Facts about Brittany

Brittany is a vast area of 27,200 km and 2,700km of coastline. With four departments

Ille et Vilaine which houses Brittany’s capital city Rennes and has a coast line to the north including the famous bay of Mont Saint- Michel ( depending where you read facts as Mont Saint-Michel is also claimed in some texts as being in Normandy)

Morbihan department in the south of Brittany with Vannes as its capital and the Golfe du Morbihan a famous area with where legend has it that there are 365 islands – read my blog post HERE

Les Jardins du Château de Vannes The harbour Vannes

Cotes d’armor in the North with Saint Brieuc as its capital and the magnificent coastal area the Cote du Granit Rose which attracts large amounts of walkers and hikers all year round.

Finistère to the west with the capital Quimper, Finistere boasts some of the worlds most famous wind surfing on the southern coast line.

It is safe to say that Brittany is a diverse landscape from coast, islands and beaches to forests and moorlands and steeped in history including myths and legends.

The Breton people (Breton the name given to people living in Brittany) are a friendly kind and hugely passionate about Bretagne (the French name for Brittany) The Breton language is a unique Celtic in its origin that is still taught in schools here today and you will see the Breton name on road signs too. Tradition is something you will find every where here, which for us it is part of the charm to have these historic traditions bursting into life at any given moment. During the summer months festivals and celebrations take place in the villages, towns and cities to celebrate particular traditions from their local area.

Here in Rohan on the first Sunday of October we have the Fete du Ble Noir. This celebration is to mark the time of year the Ble Noir – The Black wheat is harvested. The Ble Noir is used to make the traditional Gallets served with delicious savoury fillings, a Gallet is a savoury Crepe / Pancake. The fete showcases the traditional methods of thrashing the wheat. There is real excitement in the village at this time and the festival serves a communal lunch to over 200 people.

Coasts and Beaches of Brittany

As mentioned above each department has an area of coastline. Here in the Morbihan department the Coast in the South boasts stunning sandy beaches and seaside towns. One thing to remember is that the charm of Brittany and throughout France is that there are elements that are somewhat behind the times. I do not mean this in a derogatory way, I mean 100% sincerely that for Pete and I this is a real charm. Facilities at beaches sway from being great with toilets, showers and changing facilities and other there is literally nothing but the beauty of the sea and the coastline.

Recommended Beaches Morbihan –

Plage de Conleau a small but very popular peninsular with a manmade sea water pool and a small beach. Conleau beach looks out into the Golfe Du Morbihan where the ever changing view of the boats bobbing in and out of the estuary is fascinating. There are several places to stop here for refreshments or lunch where you can sit and soak in the atmosphere with a crisp Chardonnay in hand.
Carnac Plage is over 2km long, flat and curved into the bay. Great facilities at Carnac beach. Parking ( payable ) is available all along the front opposite the beach. There are toilets here too. There hire outlets for chairs and also water sports. the town of Carnac is walkable from the beach within a few minutes. The town is a typical seaside town with beach shops selling all that is needed for a day at the beach, ice-cream shops and restaurants. There are also souvenir shops aplenty. I recommended this beach if during summer you are not phased by the tourist influx.
Plage de Saint-Colomban, Plage Ty Bihan, Plage de Légenèse are a good alternatives if you don’t fancy the hustle and bustle of Carnac, These beaches are only an 8 minute drive from Carnac, they are close together and there is good accessible parking. Take all you need for a beach visit with you.
Pointe de Kerpenhir in a beach that has no hustle and bustle and is not built around a town, Situated a 6minute drive south of Locmariaque or if you are feeling energetics there is a very good coastal path and walking from Locmariaque will take just 32minutes, it is worth a walk as the coastline here is breath taking and takes you within a whisper of a Tumulus which is an ancient burial tomb. From Kerpenhir you can look across the Golfe and see the harbour at Arzon. Here you are at the entrance to the Golfe and watching the fast tides ( one of the fasted in the world ) is fascinating. There is parking here at the Pointe but I do wonder if in the summer months this may be difficult to find a space in the height of the day. There is also a Camping Car ( motorhome ) site here.
Quiberon is a 14km peninsular with two different elements to the west you find the rugged coastline which is great for walking, the rugged coastline has over millennia been carved out by the dramatic heavy waves that crash onto the coast here, it really is a fantastic show and attracts photographers to capture this spectacular show or sea water and spray, bird spotting also attracts people to this point. The coastal path is the GR34 the Grand Randonnée also refereed to as the ‘le procès des douaniers’ ( Custom officers path) that follows the 2000km of coastline in Brittany. To the East of this peninsular are where you will find the beaches, the beaches are not all sand but a mixture of shingle too I recommend beach shoes are worn Plage de Mané Guen and Plage de Kerhillio blend into one long beach it is stunning here. This area is one of the top places to come if you are a windsurfing fan the area is championed for having great surf.
– tRavelling to Quiberon –
Quiberon is well equipped for tourism and transport links. one of which is the Tourist train that operates during the summer season from Auray Train Station called the Tire-bouchon which travels the town of Quiberon at the end of the peninsular. Spending time in this area gives a diverse range of things to see and do. Beaches, Towns, Markets, walking, cycling the list is endless however, one of the great things to do is to take a boat to one of the nearby islands Quiberon to Houat is 36.70€ per adult over 26years this is an example and consulting the website is needed to get an accurate price for your journey. You can also go from one island to another so if you are thinking a holiday island hoping in the Golfe du Morbihan is for you definitely check this out. The island Houat has been described as being Caribbean like in the summer. The boats / ferries run all year round so why not take advantage of a less hectic summer visit and go in the shoulder months of May/June and September/October. Please also be aware that the ferry is often fully booked well in advance of summer for the popular island of Belle Isle. Planning ahead is necessary

Recommended Beaches in Finisterre

Brittany is a destination for all and attracts people to holiday and live here from all over the world. There are a high number of holiday homes / Maison Secondaire to which Pete and I have the pleasure of working with the owners through Pete’s business.

