Onward to Celles sur Belle and another enjoyable stretch of journeying as we continued our route in a gradual homeward direction.  We drove through Baignes, had a peep at Chateau Chesnel, passed through Aulnay Le Saintonge, and arrived at Celles sur Belle, with its splendid abbey and parked up in the car park there, with 3 neighbour vans, for a free night stay.
The abbey gardens were open for a free visit so that was not to be missed!  It was more like a chateau than a typical abbey in style.  The next morning, before we left in a Melle direction, I nipped back to the gardens for some better shots of the abbey in sunshine!

Heading towards Parthenay we pulled in at the village of Cherveux with its Chateau and then stopped further along to see what Chateau de la Guyonniére was all about.  Both are privately owned but open in season to paying visitors.  We just had a peep!
We had tried to visit Parthenay on a previous trip but hadn’t managed to park as we were driving through so with 3 vans in convoy that time, had to abandon that idea.
With time to check things out, this visit we found plenty of parking options in certainly 2 large car parks, so after our on board lunch, headed out.
Well, Parthenay was a great visit with plenty of historical architecture to see.  We did quite some walking that day!  Well worth it though!

Date of visits: 10/04 to 09/04/2016