Royaumont by Annabel Simms

I can recommend a visit to Royaumont Abbey as being good value. Within easy reach of Paris, the trip can include a pretty countryside walk and if you go on a Saturday in early autumn you can also hear medieval music in a perfect setting.

Royaumont is the largest and best-preserved Cistercian abbey in the Ile de France, retaining most of its thirteenth-century appearance including the cloisters, and flanked by the dramatic ruins of its church, demolished during the Revolution. It is set in an elegant park surrounded by ornamental canals, and now functions as an international cultural centre, with a particular emphasis on music. As its name implies, the Abbey had a royal founder, Louis IX, who ordered its construction in 1228. This king was also a saint, who insisted on waiting on the monks in the Refectory, an austerely beautiful room which is now used for concerts. I have seen a medieval passion play performed to music here, an unforgettable experience.

The best way to appreciate the harmony of the setting is to approach it on foot. There is a PR footpath from the sleepy little village of Seugy which is on the railway line from Paris, an unusual and satisfying way of reaching the Abbey. The tea-room at Royaumont overlooks a canal thick with water-lilies and no one tells you to keep off the grass. If you have come for a concert, you can take the free shuttle bus back to the station at Viarmes.

4.3 km walk from Seugy to Royaumont From the station at Seugy turn right into the Rue de la Gare. You can skirt the village to arrive at the roundabout leading to the footpath to Royaumont, but it is more fun to take a little footpath which goes via people’s back gardens to the church. Turn sharp left from the Rue de la Gare and follow the path which emerges at the little church on your right. It is open on Sundays for Mass at 6.30 pm.

Go past the church and the Mairie to the Rendez-Vous des Chasseurs, a tiny café-tabac which is the only shop in the village and therefore the centre of what activity there is. You will be conspicuous if you step inside, but so would you be if you were French - there are not many unfamiliar faces in Seugy. Savour the sensation of being in la France profonde only 45 minutes from Paris.

You are nearly at the end of the Rue de la Fontaine, which leads straight to a little roundabout from where you take the Rue de Giez. Do not be tempted to turn left and follow the Chemin de Royaumont, as I did - it is shorter but cuts across fields with no signposts. From the Rue de Giez there are yellow PR signs along the route.

The road soon becomes a path which takes you past a caravan site and crosses the D922 via a little underpass, emerging alongside a wood. Continue past the riding school (Centre Equestre) and a little waterfall on the right. A gentle uphill stretch brings you to the edge of another wood, with a view of rolling countryside below. The path skirts the wood on your right and leads directly to the Abbey grounds

The approach to the Abbey is particularly impressive, surrounded by parkland with a tree-lined canal in which the arched windows are reflected. The last time I visited, a rehearsal for Stravinsky’s opera, The Rake’s Progress, was taking place outside, around a piano perched on the grass. It was watched by a knot of enchanted bystanders, unable to tear themselves away. Overlooking a smaller canal to the left of the Abbey is the discreetly welcoming sight of tables and sunshades, the inspired location of the tea room. The Refectory, to the left of the cloisters, is reached via the main entrance in the middle of the building.