Sainte-Suzanne

Sainte-Suzanne stands on a rock spur above the Erve valley, ringed by walls, and its claim is that William the Conqueror besieged it from 1083 to 1086 and failed to take it, the only place in the region he could not reduce; the earthwork camp he built during the siege still shows in the woods below as the Camp des Anglais. The Norman keep survives, one of the oldest stone keeps in western France, and a seventeenth-century logis stands in the same enclosure with an interpretation centre. Below the walls the valley holds watermills, a dolmen and paths along the Erve.

What you actually see

• The village walls - a complete circuit around the spur with gates.
• The Norman keep - an early stone tower from the siege period.
• The Camp des Anglais - William's siege earthwork in the woods below.
• The Erve valley - mills, a dolmen and footpaths under the village.

When to go

April to October; the keep and museum reduce hours in winter. The village is quiet even at peak, one of the less trafficked of the plus beaux villages.

Honest expectations

It is small and seen in an hour or two, with few facilities. The keep is a shell rather than furnished rooms. Public transport is essentially absent, so a car is needed.

Nearby

Laval lies west; Le Mans is east.