Add here the accessibility to the Uk and travelling in Brittany

Living in Brittany France – Morbihan Department

Pete and I have been living here in the village of Rohan for 5 years now and owned this house for 6 years. There are so many wonderful things about not just this village but the area as a whole.

Rohan is on the North border of the Morbihan Department with the neighbouring Cotes d’armor department starting just 4 KM away. There is some snobbery around that the Morbihan is superior as it houses the famous Golfe du Morbihan on the south coast and where there is a micro climate to be enviable of, and of course the price tags on property grows significantly the further south in Brittany you go.

Pete and I do not have this feeling, we are just so happy to be here living in Brittany. However, there is a confession, when we started our property hunting journey over 8 years ago we had not considered Brittany as a place to make our home. We in fact spent 2 years, every school holiday ( I was a teacher in the UK ) travelling in our trusty Hymer motorhome ‘Morris’ to the area south of the Loire River. The Vendee in particular was where we had researched and thought we wanted to be. The climate there is slightly better year round and the coast was a big draw. We searched and viewed many properties in this area we found properties that we liked but had crazy amounts of renovations that our skills and budget were just not up to. The process had become tiring, for me, holidays were not holidays constantly looking for properties and nothing hitting the spot. Then one ferry ride over I was sat relaxing on the boat and reading a Living France magazine (I featured in this magazine with a reflection of living in Rohan over Christmas the first Christmas we were here) I read an article about family cycling holidays on the Nantes et Brest Canal and sounded amazing. Then by sheer chance Pete found a property for sale in the village of Rohan. I was exhausted of property hunting at this point and the fact that this particular property didn’t even have a photo of the property only of a tree I was rather negative in comparison to his joy in claiming ‘ this is the one’ !! if eye rolling made a noise I was making that noise !!

We made an appointment via email and planned to stop at Rohan on our way back to the Brittany Ferries terminal at Roscoff. However, here is the twist!! we had spent 10 days again in the vendee region property hunting and it was awful, we had hired an estate agent and a car for ease of getting around and to say disappointment and frustration loomed is an understatement. We were shown properties with no windows, properties with no gardens, Properties that when we had arrived after a 40 minute drive had no keys to get in !! and properties with gardens so far down the road with terrifying dogs chasing us I was deflated and set to give up. This is just a shortened version of the disastrous property hunting trip that was!

We left the area to spent 4 days travelling heading North to Brittany and to the village of Rohan where we had a appointment to view the house with just a picture of a tree. However, I was so grumpy I told Pete that I just wanted these 4 days to be a holiday and no more house hunting, I went as far as cancelling the appointment to view the house in Rohan.

2 Days of relaxing and enjoying our time together in ‘ Morris’ walking, beaches, good food and wine had made me mellow somewhat and as we were heading towards Vannes Pete tentatively asked ‘ should we go to Rohan ? we are passing that way’ I agreed after all this was Pete’s dream too. But I had to remind him that I had cancelled the appointment to see the house!!

Did we choose Rohan 56580 Morbihan or did Rohan choose us?

We arrived in Rohan and found this lovely village with lots of amenities a campsite, shops, bars, restaurants and even a petrol station. It was a fully functioning village it felt like there was life here. An Inland Port and a lake beside the Nantes et Brest Canal there were people enjoying this village. We headed to the Notaire office where we had seen the property and walked in, I asked at the desk in my broken French if we could see the books of properties they had. A door opened and a lady stepped out and said Hello you must be Mrs Toogood! I was flabbergasted to say the least !! This lady was Ghislaine, now one of my friends here. We viewed the house with the tree and whilst it was lovely and in a prime spot it was just too small. Ghislaine told us of another property that she thought would suit us perfectly and brought us to this house.

This house had so many positives, a new heating system and a re-wire had also taken place and a new kitchen had been fitted and a functioning bathroom!!! It was actually one of the ugliest houses on the street in terms of needing updating, and the curb appeal was lacking, yet there was a charm and definitely potential for improvement.

The house is over three floors the garage and sous sol on the ground level and then up steps into the main living area where there is a dining room, a living room and a kitchen along with a lean to area at the back which was rather dilapidated and a double bedroom. There is a stair case that leads up to the Grenier or attic as known in English. It was on this third floor that the potential popped to us. There was one bedroom installed up there with a Dorma window and that was it, the rest was the attic space as it was when it was built. the daylight could be seen glistening in the occasional place through the roof tiles which were visible from the inside.

The upstairs has now been renovated into 4 bedrooms and these are what we use for the B and B. 3 rooms one with ensuite and 2 that share a bathroom and a room that we currently use as an office / storeroom.

Brittany France Do you want to live here ?