La Gacilly is `The Town of the Artisan`. La Gacilly is a Ville-Fleurie (Blooming Town) .

Riverfront La Gacilly

There is so much to see and do in La Gacilly, that one day just won't be long enough to take it all in!

La Gacilly is a Ville-Fleurie, and it is very proud of this title...during the summer months the whole town is absolutely jam packed with floral displays.

However, what really sets La Gacilly apart is its population of sculptors and artists. Most workshops and galleries are open to the public throughout the summer. The small local shops are all stuffed full of objets d`art and interesting curios, all of which are for sale. As you wander along the cobbled streets you will find workshop after workshop, a true voyage of discovery !!.

La Gacilly 

The town also boasts a botanical gardens which are free to walk round and enjoy.

There is also a free outdoor photographic exhibition which is very impressive. Huge photographs are reproduced and are hung around the town. The photos are truly amazing and MUST be seen !!

Photo exhibition, La Gacilly

When legs are getting a bit weary, take a trip along the river in a small river boat. Boats can be hired by the hour (about 25 euros) or for half a day. We seem to do this every year!.. last year we hired a boat for half a day and picnicked  on the river bank...it was a brilliant day out. I am assured by the boat owners that there is a lot of wildlife to be seen but with our very noisy children all the wildlife makes for small holes in the riverbanks!!

La Gacilly Boat hire

Just next to the bridge is the Yves Rocher factory shop, so on your way home don't forget to grab some cosmetic bargains!..Just outside of La Gacilly is the Yves Rocher perfume factory where you can have a guided tour in English and see the perfume being made. Afterwards, take a walk around their extensive gardens where the exotic plants for the perfume are grown.

Market day is saturday morning and you can buy anything from live chickens to fresh veg.

For more information about La Gacilly and our local towns please see http://www.frenchgites.com/Tourism%20Brittany%20Towns.htm

The importance of an aperitif

Today we were invited to a fortieth birthday lunch. I always worry (quite needlessly) about social events like this!

Firstly aperitifs, kir for everyone, and lots of savory cakes, very thin slices of cakes with bacon and tomato, cakes with tuna, cakes with lardons and emmental and cakes with beef and onion.  They were all delicious. Still the kir flowed, and now quiche was served with radish and cherry tomatoes and after the quiche came thin slices of pizza.

At 2.00pm we were then asked to take our seats for the meal. How anyone could have been hungry after eating all that I have no idea! ….but huge bowls of salads, green, rice, cucumber, tomato and taboulé were passed up and down the long tables.

After the salads came thick barbequed pork chops with new potatoes all washed down with cider, then the cheese course and finally desert.

We finished eating at about 4.00pm and when we left at just after 5.00, I was thinking, not for the first time, how much the French really do enjoy ‘le repas’. The food was so deliciously simple, yet somehow it is not JUST about the food, yes the food is always good, but it is about the socialability of it all. The aperitifs are so important and they are never hurried, and this sets the scene for the rest of the afternoon.

French crusty baguettes

We have some guests that visit us every year, and the first thing they do when they disembark is to find the nearest boulangerie, sit on the roadside and feast themselves with bread and croissants!

The "French stick", the long thin crusty loaf,  is perhaps one of the better known icons of French life. In France, it is known as a "baguette" – which litterally means "a stick" – and it is indeed the most popular type of bread in France. The standard baguette weighs 250 grams (about half a pound); it comes in three slightly different forms; the ordinary baguette - with its crisp golden-brown crust; the "moulded baguette" (baguette moulée), which is often a baguette manufactured by an industrial bread-oven, and can be recognised by the fine lattice pattern on all the underside; and finally a floured baguette, or baguette farinée, which is paler in colour, as the crust is covered with flour before cooking.

But of course la baguette is by no means the only type of bread in France. Au contraire...

In addition to baguettes, France has a wonderful range of delicious breads to offer. Ordinary French white bread comes in several other shapes and sizes, from the couronne (bread in the shape of a ring), via the flute (twice the size of a baguette) to the batard (a half-length normal loaf) and the ficelle, a long and very thin loaf. Ficelles must be eaten fresh, as they are so thin that the inside dries out rather fast once they have been baked.

