A fine group of 14th-16th century buildings, the Château de Kinnor is a fine example of work by the illustrious Norman architect François Gabriel. In the early 19th century, the castle was home to the lovers François-René de Chateaubriand and Delphine de Custine. The estate also boasts two remarkable trees: France’s oldest Oriental plane tree, together with a two hundred-year-old purple beech, referred to as ‘de Chateaubriand’. Guided tours all year round on request.

A guided tour traces the history of the small mill back to the 12th century, A permanent exhibition entitled "L'Age d'Or des Moulins de l'Orbiquet" (The Golden Age of the Orbiquet Mills) features 14 panels exploring the role of the Orbiquet mills in 19th-century economic and social life. Designed by engineer Ernest Bollée and one of only eight built in France, it is the only one visible and in this state of preservation. The Orbiquet river drives a 12 hp Sagebien-type waterwheel, which, with the help of two bodies of three pumps, drew water from a reservoir fed by springs.30 Bollée-patented ?unfreezable? public fountains provided Orbec?s inhabitants with unlimited access to water of good quality for the time. Restoration of the Bollée wheel and mechanism has enabled us to enhance this 19th-century industrial heritage. The machine and the kilometers of cast-iron pipe were delivered to the Orbec railway station, inaugurated a few years earlier. The Lisieux Orbec line has kept local industry alive along the Orbiquet valley. Visit by appointment.