You’ve already visited Dinan and liked it ! Do you know then the small town Léhon which is really nice… and quite close (30 minutes walk). Have a look at it, it ‘s really worth it for whom loves old stones…



You have to go to Dinan harbour and cross the old bridge. Walk then along the canal for half an hour and you’ll soon see the old buildings of Léhon abbey.

To visit the religious priory, go on till a stone bridge.

Let’s talk a bit about this nice bridge.

It has been erected here because long ago, before the bridge, it was a ford. Rivers have always been a problem for whom doesn’t swim or doesn’t like to bath in cold waters…



Romans used to ford the Rance here and it was an important communication route between the main cities of the Roman Brittany. (Roman invaded Brittany during the first century after Christ).

Well the ford became a bridge when the monks during the Xth century thought it would be helpful… A nice bridge was built… but in wood… That means that when the river Rance was raging, the bridge could not stand… and when the Rance was in spate, the bridge did fly in the water...

Tired of this bridge coming in and going out, the inhabitants decided to build it in stones during the XVth to the XVI th century… but as the Rance was still not canalized… and still so vigourous… the bridge sometimes threatened to fall or even did fall apart.

And sometimes it was on purpose destroyed… specially when the Royal Army in 1799 wanted to conquer Dinan and as it was the only bridge around, the Bretons destroyed one of the arch…



The missing arch will be replaced by a wooden footbridge, and later during the XIX th century by a metal one.

In 1832 the Rance was canalized and an important trade using the canal began between the harbour Saint Malo and Rennes the breton maincity. The footbridge allowed the boats through. The horses used to go along the towpath to tow the boats, full of goods from Saint Malo.

The nowadays bridge was built in 1925. The large arch allowed the barges (special flat boat used on canals) to go through. But the events still go on…

During the Second World War, the German Army destroyed the central arch to slow down the Allied advance. It was raised again in 1946.

And now cross the bridge and I’ll meet you on the other side (next post !!!) to visit the Léhon abbey…



Read it in French : Balade à Léhon petite cité de caractère de Bretagne (France)

Poul Fétan (56310 Quistinic, Tel: 02-97-39-51-74) is an hamlet in the middle of nowhere (and quite hard to find!!!) but it is really nice.



This village belongs to Quistinic and was renovated 20 years ago (from 1979 to 1994). It is an “entertainement” village, open from April to September and it shows how farmers used to live during the 19th century.



Houses are older (16th century) but are characteristic of the country architecture : thatch roofs, outside stairs… Here is the garage,



the pub (euh only if you like cider).



You 'll see animals (local breeds) or the vegetable garden (with old plants). It is the perfect place for an historic entertainement : you’ll discover a potter or a baker making bread or cakes, you can also try the milk or the butter produced in the village. Kids will enjoy seing actors dressed like « before ». A tavern cooks typical meals like kig ha fars for exemple.

When I went there, it was closed, nobody on the place. You can just walk in the village and surroundings and look at the countryside.



Out of season, it looks a bit like a too mythical place : I guess last century for over 100 years, the countryside was full of mud, of dirt, of smells (good and less good)… and this place is too clean to copy the old farmer life !!! Anyway past is past and today is different… in those beautiful houses, and thanks to the actors, it must be fun.
Kids under 6 don’t pay. For the tariffs as it changes in the season, look at their website.

If you’re visiting the region don’t forget to stop at Melrand the medieval village. Have a look at the Vénus de Quinipily near Baud.


Read it in French : Visite d'un village rural du XIXe siècle avec des enfants : Poul Fétan, Morbihan, Bretagne, France

For nostalgic people, Parisians in love with Britain, for lovers of the past, the exhibition Bretagne, voyager en couleurs (1907-1929), (Britain, travel colors) presents 140 colour photographies (autochromes) and several films on the region at the beginning of the century.

It begins with an explanation of what is an autochrome (invented by the Lumiere brothers,it is an industrial process to realize colour photograph),... and how the Parisians of the time went practice their autochromes'art in small Britain. The tourist guides then depicted the region as "authentic", photographers did visit it for its "folk", as if it were a foreign country... and it was a hobby for the photographers to achieve good "snapshots" of a folk Brittany ...

