Life is better in Brittany and Normandy

Just a 10 minute drive from our house in Brittany is Lac de Guerledan (nearest town Mur de Bretagne)... Look out for the road signs for Beau Rivage (on the the lake) & the village of Caurel. Another great vantage point with launch slipway and restaurant as well as lakeside walk access is Anse de Sordan on the south side of the lake. Guerledan is a great attraction at any time of the year. A magnet for those who love water sports, leisure boating, wind surfing, water skiing, swimming, scuba diving...kite surfing... alfresco dining, of course, as the season suggests, and because of the lake's size, just about whatever you can do on the sea, you can do here. Walking around the shores of the lake along woodland walks is a given of course - and not something you can always do by the sea. Neither is it always possible to dine on board a huge pleasure craft... calm lake water can offer this... as well as a beach for sunbathing and swimming from... a hotel and lakeside restaurants even...

That's right... If you go down to the woods today... you're not only sure of a big surprise - but one of the more memorable meals of your time in Brittany!... So, the next time you go to the forest around  Lake Guerledan ... OK... but you need to be in Brittany between March/April (probably next year now) and the end of October... but it's worth it anyway up . I'm posting this in early October 2024 and we've been there twice in just one week! Not a difficult decision! Without too much exposure on social media (I'm sure that will ramp up before next season)... they have done brilliantly this year. Check out Betty Food . Émiline, who runs things brilliantly and her partner Erwan, say that on one day in August they handled 250 covers - and that's not surprising because the food is fantastic as well as great value.        The team decided to place their Airstream Trailer, parked close to their Chevy Truck towing vehicle, converted to become a mobile kitchen in a...

Buy a House in Brittany or Normandy - Definitely! But... Don’t do a Dave! Buying Abroad?  Got a minute? Read this... It could save you thousands ! A woeful tale about a client who thought he had it all sewn up because he was sticking with his bank when he exchanged funds for the purchase of his house in Brittany. As we have so often said…  Watch out, there’s a banker about! Dave Simmonds and his wife, Megan (It's a true story, but the names have been changed to cover any possible embarrassment -  alright ‘Dave’? ) were both very, very excited after finding their ideal home in the heart of the Cotes d’Armor. It was everything they could ever wish for…    Early retirement with a very reasonably priced 5 Bedroomed Farmhouse on five acres plus three gites. Enough space for the horse that Megan could never have dreamt of owning back in Guildford.   A good potential income from holiday lettings...And a ll for just 360,000€ plus Notaire’s ...

For a bloke who was restricted to travel on horseback or, at best, but probably a whole lot slower, by Palanquin (look it up... I had to) King Arthur and his retinue (Lancelot, Guinevere, The Lady Vivien, Sir Girwain, Merlin - et al)... well, they sure did get around. Although, if you believe the other places that legend would have us believe he made an appearance - as I mention in the title... Tintagel, Snowdonia, and Cadbury Camp, then he was probably good at levitation and teleportation too... He probably landed just up the road from here having been guided in by the standing stones at Carnac. And don't get me going on "was God an astronaut!?" We're getting on with our exploration of Brittany (picking up again nicely thanks) in between renovating our modest money pit in the Cotes d'Armor... Well, we recently had a look at the forest of Broceliande... and the Brittany end of the Arthurian legend.  I have to say that, with regard to this part of ancient his...

  I have wanted to do this for years! Picking Walnuts and then pickling them! Unless you have access to a Walnut tree in July you're a bit stuffed. I haven't ever seen unripe walnuts for sale in any shop. We haven't had any Walnut trees to call our own, although we have been given a very small sapling. It's planted in the garden now and, if I'm still alive when it bears fruit I shall regard myself as extremely lucky.  On walks along the dried up canal just a couple of hundred metres up the hill from the house (the Rigole d'Hilvern)... turn to the left at the top of the lane where it crosses the canal and it's the first tree on the right. I don't know how we've managed to miss it... but, in our defence, it is well tucked into a beech tree and sits under its branches - quite well hidden. As soon as I realised we had one almost on our doorstep... I looked up a recipe and, having found it, went out and picked what I hoped would be 2kilos to match...

I've been banging on for years about what a great bargain we stumbled across 19 years ago when we picked up our house in Brittany for just £12,000 plus fees - so about £16,000 in all. Obviously we have spent a few quid doing it up BUT it still hasn't cost us any more than around 80k in total including the purchase price. Of course it has been our 'holiday' home (sometimes anyone within an arm's length when they say "have a nice holiday" is in danger of a swipe... I'm thinking here of my wife rather than myself) and, because we don't live there year round, we have spent many times the cost of the house on ferry crossings... but "Has it been worth it?"   You bet it has!! and sometimes spending most of one's time over there renovating is not everyone's idea of anything approaching a holiday! Saying this does sort the men out from the boys (in this day and age you're almost bound to upset some people with a choice of...