If you head south from the beach at Les Sables d'Olonne, on the rocky coast of Château d'Olonne, you can discover the Puits d'Enfer, a deep fault about 30 metres long in the cliff where the sea crashes in at high tide.
But do you know the various legends that haunt this place?The first tells of a fisherman who loved a young girl to whom he promised to marry her on his return from fishing. But he broke his promise. When he returned to the sea, the storm threw his boat against a rock, which cracked and broke in two for betraying his promise of marriage... Since then, this break has been known as "Le Puits d'Enfer" (Hell's Well).
The second story is a tragedy that took place 75 years ago, on 9 February 1949, when a murder hit the headlines. The body of a man, gagged and bound, was found in a wicker trunk floating at the bottom of the Puits d'Enfer.
Robert Thélier had been murdered for his wealth by his governess Andrée Farré, who had chosen this place to visit as a child. His accomplice Robert Planet was sentenced to hard labour and the governess to life imprisonment.
It's a magnificent, inspiring place, and one of the little treasures of the Sablais region.
Born in Les Sables-d'Olonne, she developed a passion for history and heritage at an early age.
Passionate about architecture, she has set up a number of guided tours designed to showcase the local heritage, always seeking to link the built and the human.