At the edge of Retz Forest, at the heart of the charming little village of Longpont, stand the ruins of an old Cistercian abbey founded in 1131 by St. Bernard: the Abbey of Our Lady of Longpont, nowadays a listed Historic Monument. Open to the public on weekends from mid-March to late October, take a tour and discover the ruins of the early 13th-century Gothic abbey church, the monks' pisalis and its large central hearth, the 18th-century vestibule and its elegant wrought iron staircase, the monks' cellar and its intersecting rib vaults, the cloister's courtyard gardens, and the pleasant English-style park, adorned with a pond and some copses.
As you leave the abbey, be sure to take a walk in the picturesque village of Longpont, where you will find pretty floral houses as well as an imposing fortified door with four turrets, dating from the 14th century.