Another traditional type of French bread is "country bread", pain de campagne, white bread made in a slightly different way to ordinary bread and often incorporating some whole wheat flour or some rye flour, so that it keeps longer; pain de campagne often has a thick crust, which helps the bread to keep.

Apart from these basic types of bread, France's bakeries also sell a whole range of other types of bread, including wholemeal breads (pain complet or pain aux céréales), rye bread (pain de seigle), sourdough bread (pain au levain), and a sweet bread called brioche.

Bread resembling the classic English sliced white loaf is known as "pain de mie", will never be found in boulangeries. For a white sliced loaf you will need to go to the supermarket.

These days, most boulangeries also offer a range of breads spiced up with nuts (pain aux noix) , olives, bacon (pain aux lardons), cheese and a variety of other natural additives.  Many bakers make bread by their own proven recipes, meaning that even a baguette will be different from one shop to another; but a sign of the times has been the development of a number of "brands" such as "Banette", bread made locally using a specific type of flour, and following a strict recipe.

Bread from the bread counter of French supermarkets  is often quite tasty, and generally needs to be eaten as quickly  as baker's bread; but generally speaking supermarkets use industrial dough which has been deep-frozen before being baked on the premises. Bread counters selling this kind of bread are not allowed, by law, to call themselves "boulangeries".

I still find it strange that all boulangeries close for at least two hours at lunch time!, I mean, when do most people want to eat bread, hmmm, for lunch!!... Anyway, close they do, so if you are planning a picnic make sure you get your bread before midday, if not you may well find a locked door if you stop off at a village bakery. Be warned!!

Best Breton Beaches

Damgan Brittany

We are often asked, where are the best beaches in Brittany?

What a subjective question. Everyone wants something different from a beach. Take us, Mark wants a beach to himself !!, Joe only likes the beach in the winter when he can wear wellies (strange child!)and go rock pooling  and Iona hates sand...

So here is what we think!..

Carnac (about a 45 min drive) is the most popular beach, miles of sandy beaches...

Carnac Brittany

La Trinité sur Mer is about 15 minutes drive from Auray and is one of France's biggest yachting centres. The immediate vicinity of La Trinité has some beautiful, stunning beaches, a large marina and some excellent shops and galleries

La Baule has massive bay with sandy beach. Very clean and scenic. Loads to do : water sports, bars, restaurants and shops plus a really nice town to walk around and there`s a market most days in the summer. La Baule is known as the Monaco of the North and is pretty smart! (bit posh for us !!)

La Baule Brittany

Lamor Baden and surrounding area. Along the Northern edge of the Golfe are numerous sandy beaches. Lots and lots of them in fact, and all generally deserted (a favourite haunt of Marks' !!) . Take a trip along the coast towards Lamor Baden and turn left towards the sea. Dozens of lanes wind down to the beaches. They pop out right on the sand so just stop and you 're on the beach. There's so many hidden coves you'll never have time to find them all

Larmor

Batz sur Mer is a really nice small town further along the coast from La Baule. The town square is traditional in every way, packed with flowers and cafes with tables and chairs filling every space. Not only that but there`s a great sandy beach which is perfect for sunbathers and walkers. It is a bit busier than the other beaches above

There are things for the children to do (trampolines etc) and loads and loads of rock pools to explore (perfect of wellie wearing Joe !!). Plus there`s a fantastic cliff-top walk along a rough sandy track which winds its way around the rocky headlands and coves. The views are stunning and well worth the trek !

Don`t forget to eat in one of the restaurants in the town square. The pizzeria is great

batz sur mer

The Quiberon peninsula stretches fourteen kilometres into the sea and boasts twelve sandy beaches and more than 2,500 hours of sunlight a year.  The main town of Quiberon is one of Morbihan's liveliest and most popular resorts with a large sandy beach, promenade and plenty of beach side bars, restaurants and souvenir shops. Departing twice a day from Quiberon is the ferry to the island of Belle-Ile

Our favourite haunt is Damgan, about 40 mins drive
There's a big selection of beaches around Damgan, which is where the French tend to holiday, the English are a rarer breed there. Damgan’s main beach is stunning and there’s plenty of places to buy food, ice creams etc. The main town and its numerous restaurants is just yards from the beach. There’s also a large play area just off the beach with swings, slides and roundabouts.

