Celles-sur-Belle royal abbey was founded in 1137. It was rebuilt in the 15th century and destroyed by Huguenots in 1568. The current abbey was reconstructed between 1660 and 1685 on the orders of Louis XIV.
Overlooking both the Belle Valley and beautiful French-style gardens, the majestic 17th-century convent buildings in the Louis XIV style house a museum where you can see the Abbot's room, a recreated monk's cell, and collections of religious objects and ecclesiastical clothing.
Doune Castle was originally built in the thirteenth century, then probably damaged in the Scottish Wars of Independence, before being rebuilt in its present form in the late 14th century by Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany (c. 1340–1420), the son of King Robert II of Scots, and Regent of Scotland from 1388 until his death. Duke Robert"s stronghold has survived relatively unchanged and complete, and the whole castle was traditionally thought of as the result of a single period of construction at this time. The castle passed to the crown in 1425, when Albany"s son was executed, and was used as a royal hunting lodge and dower house.
In the later 16th century, Doune became the property of the Earls of Moray. The castle saw military action during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and Glencairn"s rising in the mid-17th century, and during the Jacobite risings of the late 17th century and 18th century.