Sologne: The Ponds of Saint-Viâtre and the Tarte Tatin

Required Activities

• In the Maison des Étangs at Saint-Viâtre, work out from the displays how a Sologne étang is actually managed — how it is drained, fished and refilled in rotation — and take the commentated visit if one is running

• Walk the 1.7 km sentier pédagogique round the Étang de la Ville, the family path the museum runs, and get one heron and one grebe out of the reedbeds — the Saint-Viâtre ponds are under a biotope protection order for purple heron, bittern, little bittern, marsh harrier and black-necked grebe

• In the church of Saint-Viâtre, find the four painted panels of the polyptych from the first quarter of the 16th century that tell the hermit Viâtre's life and burial, the crypt beneath the altar said to hold his tomb, and the choir window of the saint driving out a demon; then step outside and look up at the clocher tors, whose twist came from the central king post warping as the timber dried

• Eat a tarte Tatin at La Maison Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron, the 19th-century house on the avenue de Vierzon that belonged to the Tatin sisters, and settle for yourself whether the pastry on top has taken the caramel or the apples have