The autochromes in the museum represent the picturesque side of the Bretons: men in costume, women in traditional headdress, traditional villages with children in wooden shoes, mythical landscapes, sunsets, religious ceremonies... Good pictures of small Britain ... that are even used today … as clichés... There are also videos.The works presented include collections of the Albert Kahn Museum or the Musée de Bretagne.
The museum is named after the banker and philanthropist pacifist Albert Kahn (1860-1940) and has the largest collection in the world of autochromes (over 72000).

Who was Albert Kahn ?

A singular man, a visionary: he had understood that the world was changing and that the traditional ways of life would disappear. For twenty years (1909 to 1931), he recruited photographers to go capture the world's memory in about fifty countries, the future foundation of the Archives de la planète. Most of the museum's collection is the work of these witnesses ...

The museum has also beautiful gardens... Albert Kahn was also an idealist and an utopian. He created those gardens to reconcile people and to bring in one place an English garden, a French garden and a Japanese garden (he is familiar with Japan), a Vosges forest, a forest with "blue trees", a meadow ... All the gardens are open to the public.
The museum (www.albert-kahn.fr/) is in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine (Metro Boulogne Pont de Saint-Cloud (line 10). And the exhibition runs until July 4, 2010. 11 am to 6 pm.

Read this article in French : Clichés de la Bretagne à Paris au musée Albert Kahn

You’re visiting Rennes during this Christmas period ??? Then walk around and stay till the end of the day, when night is «on» and enjoy this new show at Place de la Mairie (right downtown) when it is dark.

The show is free and takes place every half an hour from 6 pm to 9 pm.The company SpectaculaireS has been entertaining the Rennais for the last three years and still do… The show mixes light, buildings and music…It is nice for both kids and adults…

And if you’re still around for Happy New Year, spend your last half an hour of 2008 in front of the Mairie de Rennes… You’ll see peculiar fireworks in front of the historical building of the town hall.

Happy New Year.

Read it in French : Spectacles et animations gratuites à Rennes pendant les vacances de Noel

Rohan is a famous name in Brittany, even now one of the deputee of Brittany is a Rohan. It was one of the three most important family of the Duchy of Brittany. Among others they have built the castle of Josselin ( a really nice town to visit) and helped William the Conqueror in 1066 when he crossed the Channel.
Rohan is also the name of a small village in Morbihan, there is no remain of one of their castle in Rohan except a chapel (Chapelle de Bonne Encontre). This small town is located at 10 kms south of Loudéac, about 20 kms east of Pontivy, on the canal of Nantes to Brest.
If you walk along the canal de Nantes à Brest and you’re lucky, you’ll find a mile-stone where the old name of Pontivy is written ; that is … Napoléonville. If you find it, tell me because I’m still looking for it… Why Napoléonville ? you know the french Emperor Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (1769-1821) who was defeated at Waterloo and had to exile in the island of Saint Helena where he died. Well, when he was emperor, he decided to convert Pontivy, a small city that agreed with the ideas of the French Revolution in a conservative Brittany into a military centre. Pontivy had a strategical position, located in the middle of Brittany and betwenn Brest and Rennes, it was the best place to control the region. In 1804 he called it Napoléonville. It changed names several times after that, it took also the name of Bourbonville and recovered its name Pontivy in 1870.

Read it in French : Rohan

Or how to introduce medieval life to your children and teenagers.

- Do you know what Middle Ages are ?
- Of course ! It is a period that lasted about 10 centuries : from 476 (Fall of the Western Roman Empire) to 1453 (Fall of Constantinople capital of the Byzantine Empire).
- And archaeology ?
- It’s a place (prehistoric or historic) that has been investigated… And where do you go with that ???
- In Brittany (France), in Melrand, you can visit an archaeoligical site that used to be a medieval village…



Melrand is divided into two parts : one where the historical remains are



And the other where the village has been reconstructed.

Signs as well as english guides (only summer time) help you through the site.



