An Escape to Clessy, France: Discovering Bountiful Beauty Beyond the City

When Adrien first brought me to his grandparents in Clessy a few years back, it was the first time I had gotten a glimpse of what the Burgundian countryside was really like.

Meandering roads of the bocages share borders of different “lieux-dits“ – which are small geographical areas, usually rural towns, where everyone knows each other by name including the mailman as house numbers are absent in most lieux-dits. There is an unassuming yet charming effervescence of Clessy that you wouldn’t have expected from a town whose population lies just under 300.

Angélique, Adrien’s grandmother has been living in Clessy for most of her retirement with her husband, Gérard.

In this post, Angélique invites you to Clessy, where she shares a glimpse of her life surrounded by the bountiful beauty of the Burgundian French countryside.

Life Beyond the City

At the end of my professional career, I decided to settle in Clessy.

Fed up with the city life with the noise of buses, the smell of gasoline around you, you see only concrete, hardly if you see a corner of the sky.

As soon as I was able to free myself from professional constraints I looked for my future residence in a small village in the countryside and, bingo, I arrived at Clessy. 

Every morning I discover the horizon, daylight, and herds of cattle and sheep scattered in the surrounding fields, I like to witness the awakening of nature and my daily walk transports happiness, especially at the sight of a group of deer, or of a wild rabbit that flees at your approach. 

Burgundy is a region where card games are played, and I enjoy meeting my neighbours and friends for a game of Belote or Scrabble. I like to read, preferably historical novels. And it may seem incongruous, but I like video games also, especially Mario on Super Nintendo, a game that I shared a lot with my little grandson, Adrien. 

Every year, my husband and I plan a trip, preferably abroad. I like to discover other cultures, our last trip dates from September 2019, (2020 we were prisoners of the covid) we spent 15 wonderful days with my family in Portugal. I was born in Valongo in the province of Porto, and I arrived in France at the age of 6. I still feel this separation at 74 – family, like a fracture, we cannot heal it.

I have the feeling of having found the end of my road in Clessy, and I take advantage serenely, of these years granted to me.

Life in Clessy

Clessy, 280 inhabitants, is a rural town located in Burgundy, France, comprising around ten farms, with farms of Charolais cows, whose meat is appreciated all over the world.

We invite you to come and discover the wonderful panorama of the Charolais bocage where our cattle graze peacefully and push prairie grass 9 out of 12 months during the good season and contemplate the plots separated by the current owners because they represent part of our cultural heritage.

You will also see some very old stone walls, which give a certain cachet to the village.

This particular charm of our Charolais bocage will be part of soon, we hope, a heritage classification of Unesco. Clessy is surrounded by woods and forests, which give a shine, particularly greenery and an appreciable oxygen supply.

Whatever the season, you will enjoy our trail hikes, walks in the forest, and even cycling and mountain biking.

By the way, for your information, it is on the roads of Clessy that Bernard Thévenet, cycling champion, double-winner of the Tour de France in 1975 and 1977, trained for his competitions.

In the spring, you will see the forests dress in green, and witness the growth of wildflowers (primroses, daisies, poppies, daffodils, etc…)

But the best part is the season in June, the time of haymaking, when our farmers start cutting the hay for their cattle in anticipation of winter. 

The beauty of these balls of hay gives a wonderful relief to our meadows, and the smell of cut hay will tickle your nostrils pleasantly.

The song of the crickets will rock you during your naps in the sheltered trees or an arbour.

Then you will see the remains of the fortified castle, as well as its Saint-Roch church (former chapel of the castle) of Anne-Charlotte de Chanlecy, wife of Charles de Batz de Castalmore, the famous D’Artagnan musketeer of King Louis the 14th. 

You can eat at the village restaurant, D’Artagnan, and taste their famous frog legs, Burgundy snails or Charolais steaks before enjoying the sunset as you walk back home.