Brittany

    • Le Faou maison à pans de bois
    Le Faou / Finistère

    Le Faou lies in one of the rias or long narrow inlets in Brest harbour and is on the route to get to the Presqu’île de Crozon. It was once a bustling port what with the transport of oak and especially beech (ar faou in Breton) from the trees that stood in Le Cranou forest. From its golden age in the 16C the village has kept many corbelled houses built of shale and granite and also the church of Saint Sauveur.

    Themes

    • By the waterside : The estuary of the River Sterir Coz

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    Locronan / Finistère

    Locronan gets its name from Saint Ronan, the hermit who founded the town in the 10C. It reached its peak in the 16C thanks to the sailcloth industry, with one of the biggest customers being the East India Company. The granite village has been wonderfully preserved and still has very fine Renaissance houses and a magnificent 15C church.

    Themes

    • Abbeys and churches : Church of Saint Ronan, Pénity and Notre Dame de Bonne Nouvelle Chapels
    • Gastronomy : Kouign-amann (puff pastry gateau made with butter and sugar), savoury pancakes
    • Panoramas : sight from Locronan's Mountain (Plas Ar Horn)

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    Rochefort-en-Terre / Morbihan

    35 kilometres east of Vannes, on a rocky hill surrounding the valley of Gueuzon, the little Breton town of Rochefort-en-Terre shows a high homogeneity despite the different architectural styles cohabiting : half-timbered houses, goyhic monuments, Renaissance hotels, 19th Century’s architecture... Stone, which is everywhere, is here the thing in common between all these traces of History.

    Themes

    • Abbeys and churches : The church Notre-Dame-de-la-Tronchaye (12th C)
    • Castles and ramparts : The castle

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    • Saint-Suliac Entree Eglise
    Saint-Suliac / Ile et Vilaine

    Saint-Suliac offers a panoramic viewpoint of the Rance estuary. For a long time it was a village of trawler men who fished off Newfoundland and the statue of the Virgin de Grainfollet watched over these fishermen. In the narrow streets where children play as they come out of school, flowers grow between the granite stones of the magnificent houses. A tide mill, old salt marshes, a menhir or standing stone are just some of the local treasures to admire in an exceptionally well-preserved site.

    Themes

    • By the waterside : The river Rance
    • Abbeys and churches : The 12C church and its cemetery
    • Unusual sights : Old Viking camp
    • Panoramas : View of the port and estuary from the statue of the Virgin of Grainfollet

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