Lann Gouh (that is its breton name) has had a short “life”. During the Middle Ages the population of Europe increases and people are looking for new land to settle. Lots of villages, like this one, have been created in lands that were not really attractive (they were either land with poor soil or full of stones, forests or marshy land…). The only advantage of those lands was that the landlord was not too greedy then…

This place was deserted after the Black Death (1347) (one inhabitant out of three died) and the few survivors tried to gather and looked for more pleasant places… easier to exploit that are the “first“ villages in the valley…. Back to the start…

Only two houses have been excavated among the 17 (I think it is 17) found. Other researchs have been done in other villages in Brittany and thanks to those excavations, we can guess and understand better what the Medieval life in the countryside was.

The village was on a hill, surrounded by a fence : around the square were low-roofed dwellings. You can enter in the houses… and imagine…



Inside men and animals were living together (animals were the heating then), doors were low so that the warmth will not get out, and the ground was on a slope (the animal’s excrements will not run down in the living !!!). The fire was in the middle of the house… and smoke had no way out…

As the soil are acid in Brittany, you don’t find lots of useful objects… But we know that our ancestors used to eat in wood plates.

You’ll see the reconstruction of a baker’s oven and of a mantrap (wolfs were living in Brittany then).



You’ll also meet nice local breeds :
cows, sheep or goats…




Melrand is not an incredible place, it is just a medieval site that shows the modest life of countrymen. In february, it is a bit strange as nature is still asleep and as we were alone on the place. The botanic garden (100 plants of the Middle Ages) is not and is waiting for the spring to recover. It is a nice visit for a family holyday…

It is open from February to November. Winter time from 1.30 pm and from april at 10 am. 4 Euros for those who are more than 6 and 5 euros for adults.

You can drive around on the Blavet valley (you feel you’re on the mountains, it goes up and down, it ‘s incredible) and the road is really nice. You can also visit the Venus de Quinipily or Poul Fétan.



Read in in French : Site archéologique en Bretagne : le village de l'an Mil à Melrand (Morbihan)

If you're visiting France with your teenager and if you want to enjoy a medieval town while he wants to skate, you should go to Dinan. It is nice for you and for him…



Yes, Dinan is a nice touristic town and 15 minutes away from the historical city center, you have a skate park that is safe and enjoyable.



Listen to one of the riders :

It is a nice place hidden by trees… 15 minutes away from the pedestrian quarter, close to Quevert. Ask for a shop called Titi Gil, everybody knows it.



We do have nice objects like mini ramps, funboxes, quarters, half pipes …and others that I can’t translate... even if the “French words” are English ones…

We sometimes play at a game called in French SKATE. You have to do tricks and everytime you fail, you get a letter from the word skate. Once you can spell it entirely, you lost…


Teenagers to young adults (10 to 20) ride in the skate park Cordier – mostly or even exclusively men –. Roller blades or kick scooters (push scooters) are welcome.



Read it in French : le skate parc Cordier à Dinan Bretagne

If you have some time after your visit of La Roche aux Fées you should try a bend to taste a really nice bread. On the way back to Essé, you’ll see a sign for le Theil (D99). Follow it till you see a sign for Fagots et Froment ( Le Rozay 35150 Essé - 02 99 47 04 26). That’s the name of the farm where you can buy bread.



The farm is a biological farm. Arriving on the parking place, you’ll see the bundle of sticks used to warm the oven.



Inside, you’ll see big baskets full of bread and you’ll hear the oven crackling.

The farm has an old tradition of making bread. Till some years ago, in Brittany every farm has had its own oven and was doing its own bread. In this farm, the children are just continuing tradition and making bread not only for the farm but to sell it on markets, in shops…

Bundle of sticks are outside the farm waiting to be burnt. Do you know the story of the sticks in Brittany ? It has a connection with the breton countryside and specially the hedges of trees. Well, to understand the strange look of the trees, you have to know a bit of the peasant history. The peasant when he rented the farm, could not use the trees. He was just allowed to cut the branches and that makes the strange look of the hedges. But after years, the trees then were no good for woodwork.



Bread is done with bio flour, produced on the farm. The farmers are trying to cultivate old types of wheat that were cultivated for centuries. They do that because scientists have noticed that the « old » wheat has an easily digestible gluten.
Most of the wheat is produced in the farm, it is milled in the farm, the bread dough is hand knead and then cooked in the oven, with wood from the surroundings… Culture to cooking, most of the bread is produced in one place : you want sustainable development. Here you are !!!