One great advantage of Damgan is that its choice of beaches are all close together. There are the busier beaches and also those that are very quiet. The beaches here are very gently sloping which means an adult can walk out half a kilometre on some of them and still not be submerged when the tide's in- the tide does come in quite quickly though.

On one of the beaches there`s an area of rock pools. See the locals scratching around for their dinner -mussels, whelks and oysters are abundant and free to anyone who wants to collect them

The sandy beaches of Damgan... where you will find more French than English!

To get a feel for the beach and the seaside town of Damgan, here is a little video !!..Damgan Beach

For lot more beaches, please see http://www.frenchgites.com/Tourism%20Brittany%20Beach.htm

La Bourbansais

Château de la Bourbansais

Yesterday we visited La Bourbansais, just north of Rennes in Southern Brittany.

A fantastic place, a zoo set in the grounds of a chateau. I am usually not keen on zoos, large animals kept in concrete compounds seems very cruel. At La Bourbansais the animals have large areas to roam, there isn’t any concrete and fences are kept to a minimum, the animals are housed on islands. The ‘moats’ surrounding their islands prevents them from escaping!

Not only are there all the animals you would expect, lions, tigers, energetic gibbons, screeching monkeys, pacing wolves, sleep panthers, grumpy camels and leggy giraffes but there is also a spectacular chateau. The chateau is still lived in by a family today, and it is nice to see their children’s bikes discarded in the courtyard and a their sullen teenaged son throwing a basketball through a hoop which has been secured to the chateau wall! Parts of the chateau are open to the public and it is well worth a visit.

There are also shows throughout the day. We watched the giraffes having ‘afternoon tea! A show demonstrating the hunting skills of big birds such as eagles, falcons and big owls. Amazing.

Giraffes enjoying afternoon tea at La Bourbansais Pleugueneuc

All in all a very good day and well worth a visit if you happen to be in Southern Brittany!

Lait Ribot

Lait ribot.... doesn't taste too good in tea!

Lait ribot is the by product of butter making. We call it buttermilk.

The Bretons are quite partial to a glass or two of lait ribot and quite often you will only find fresh lait ribot in the supermarkets. If you want ‘normal’ milk you have to drink UHT milk (not the same thing at all !!).

The Bretons add lait ribot to fresh fruit, they add it to soup and mashed potatoes.

I also know many Bretons who dunk their galettes (savory buckwheat pancakes) into lait ribot.

To me, lait ribot is very much like marmite, you either love it or hate it. When you are next in Brittany have a glass and let me know what you think !!

Vannes

One of the many portside cafes

We are about thirty minutes from the coastal town of Vannes. Here is our nearest civilisation!.. If we need shops we go to Vannes!..

Vannes has everything, culture (cathedral, gothic churches, medieval city walls, timber framed houses), shops (boutiques, clothes shops for teenagers(!) and  artisanal shops), HUGE extensive open air market on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, the port with some pretty impressive boats to admire and of course there is the Golfe de Morbihan..the beach!

To make sure you don't miss a thing... this little train will guide you through Vannes' history

Vannes dates back to the 5th century.

A bit of Wikipedia history for you !..

In 1342, Vannes was besieged four times between forces from both sides of the Breton War of Succession.

In 1759 Vannes was used as the staging point for a planned French invasion of Britan. A large army was assembled there, but it was never able to sail following the French naval defeat at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in November 1759.

In 1795, during the French Revolution, French forces based in Vannes successfully repelled a planned British-Royalist invasion.

Vannes is a great place to visit... and here is a little film to whet your appetite!..

Visit Vannes

For more information on what there is to see and do in Vannes, visit http://www.frenchgites.com/Tourism%20Brittany%20Towns.htm

Rillettes and Pate

I have often seen both rillettes and pate on French menus but I have always ( mistakenly !) thought they were two words for the same thing.

There is a man in his fifties in a neighbouring village who keeps ‘free range rabbits’.. well, these are rabbits that are kept in large moveable cages which are moved on a daily basis to give the rabbits a fresh patch of grass every day. He has a reputation for making excellent rillettes and pates. The rumour, yesterday, was that he had killed several rabbits and was in the process of making these delicacies. If you pass his house around 5.00pm I was told, he may have some for sale. Now is my chance.. but he lives down a track that only leads to his house.. so you can hardly ‘just pass his house’..

