If car racing holds no romance, there's another outing from Le Mans of a much quieter nature, to the Cistercian Abbaye de l'Epau (daily 9.30–11.30am & 2–5.30pm; opening hours may vary in summer to accommodate exhibitions; tel 02.43.84.22.29; €2.80), 4km out of town off the Chartres–Paris road (bus #14 from place de la République in Le Mans, stop "Pologne", then five-minute walk). The abbey was founded in 1229 by Queen Berengaria, consort of Richard the Lionheart, and it stands in a rural setting on the outskirts of the Bois de Changé more or less unaltered since its fifteenth-century restoration after a fire. The visit includes the dormitory, with the remains of a fourteenth-century fresco, the abbey church and the scriptorium, or writing room. The church contains the recumbent figure of Queen Berengaria over her tomb.
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