THE FOREST OF SAINT-GATIEN-DES-BOIS
With its 3500 hectares, it is the biggest forest of Calvados, its perimeter reaches 28 km.
Originally, it was called Touques forest, the change of name was made at the time of the French conquest at the beginning of the XIIIth century. Over the centuries, the forest had many owners, passing into the royal domain, belonging to the nobility (Louise de Bourbon, Miss de Montpensier...), and was sometimes divided up and sold to various buyers. It was exploited by the "brioleurs" who used to transport logs, faggots or ferns, with the help of their "mazettes", small horses equipped with a bell to better locate them at night. Today, several private owners share the forest, mainly for wood production or as a hunting area. Before the Revolution, its fauna consisted of wolves, deer, roe deer, fallow deer and wild boars. They have since given way to foxes, hares and rabbits, as well as a few roe deer, wild boars and woodcocks in winter.
A 9.5 km hiking trail starting from the Saint-Gatien-des-Bois town hall, accessible outside the hunting season, allows you to discover a small piece of it.
Hiking in the forest
Our itinerary hereIn the heart of the forest, the Chalet Güttinger
This private, Swiss-inspired wooden chalet, surrounded by a balcony with an overhanging roof, was built around 1820 by Ulrich Güttinger, a leader of the Swiss Romantic school. The house offered Ulrich Güttinger the peace and quiet he so much desired. The house was set in a green setting with rhododendrons and hydrangeas, and featured a wide variety of flowers, greenhouses, a hot-house, a vegetable garden and an orchard. Important horticultural festivals took place in this park established in the middle of the forest, which was admired by all.
As a frequent visitor to the Salon de l'Arsenal, Ulrich Güttinger often received here the great literary and artistic figures of his time who liked to come here to recharge their batteries: Victor and Adèle Hugo, Alfred de Musset, Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve, Alexandre Dumas, Gustave Flaubert, Charles Baudelaire, Théophile Gautier, Frédéric Chopin? "I am writing to you from the Chalet de Guttlnguer, where I have been for two days and where I would like to see you. I am in the delight of the Chalet and its forest. It is now magnificent. All day long I look at the sea which is very close to us, as the onlooker looks at the water flowing. I am dazzled by all these splendors". Alfred de Musset, 1819.
Around 1950, the châlet housed several vacation camps. Now abandoned, the remains of the châlet are walled up.
