The Musée des Ruralies, also known as the "conservatory museum of agricultural machinery", was located in the town of Aiffres, in Deux-Sèvres, a few kilometers south-east of Niort.
Created in 1985, located on a motorway area of the A10 but also accessible from a departmental road, its vocation was to evoke and explain the evolution of agricultural techniques over the past 150 years. In addition to its collection of machines and documents, it included a garden and a mini-farm.
The museum has now closed its doors. Its collections of agricultural equipment have been transferred to Chartres in an establishment which has the same theme: the Compa, conservatory of agriculture and departmental museum (contact on +33 2 37 84 15 00).
At Aiffres, on this same motorway rest area, a shop specializing in regional products has taken over from the old museum, under the same name: "Les Ruralies". Information on +33 5 49 75 67 66.
