We enjoyed exploring the Bretagne region of France in Autumn when the summer crowds had cleared and the weather was still fine. We discovered the delights of a few inland towns such as Rennes and Josselin but it was the Breton coast that captivated us. Every cove along the coast had a scattering of white stone and slate roofed cottages tumbling down to a tidal bay with mussel and oyster farms hugging rocky outcrops. There was definitely a maritime feel about the Breton coast with plenty of fishy – and oniony – tales!
Curious observations on the Bretagne/ Brittany region of France
Bretagne/ Brittany / Breton coast names come from the original Latin word Britannia which means ‘land of the Briton’s’ and became what this region was called when the Celts from Britain sought refuge in this area from the Anglo-Saxon ward in the 5-6th centuries
- there is a distinctly English feel about this area possibly due to the many ferry ports bringing boatloads of Brits over for some cheap plonk and biscuits. There’s many discount wine outlets and wholesale biscuiteries that fly welcoming English union jacks – one even had an old red double decker bus out front!
- Maritime feel but more moules and frites not fish ‘n chips. Lots of fishing boats, yachts in marinas, ports, ferries, seaside cottages and what keeps the French flavour is the ubiquitous crêperies and cidreries.
- Big tidal beaches, muddy river mouths and bridges or disappearing roads out to little islands – you’ve got to know your tides here!
- Loads of islands scattered off the coast and many occupied by houses or old defence systems
- Agriculture crops are more root vegetables – onions, shallots, carrots, turnips, silverbeet, cabbage and of course there’s still corn!
- Onions abound! We learnt about the Onion Johnnys – a group of Breton onion farmer-traders based in Roscoff around 1820 -1920’s who crossed the English Channel and travelled, on foot or on bicycles, selling distinctive pink onions door to door in Great Britain. We saw many restaurants monuments and even a church dedicated to these iconic traders in Roscoff.
- Produits régionale are the distinctive blue & white striped shirts plus blue & white pottery
- Enclosed churches ( aka Catholic parish close) are featured in many towns in Brittany. The parish church and other religious structures are enclosed within a wall and they date back to the 16th and 17th century. They are quite elaborate with nautical design on those near the water and have a distinctive square shape spire.
- Lots of murals on buildings in towns and attractive graffiti
- Voie Vert bike and hike trails wrap around the coast and cris-cross the countryside
Our favourite delightful towns of Brittany
We stopped at so many delightful towns in Brittany both inland and on the coast. Here’s a summary of the highlights from each (in alphabetical order).
Curious collection of megaliths in Carnac
What an amazing sight it was to see so many menhirs (standing stones placed by humans) scattered amongst the heath filled fields of Carnac. We were lucky enough to visit on only the second day of their opening season (Opens from 1st October) and we walked along the tracks leading to the three menhir alignment sites with hardly any other tourists. The alignments were built between the 5th and 3rd millennium BC, during the Neolithic period when more than 3,000 of the stones were laid out in patterns for reasons not wholly understood. Some say it was for sun worship, a type of agricultural calendar, astronomical observatory, burial or ceremonial procedures or worship.
Charming Chateaugiron
We visited this town when we lived in Pouancé for two months as it was only 45 mins north west of Pouancé. It has the usual array of pretty, medieval half-timbered houses and a beautiful chateau now repurposed as council chambers, but the highlight for us ended up being the most delicious gourmet deli-butcher we’ve seen in France. We walked the old streets, visited the 12th century chateau with its impressive Donjohn (watchtower) and pretty lake then as we were walking back to the car we saw a queue outside a store and thought we’d see what the fuss was about. Well, there were rows of quiches, savoury pies and pastries, baguettes, cakes, salads and cheeses on one side and on the other the most beautifully displayed meats that even made me want to have some! We bought up big and everything tasted as good as it looked.
The walled city in the bay – Concarneau
This walled city, is nestled in its fortifications in the heart of Concarneau bay in Brittany. It sits on an island 350 metres long and 100 metres wide, and you enter over two small bridges through the doors in the walls. Rue Vauban runs straight through the middle and is lined with shops and cafes still in the traditional style from the 14th century. You can walk up on the walls and peek out at the fishing port below. We also walked around the old town which had soem lovely craft stores and cafes.
Blazing sunsets and pretty points around Crozon -Morgat
Morgat is a seaside hamlet of the larger town of Crozon – tucked into a little cove on the eastern side of the anchor-shaped Presque-ile de Crozon peninsula. Morgat reminded us a little of Barwon Heads near Geelong in Australia as it has a lovely little main street with cute colourful cafes and shops and a lovely sunrise over the tidal beach. We drove 20 mins over to the west side for sunset out at Pointe de Pen Hir just past Camaret-sur-mer and sheltered behind the giant Croix de Pen Hir to get out of the wind and watch the night sky light up in the most glorious shades of crimson, mauve and gold. We also drove north to the Pointe de Espagnol to stand on the tip of the Presqui’Ile penisula and look over to Brest.
