Écouché-les-Vallées

Écouché-les-Vallées is a commune in the department of Orne, northwestern France. The municipality was established on 1 January 2016 by merger of the former communes of Batilly, La Courbe, Écouché (the seat), Loucé, Saint-Ouen-sur-Maire and Serans. On 1 January 2018, the former commune of Fontenai-sur-Orne was merged into Écouché-les-Vallées. It's seat, Écouché, is classed as a Petites Cités de Caractère.

Geography
The commune is made up of the following collection of villages and hamlets: La Courbe, Mesnil-Glaise, Le Haut du Château, Batilly, Treize Saints, L'Être Hubert, Saint-Ouen-sur-Maire, Serans, Écouché, Méheudin, Loucé, Noiseville, Le Hamel and Fontenai-sur-Orne.

The parts of the commune that contains Batilly and La Courbe is part of the area known as Suisse Normande.

The Commune has 5 rivers running through it with another 6 streams. The five rivers are the Orne, Maire, Baize, Cance and Udon. The 6 streams are the Chalau, Commune, Barbottiere, Vloger and Aunais.

Notable buildings and places

 * Parc de Sculptures de l'Atelier Balias is a 4 Hectare garden that is open to the public. It features over 55 statues today and was created in 1825.
 * Gardens of Méheudin. is a 2 ha garden and Arboretum in Écouché. The Garden was started in 1978 and features over 300 types of trees and ornamental shrubs.

National heritage sites
The Commune has 5 buildings and areas listed as a Monument historique.


 * Lower grounds of la Courbe a barred spur from a Protohistory site.
 * Upper Castle grounds a Protohistory site that still has remains of the ditches and embankments used for the castle.
 * la Queurie Lodge a 15th century manor in La Courbe.
 * Notre Dame Church a 13th century church in Ecouché.
 * Loucé Church a 12th century church in Loucé.

Notable People

 * André Chéradame French journalist and scholar from the École Libre des Sciences Politiques born in 1871 in Ecouches.

Twin town

 * 🇩🇪 Elze, Germany since 1971.

Transport
The commune has a Railway station in Écouché, that was opened in 1866 and serves part of the Argentan to Granville line.