Well the only trouble is that they are one kilo stick… well it is not a real problem because it is a really nice bread and not expensive ( 4 € for one kilo, that makes the baguette at 80cts). You can choose a white flour bread or a wholemeal flour one.
It is open every day except sundays, from 10 am to 6 pm and saturdays from 10 to 12. You can find them in several markets from Nantes to Saint Malo. Have a look at their website to discover the closest selling point .

You can also buy bio meat produced by the son. Boxes from 6 to 12 kilos at 12 € for the beef and 14 for the veal. The 6 kilo boxes are small you can easily fit them in your freezer.

Leaving the place, if you’re driving direction le Theil, stop at the chapel Notre Dame de Beauvais (leaving the village, direction Sainte Colombe).



Notre Dame de Beauvais or Notre Dame de la Charité has a nice architecture and is full of commemorative plaques, nice stained-glass windows. It used to be a place of pilgrimage. On the porch an epitaph with 100 days of indulgence



shows that the chapel was a place for remission of punishment. Facing the porch, a calvary is carved with a Virgin (XVth century).




You can finish your day jumping back to neolitic time : direction Sainte Colombe. At "Le Haut Bois" hamlet, look for the menhir de Rumfort. The fairies let it fall when they were building la Roche aux Fées.

Read it in French : Visite au pays de la Roche aux Fées (suite) : déguster du pain paysan bio en Bretagne

I was wondering what kind of green walk I could do when I remembered this legend...

Teillay is a small village about ten miles from Bain de Bretagne. It is in the forest, bordering the administrative border of Brittany and Pays de la Loire in France, that a story took place during the French Revolution.
Leaving the village take the first road into the forest on your right hand. Go a few hundred yards, you will notice a small trail that leads to a grave. The legend is reported in several versions, the end is the same : the girl died ! ...



Sainte Pataude is buried here, according to the legend, (Pataud means clumsy and it was the nickname given to Republicans by the Chouans) ...
And you'll understand why when you know the story of Marie Martin, (Sainte Pataude) a young woman from Tresboeuf... a village in the surroundings... She is 18, 19 years and works in a shop. The Chouans (the Monarchists) are looking for her... because she denounced the Royalists or because they did not like the attachment of her master to the Republic. Anyway, she did resist ...
The story happened in 1795, 6 years after the French Revolution, days of hate and cruelty in France between the Monarchists and the Republicans ... The girl didn't talk... The soldiers took her... She suffered all sorts of atrocities (I'll spare you the details, Amnesty International did not exist at the time but they would have had something to do!) and ended up hanged by the hair ... She is buried at the foot of the oak where she was found.



Soon rumors suggest that patients who went on her grave, came back healed ... Curiously the refractory priests tried to stop beliefs by threatening to excommunicate the "pilgrims" who came ... for miraculous cures. (Don 't forget the Chouans killed her, the defendants of the right to believe in God). Anyhow, as it is written in the report of the time, everyone, aristocrats (against Revolution) and patriots (for), went there.

The tomb is still visited today. It is covered with flowers, clothes are hanging on trees, shoes littered the floor, letters testify to the Saint's commitment. Sainte Pataude is still prayed for children, to help them walk (small children's shoes are around the grave), but also for many other ailments or hope of healing. The number of ex-votos on the site shows how Sainte Pataude can still help many desperates.



The local newspaper explains that the villagers continue to maintain the grave, for fear that if they abandoned it, they'll get bad luck and misfortune.

Read this article in French : Croyance populaire : tombe à la fille

April 30 is the day of Saint Guirec, he could be the patron saint of singles! ...
And so what ? You're looking for a nice holiday, an idea for week ends (April 30 is the eve of May 1st!), a great place for a short break in a beautiful area ... But the problem is : you're alone ... single ... and therefore, time off and vacations have become a nightmare ...
Except, except if you want to try something else... a day off, a little trip to the coast of pink granite, in France, in the village of Ploumanach, on the northern coast of Brittany...



Yes, this village is part of Perros Guirec, named after a Welsh monk, who arrived in Ploumanach in a stone bark in the 5th C to evangelise Small Britain. What made him special is that he had a magic nose ...

Returning to the purpose of this trip ... go away single on a nice holiday!

