fronts ) of perennial houses and a public car park .
Perhaps the best times of the year to visit are during the spring , when the blossoms and jonquils perform their brief but beautiful annual display , and during the summer , when the hydrangeas cascade over the tiny bridges .
It ’ s not unusual to see amateur painters with their easels and half-finished canvases on the path .
The walk is not long , less than a kilometre and perfect for a Sunday stroll . When you cross the canal there is also a chance to explore the tannery building , which made Chevreuse its fortune for many centuries , now used as an exhibition hall .
Close to the pretty stone bridge in the centre of the chemin you ’ ll find a wooden lavoir , or public wash house , long since abandoned .
Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay
Beautifully restored by the outrageously wealthy Rothschild family in the late 19th century , the buildings and extensive grounds of the Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay are the perfect setting for a peaceful wander on a sunny spring afternoon . Only the shell of the ancient abbey remains , but one can imagine coloured shards of sunlight streaming through the rounded rose window a thousand years ago .
Now , the ravages of time and greenery have taken their toll . The abbey was long associated with the pious Saint Thibault , abbot of the monastery in 1235 .