Mayenne is a department in northwest France named subsequent to the Mayenne River. Mayenne is one of the unusual 83 departments formed all through the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. A serene rural department, the Mayenne sandwiched between Normandy and the Loire valley has three principle towns. It comprises the western part of the former province of Maine. Mayenne is fraction of the current region of Pays de la Loire and is surrounded by the departments of Manche, Orne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, and Ille-et-Vilaine. The residents of the department are called Mayennais.

Mayenne is a small town which sits astride the Mayenne river in the north of Mayenne department. It is on an east-west line amid Le Mans and Rennes, south of Caen and north of Angers. The town is recognized for its castle, and the surrounding area for its cider, its dialect (the French language spoken here causes purists to turn pale!) and its British residents. The town itself has two dissimilar parts. At the west of the Mayenne river, the Notre-Dame area, named after the impressive basilica, and to the east of the river, Saint-Martin, named after the church.