The village is on the pink granite coast (the granite is pink because it is a mixture of three minerals : feldspar (pink), mica (black) and quartz ...) and you'll come across strange rocks eroded by the climate. A footpath leads you around the 30 kilometers of this pink wonder.

If you are vigilant, you'll soon be facing an island where sailors used to dry their fish ... (In fact, the only remain of this fishery is the name of the castle built on the island) : the famous château de Costaeres (in Breton language it means place to dry fish). The manor is a celebrity here in Brittany as it stands on every brochure and postcard showing the coastline of Côtes d'Armor ...



The bay that faces this mythical construction of the Brittany coast, hosts a small monument accessible at low tide ... the oratory of Saint-Guirec (12th C).



Yes, for years, sailors wifes came here to pray for the safe return of their men during fishing seasons. Girls looking for an husband visited it too... And it is still used today by single tourists (or anyone who is seeking wife, husband ... or soul mate!).
The legend says that if ladies were able to stick a needle in the nose of Saint Guirec, (and especially if the needle remained there until the next tide) they would find a lover in the year ...
The wood statue of Saint Guirec was used so much that the spikes had completely damaged the nose of Saint Guirec. It was replaced with a granite copy... The original is in the chapel overlooking the bay.

Gentlemen, don't be desesperate, I did not forget you... Even if the heroes of the story are women, the 20th Century brought gender equality..., go and try !

If unfortunatly the needle did not stay in the nose of Saint Guirec during a tide, console yourself...

- Perros (as the locals say here) is a touristic place... its population is multiplied by 8 in summer ( 7500 by 8 = 59,000 persons) ... Among this crowd, all lovers of pink granite coast, there is surely someone who is looking for you !

- Smile again, (only if you're speaking well French) a master of humor, Thierry Le Luron (cheerleader), is from Ploumanac'h and is buried here in the cemetery of the village of Clarity. Go give him a quick hello, he will lift your spirits! -

Or finally, if you love race sailing la course en solitaire du Figaro, the town of Perros may be a step for you ... and among thousands of visitors...

- Finally don't forget that the pink granite coast was worth it, anyway.... (There are only 3 pink shores in the world, one here, one in Corsica and one in China ...).
But the other two have no saint for singles, no ... Saint Guirec



Read this article in French : Comment rencontrer l'âme soeur en Bretagne sur la côte de granite rose

Visiting the Valley of the Saints... I have desires of hagiography (stories of holy names).... to understand the meaning and origins of the Breton first names...

I'll begin with Tugdual... a very famous saint here in Brittany... and an original male name...

This young man was not born in Brittany but in what is now called Wales. He, like many other Great Britons, crossed the Channel to Armorica to evangelize it.
So... he was Welsh, born in the late 5th century (about 490) and was educated in a monastery. Nothing very original for this time!
At 25, he emigrated with his family and other religious compatriots in Leon (Northern Brittany), where he founded a monastery and then a hermitage. Soon the two schools are very successful and lots of believers arrived.
He soon performed miracles, conversions increased... The Tréguier Monastery wanted him as a bishop in 532. Converted princes thanked him giving lands to found other religious establishments. In short, everything is fine.

Tugdual went to Rome in 548 and the legend says that Rome was burying the pope.
After the funeral, while the clergy gathered to elect the new pontiff, a white dove, symbol of the purity of the soul, rests on Tugdual head. And that's how his life switched : he was elected Pope Leo V.
The end of his pontificate is announced by a new sign two years later when a white horse fly him back to Tréguier.

The sculptor Francois Breton has carved him with a dove... It should be on the Valley of Saints in Central Brittany (France). (it is supposed to be there but it was not there during my visit, I have no photos to show you! Next time !)
He died in Tréguier November 30 with 73 years (if I counted right) in 563.
Celebrated this day, his name has many variants: Tual, Tudal, Tugal, Tudwal, Tuzval, Tutuarn, Pabu or Papu in Breton.

In summary, if Tugdual is the first name of your dreams for your boy, that's what you must remember: Saint Tugdual is one of the seven founding saints of Brittany. It was the first bishop of Tréguier. He is often associated with a dove... remember, Brittany had its first and only pope thanks to him and the dove.
Your son's Nobel Peace .... Not bad?

Read it in French : Saint Tugdual et sa colombe : évèque de Tréguier et unique pape breton