I need not have worried. When I arrived at 5.30pm there were 8 cars parked on the grass verges leading to his house. Feeling a little nervous, I followed another woman who had arrived just before me, into a small stone room which was attached to his house. This room was completely bare apart from a modernish refrigerated display unit with three earthenware pots inside and some scales. I left some 45 minutes later, with a small slice of rillettes and a medium slice of pate.

The difference between the two he told me is in the meat preparation. To make rillettes the rabbit is stewed slowly in the oven with a little pork for 5 or 6 hours and is then shredded by hand. In a true rillette you must be able to distinguish the shreds of meat. This is the crucial difference when comparing rillettes to pate.

Pate is prepared slightly differently in that the seasoned meat is ground to provide a much finer texture.

The only ingredients in my rillettes and pate are rabbit (90%), pork, salt and pepper. They both taste fantastic.. I will certainly be passing M. Durais house next time he is making rillettes and pate !!

An afternoon of games...but with no screens

Auberge des VoyaJoueurs is a fantastic place for an afternoon of games.... but be warned you won't find a single screen!

This modern building is located just on the edge of the forest and contains over 400 games!

The games are all made of wood. Not a piece of luminous plastic to be seen!

Outside there is a huge draughts set, 5 foot ‘pick’ a sticks, stilts, skittles, croquet and lots more.

Concentration and stamina.....

Inside there are two floors of games requiring varying degrees of skill and concentration! There is always a member of staff on hand to explain the rules of the games and to help you master waking on stilts!!

The games are for both children and adults and when we were there the number of adults easily outnumbered the number of children!

For a family of four, we paid 20 euros, and we had a fantastic afternoon, after 4 hours I had to bribe, cajole and drag our children to the car!

The Auberge des VoyaJoueurs is just a 5-minute drive from any of our gites and I would thoroughly recommend an afternoon here playing games!

Check out their website  www.auberge-des-voyajoueurs.com

or to find out what else there is to do in Brittany http://www.frenchgites.com/Tourism%20Brittany%20Contents.htm

Yves Rocher

Enter the gardens of Yves Rocher...

Visited the Yves Rocher gardens in La Gacilly this morning. There was no one there, yet, I was welcome to walk through the bamboo forest, stumble across stone sculptures and read about the different varieties of well, just about any plant you can think of really.

The garden contains more than 1,000 plants including 38 species of medicinal and aromatic plants, 92 species of cosmetic and perfume plants, 50 friuit plants 19 species of dye plants, 150 useful plants of the tropics and 250 species of desert plants.

Yves Rocher is a well known brand but its factory is a very unassuming building adjacent to a large roundabout. True, the fields surrounding La Gacilly are a magnificent sight in summertime a colourful array of red poppies, blue cornflowers, orange marigolds and huge yellow sunflowers. The gardens adjacent to the offices / factory of Yves Rocher take you on a sensual journey, through a bamboo wood, over a rickety bamboo bridge, past citrus trees, orange, lemon and grapefruit, then on to the herb garden, mint varieties.. twenty or thirty of them, and under a jasmine arch, the powerful scent lingers. Through out this walk there are information boards about each plant and how they are used by Yves Rocher.

During the Spring and Summer months the factory is open to the public with guided tours and a film about how the cosmetics are made.

The fields around La Gacilly in the Summer are truly vibrant..all colours and the scent of the flowers...wow!

Enjoying Brittany on foot

Look out for the many sign posted walks

Often walks start and finish at the same place

Brittany is one of the most tranquil and scenic places to take a trip off the beaten track and meander along woodland tracks, disused railway lines and canal towpaths

In France, not only can you follow all of the signposted circuits but you are also allowed to walk or cycle anywhere in the countryside as long as you respect the crops and the odd, very rare private property sign

We have people who come back and stay with us every year and go on completely different walks every time. There are walks for the very fit and also more gentle walks along the Brest-Nantes canal towpaths or along the vast network of Voie Vertes (disused railway lines) which are all tarmaced and are all very well maintained. These Voie Verts are fantastic for cycling especially if you have young children who can be a bit wobbly !!(speaking from experience !!)... these tarmaced voie verts are flat, car free and whilst cycling (or walking) you can experience the fantastic Breton countryside. As they are old railway lines, it isn't long before you stumble upon a village or town for a welcome drink or crepe !.

