Travel Guide La Ferté Macé

La Ferté-Macé is a long-established commercial town, which developed around the textile industry. Canvas from weaving mills and wood from sawmills manufacturing galoches employed 250 people in 1880. Just 6 kilometers from Bagnoles-de-l'Orne-Normandie, this town on the banks of the Maure River, now a "Station Verte", has just merged with neighboring Antoigny. La Ferté-Macé is renowned for its lake and its gastronomic products: cider, perry and, above all, skewered tripe, which since 1981 has had its own confrérie de la Tripière Fertoise promoting tripe à la mode fertoise. Few ancient monuments, apart from the Romanesque tower of the church, but a leisure centre, a toy museum, the Trésorama in the crypt housing precious objects linked to Catholic worship, the public garden and its rose garden, and the Jardin des Ridrels (private, open on certain weekends). Also typical: the Brocante Fertaise in its beautiful brick and stone building. Last but not least, there are several fishing spots in and around the town, in rivers (Gourbe, Vée, Maure) or on the banks of two ponds. All in all, a pleasant, lively little town in the heart of the Andaines forest and Normandy bocage.You can stay at the La Ferté Plage tourist complex, with its charming maisonnette-gîtes. There's also a municipal campsite open from early May to mid-October.