Just so charming Josselin
This town is so charming with the base of the old town dominated by a huge stone walled 14th century château that was right opposite our hotel on the river. We walked up through the old port into the gardens of the chateau and through the old-town streets. We also walked along the wall at night, after dinner when the chateau was lit up. Josselin lies on the banks of the River Oust, and they have beautifully colourful flower boxes on the bridges crossing the river as well as great river walks. Another lovely walk is through Bois d’Amour (Lover’s Wood) a pretty wooded area with Chemin de Talva the main path through the wood that takes you past a good exercise station, across creeks to a sculpture park and has historical plaques showing where the shist rock was mined and other minerals in the area.
The biggest market in France at La Guerche-de-Bretagne
Aha – this was my kind of town as it boasts the biggest and oldest market in France. La Guerche market has been running every Tuesday morning in La Guerche-de-Bretagne since 1121 and even has a saying equivalent to our “It has everything including the kitchen sink” which is “You can find everything there, just like in La Guerche.” We visited in September and can attests that every type of household and garden item, clothing, hardware, food and drink was on offer at the market which wound around all eight streets of the old town.
Ports and paintings in Paimpol
We called in to here and walked down to the river marina – past big ship murals and pretty shops – but it was Sunday so a lot was closed. We saw the castle of Roche-Jagu and some of the wash houses with their autumn flower displays.
Pretty as a picture Pont-Aven
Pont-Aven is one of those super pretty towns in France that you see on postcards and in many paintings by the famous artist Paul Gauguin who lived and painted here. We parked a little short of town and walked through the Bois d’armour along the river into town and were struck by the soft muted light through the swaying branches of trees and the little ducks swimming along the river and could see how this area inspired Gauguin. The old town has many paths running along the river and flower-covered town bridges and perched right in the centre of everything is the prettiest W.C blocks we’ve ever seen! Thanks to Paul Gauguin and the Pont-Aven School of painters there is also many art galleries and art shops as well as fine restaurants and cafes.
Coastal tracks and stunning sunsets on the Quiberon peninsula
This peninsula is part of the Côtes Sauvage and yes, it is wild with windswept clifftops, a rocky shoreline and plenty of shipwrecks. We stayed two nights in a little cottage not far from one of the walking tracks and loved running along the clifftops to watch the sunrise in one direction in the morning then climbing out to the pointy peninsulas to watch the sunset later in the day. There’s plenty of creperies, cider houses, a market square with cute shops and a few more of the megaliths we’d seen in Carmac dotted about the place too. The Quiberon peninsula also has part of the GR 34 cliff top walking track and if you want to get a bit of island life there’s a ferry out to Belle Isle – just 15 minutes off the coast which is meant to be beautiful (as its name suggests)
Half timbered houses and beautiful streets of Rennes
We went back and forth to Rennes half a dozen times when we lived in Pouancé for two months and loved its many facets and faces. Rennes is the capital of Brittany and has a population of 220,000 and a bit like Angers about a third of the population are students (70,000). There are a lot of groovy bars and cafes dotted amongst the streets and along the canals of the old town. Rennes is best known for having the largest collection of half-timbered houses (370) which date from the end of the Middle Ages to the end of the Ancien Régime. These houses, which were famous in Brittany are mostly clustered around the rue des Darmes and rue du Chapitre and Rue de la Psalette and Place de Champ Jacquet. We marvelled at how many different ways these houses presented with their Criss cross of timbers and patchwork of colours.
Another thing we love about Rennes is that 17% of the town is dedicated to parks and gardens and we loved exploring Thabor Park and are looking forward to discovering a few more. Thabor park is called the “Prince of Gardens” and is classified as a ‘remarkable garden’ and one of the most attractive in France. There are French gardens, an English park, and a rose garden spread over 10 hectares, and it sits on the highest point of the city so there’s good views too. There’s also loads of lovely cafes around town enticing you to enjoy a meal under the watchful eye of the old timber houses and on Saturdays there’s a deliciously big and tasty fresh food market in Place des Lices.
Plenty of flowers and character in Rochefort-en-Terre
This is a charming little village that’s both a petite Cité de Caractère and a Villes des fleurs. The character has to go to the beautiful old château with its lavender shutters that wraps in an L shape around verdant lawns. And we could see how they earned the label of village of flowers as there were so many blooming colourful flowers oozing out of wells, pots, windowsills and down walls everywhere we walked. The flowers probably have a lot to do with why they also sell honey everywhere – fresh honeycomb, fresh honey, honey cakes, honey roasted nuts – the air was thick with the small of honey.
The classy medieval delights of Vitré
This pretty, classy medieval city grew wealthy during the glorious period of the cloth trade. The clothing stores here are très oh-la-la as are the gourmande stores and we found a fabulous coffee roasters too. We walked around the impressive castle which used to be a fortress designed to defend the entrance to Brittany and now operates as a town hall and museum. There’s also the Rochers-Sévigné castle where the Marquise of Sévigné, famous 17th-century writer lived and wrote.
