Let the decorating commence!

The gites are now empty for the winter so it is time to get out the paintbrushes and freshen them up for 2016!..

First up in La Maison Orange!, yes, starting with the smallest cottage to gently ease myself into smelling of gloss paint for the next three months!

La Maison Orange

The Ultimate Ferry Guide to Southern Brittany…. and there are some pretty good offers as well!

Posted by Nicole on January 15, 2016 | Edit

La Maison Blanche (sleeps 5)

One of the most frequent questions we get asked is… ‘Which is the best and cheapest ferry crossing from the UK to Brittany?’

As with most things, the ‘best’ crossing is of course the most expensive!..

So, this morning I have spent a couple of hours researching ferry crossings and prices.

For my research I have compared prices for a car and two passengers leaving the UK on Saturday 9th April and returning to the UK two weeks later on the 23rd April. When calculating the drive times I have taken to port to Réminiac which is in the depths of Southern Brittany!

THE CHEAPEST crossings are from Dover to Calais (P&O) where you can get a return sailing for £122. The downside is the drive time to Brittany is about six hours. The motorway tolls will be about €25 each way.

THE BEST crossings are to Saint Malo as the drive time when you arrive in France is only an hour and a half. But that of course depends on whether you prefer a longer drive or a longer ferry crossing. When my children were babies I took the Dover / Calais crossing every time!.. the theory being, they could cry and scream for 6 hours in the car and no one would hear them… To have them crying, screaming and grumpy on the ferry for 8 or 9 hours filled me with horror!… Now, they are older the longer crossing is better (the tablet is such a wonderful invention!)…, BUT it is expensive.

Brittany Ferries (Portsmouth / Saint Malo) costs about £335 return

AND THOSE CROSSINGS IN BETWEEN. Depending on where you live, Poole or Plymouth may be an easier option, and from these ports :-

Plymouth / Roscoff (Brittany Ferries) will cost £268 and the drive time is 2.5 hours.

Poole / Cherbourg (Brittany Ferries) will cost £240 and the drive time is 3 hours

Poole / Saint Malo (Condor) will cost £355 and the drive time is 1.5 hours

INTERESTING POSSIBILITY. DFDS offer sailings from Newhaven to Dieppe for £159 (but if you were to travel on the Friday 22nd the return sailing price goes down to £98) I think this is the best value crossing but the drive time is a bit longer, 4 hours. DFDS also has a great Special Offers Page.

MY PREFERRED SAILING is Portsmouth / Caen with a drive time of 2.5 hours and a cost of £240. Somewhere in the  middle of the cost and drive times!

VERY GOOD OFFER by Brittany Ferries. I have just discovered a very nice offer… Travel on any crossing to Caen, Saint Malo or Roscoff during April and stay for 4 days for just £69 per person, but you need to book before 2nd February. If you fancy a sneaky four day mid week break…drop me a quick email and we can sort out a gite deal as well!.. Check out which gite suits you best..www.frenchgites.com

20% OFF ALL BRITTANY FERRY CROSSINGS. Don’t forget we can offer you 20% off ANY Brittany Ferry Crossing.

La Maison Creme (sleeps 8)

Note – The ferry prices quoted were taken on 15th January for an outbound sailing on 9th April and inbound on the 23rd April.

Parisianism, is this the same as Parisian?

There are Parisians and there are the provincials and then there is Parisianism. What is that?

To find out more, I looked up the definition of Parisianism in the ‘Grand Robert de la langue française’, an authoritative dictionary.

Parisianism ;- a particular language and set of customs specific to Parisians. The  nature of what is ‘typically Parisian’, that is to say that concerns the socialite life of Paris.

To put it more bluntly…’superiority for some and inferiority for others, depending on whether you are Parisian or not.

As a Parisian once said…’Parisianism is a mentality if not a system of thought that tends to place in a hierarchy the quality of events, artistic productions, but also schools,. even people and their cultural and intellectual level according to whether they are situated in Paris or in the rest of France (the provinces, from the Latin pro vincia, the conquered ones…..)’

It is therefore no great surprise that the relationship between a Parisian and a provincial is a difficult one. It is a permanent jousting battle and a source of jokes amongst the French people.

There are also many songs devoted to this tempestuous relationship, one by Ricet Barrier, sums up the Bretons attitude towards the Parisian:-

The holidaymaker, when he drives, you have to throw yourself onto the verge.

You have to leave your hens in the hen house.

It is even worse when he stops,

All he thinks about is his stomach

I have to put barbed wire around my pear trees.

and it goes on…..