In the late afternoon we finally arrived at Château de la Villatte and there we concluded our day in a marvellous room, so big, so authentically aristocratic, with the real charme of a house that still maintains the spirit of a noble family.
We actually only met one person there, the madam that had answered my e-mail to confirm the reservation and that welcomed us at our arrival. She was shy and straightforward, but in a kind of understatement with her casual clothes, just explaining where our room was, where we should go for breakfast, how the lights worked and other practical things like that. She only asked at what time we wanted breakfast (and if we wanted tea or coffee) and then disappeared, apologizing that she had a lot of work to do. We relaxed in the room from which we had a wonderful view on the park, then we went to Laval for dinner. We were the only guests in the house as we didn’t see any other car. We left the house just closing the door but didn’t see her again. Laval by the way is a very nice town on a river, with an imposing castle and ancient walls, we had dinner in a simple restaurant specialized in raclette, fondue and other dishes from Savoye. When we came back to the château the entrance door was still unlocked and we went to bed. We slept in the biggest bed ever!

The day after, we woke up quite early and by 8 a.m. we were ready for breakfast so we entered the dining room she had showed us, also very accurately renovated and furnished and we saw that the table was perfectly prepared for two, with warm coffee, orange juice, bread, croissants, jams: just ready for us at 8 a.m. as we had asked. Classical music was playing in the background and we had breakfast like two aristocratic persons in their private mansion. The lady didn’t show up, so we went upstairs and finished packing our luggage and when we came back downstairs, I noticed a letter on the snooker table at the entrance. I approached and there was a hand written letter on prestigious paper, where only few words said “Thanks” and the price of the room. As I knew that credit cards are not accepted in these private houses I had already enough cash, so I put the right amount on the table, leaving also my business card with few words thanking her for her hospitality. Manu was quite surprised and said we should better call her and give her the money personally. But I said no, I absolutely felt this was the way she wanted us to leave.
Still quite astonished by this unusual attitude we stepped into our car and in the moment that we started moving, we saw the lady leaning out of the door and waving energically her hand in our direction, greeting us with a big thankful smile.

Holiday in France

We left Bretagne on August 20th with a trip that will remain in our hearts. After leaving Château de Kermezen, we drove to the Western coast and reached Saint-Quay-Portrieux.
Thanks also to the nice and sunny weather, we fell in love with this lovely place with a kind of Mediterranean allure, beautiful beaches, a long promenade on the rocks, beautiful houses with gorgeous sea view… We would have rented a house and staid there for a whole week!

But it was not possible, we still had other destinations to see.
We had booked one night in a Château closed to Laval, in the Loire Valley, so we had to drive another couple of hours to be there in the afternoon. We just made a stop in Dinan , a very nice and animated medieval town, from which we finally decided that we would avoid the highway and drive through the countryside. And this was another great experience of that day, because the French countryside is so wide, genuine and idyllic! Big trees, fields, meadows, small villages, beautiful churches and then suddenly a gorgeous castle, in front of which we made an abrupt brake just to take a picture!

Holiday in France

Leaving Audierne we continued driving North, as our goal was to reach the “pink” coast near Perros-Guirec.
The best part of the day was in the morning, as we arrived quite early at Pointe du Raz, a promontory accessible only walking (we had to park our car and pay an entrance ticket) which is a gorgeous view on the Atlantic Ocean, with its crashing waves on the wild rocks, the Island of Sein, seagulls flying all around and beautiful heath flowers everywhere. It was rainy and windy when we arrived, then the sun shined and showed us this landscape in its magnificent colours. This was for us Brittany as we had always imagined!

To reach Perros-Guirec in the northern part of Brittany we made a long ride through beautiful landscapes and villages, actually almost every village would be worth a stop, especially because of their delightful and very mystical churches, the accurate gardens and colourful flowers, the nice houses. In the tiny village of Quemeneven we stopped to eat our delicious baguette with ham, bought in a boulangerie in the morning. Unfortunately the weather was quite cold and windy and also when we finally reached the northern coast with its magnificent beaches and the pink granite rocks, we were not able to fully enjoy it. We still needed to find a place to sleep, many hotels where full, there were so many people everywhere…
At the end we found a room at Château de Kermezen, an ancient castle of the 17th century, where the count and the countess themselves welcomed us. It was a typical situation of “past glory”… People that in the past centuries ad been served were now serving breakfast to strangers that rented a room in their house. This is very common in France and it’s a way to allow these people to remain in their family mansion, and for us to enjoy a night in a fabulous place! In fact this castle was full of charme, but the interior was quite decadent and the room was not really “noble” and had an incredibly small bed… But it was a unique experience anyway!

At night we had dinner in Paimpol, a nice village on the seaside, famous for the cultivation of oysters. In a small restaurant in front of the harbour we first had a fish soup to warm us up and then I ordered a dozen of oysters, while Manu preferred a grilled fish.

Holiday in France