Voie verte Malestroit

Roller Skating on the Voie verte

The canal towpaths are also fantastic walking and cycling territory, again, very flat (you may have guessed I'm not a natural cyclist!, but I do have fond memories of accompanying Joe on a school trip when he was about 8 years old when the whole school cycled from Malestroit to Josselin!)

Towpath near Malestroit

Towpaths can often provide welcome shade and a cool breeze from the summer sun

The Brittany coastline also has an amazing coastal path, particularly along the Golfe de Morbihan. Great for exploring the coastline.

Pointe de Raz

batz sur mer

For the more adventurous there are numerous woodland walks, the forest of Monteneuf is just 2km from us and here there are dozens of different walks ranging from 2km to 22km, and if you have small children you MUST visit the Fairy walk, it is truly spectacular and your children will be enchanted...Enter the world of the Korrigan... here is a taster

The Fairy Walk, Monteneuf

For more details of all the walks and cycle routes please see our website, http://www.frenchgites.com/Tourism%20Brittany%20Walking.htm

Malestroit

Maelstroit dates back to 987. The architecture in this medieval town is spectacular, it really is a traditional French town.

Malestroit Town Square

Malestroit

It is very proud of its medieval roots, every year it hosts a three day medieval festival lots of knights, horses, peasants, straw and roasting chickens!..

The Nantes / Brest canal also runs through the centre of Malestroit. It is possible to hire a boat or a canoe to explore the waterway. The Nantes/Brest canal also has fantastic tow paths, brilliant for walking and cycling.  The nearby village of St. Marcel is an interesting spot to visit, and it houses a museum dedicated to the Breton Resistance movement. This is located on the ground where a battle against the Nazis took place, the battle having been won by the Resistance fighters. And if this isn't enough, Malestroit has one of the best weekly markets in the area!..

Click on the link for a little taster of our local medieval town!.. Malestroit

You can also find out more about Malestroit by clicking here...http://www.frenchgites.com/Tourism%20Brittany%20Towns.htm

We have our very own Stonehenge, well almost!

Monteneuf, standing stones

We have our very own standing stones just a five minute drive away.

And unlike Stonehenge, you can touch them, your children can climb all over them and we can all marvel as to just how they got there! And even better it costs nothing to see them and to get amongst them.

A couple of months ago a new visitor centre opened and now there are courses planned in all neolithic skills from stone moving, to making fire from fungi to pottery.

It is a fantastic place to visit.

Click on the video link to get a taste of   The Megaliths, Monteneuf

For more ideas on what there is to see and do in Brittany see http://www.frenchgites.com/Tourism%20Brittany%20Contents.htm

Introducing La Maison Orange

La Maison Orange, sleeps 2

We bought La Maison Orange ten years ago for £4,000 !... When we bought it, it had an earth floor, there weren't any electrics nor water and the first floor was just used to store hay and the only way to the first floor was via a small window above the door!.

Things have changed!..

La Maison Orange, Malestroit, Brittany

La Maison Orange, now there are stairs !!

La Maison Orange is located in a tiny hamlet with three other houses and a total population of two widows with an average age of 94 !.

It is so peaceful, you can really hear the birds sing, in fact that is all you can hear!. There is absolutely NO light pollution and on clear nights the stars are so so bright.

La Maison Orange is located about a ten minute drive from the historic town of Malestroit. Maelstroit is a typical Breton town, the architecture dates back to the 12th century. it's Thursday market is a one of the best in the region, but you need to get there early to snap up a roasting chicken.

Just 40 minutes from the Golfe de Morbihan, there are sandy coves and wild coastlines to explore and you can even take a boat to Belle Îlle.

La Gacilly and Rochefort en Terre are also fantastic towns to explore.

But most of all, at La Maison Orange you will be immersed into the french way of living and I promise when you leave a one hour lunch break just won't be long enough!.

Click on the video to discover more about La Maison Orange

La Maison Orange sleeps 2 and is available to rent from £195 per week. For more details see www.frenchgites.com/french%20gite%20Brittany%20Ruffiac.htm