Beuxes

Between the land of Rabelais and the land of Renaudot, between the limestone galuches and the peat of the wetlands, Beuxes owes its reputation to Rabelais on the occasion of the birth of Gargantua. The name comes from Buxus, meaning “box tree”. The church of Saint Léger boasts Romanesque architecture with a cornice featuring sculpted modillions, one of them in the shape of a barrel, a nod from the sculptors to Gargantua. Beuxes is a land of mills, as evidenced by its many localities, notably the Comprigny mill (can be visited by appointment). In Loudunais, where truffles have been harvested down the centuries, miller Pierre Mauléon developed their cultivation at Grand-Ponçay around 1790.