Our satnav is not programmed to understand Breton. How very unPC! Tom-Tom are clearly not up to date (or should it be 'down' to date) with 15th century minority languages. However, once we had been lucky enough to encounter a native, local to the area, walking his dog, about a mile or so from - Berouan in the Morbihan - all became clear. There it was in full colour on our own dog-eared, hardly ever used and unfortunately small scale map (smaller communities are hardly ever marked are they?)... Anyway, we had almost made it without help because there was a shrug and perplexed look from our new acquaintance...(well he did wave a little later).
Turn right about a kilometre before you get to Caden from Malansac and there you are. The trouble is we had to drive into Caden to find out how far out one kilometre is before we could work out which would have been the right lane to turn down... None of the names on the signposts rang a bell. In any event the town's folk of Caden were getting to know us pretty well as we had now driven through the village four times, once in each direction, and so, people enjoying a Sunday lunchtime drink outside the bar or stragglers leaving church later, having stopped to chat in the sunshine, were beginning to point and wave as we passed by...
what a friendly bunch! Suffice to say we were in the Morbihan down near to the Vannes and the Gulf of Morbihan with it’s hundreds of islands and islets creeks and inlets… a lovely area evocative of Devon and Cornwall.
We were here for a family birthday party with good friends... friends of many years standing from back in the UK. And we had found Berouan (aka Brohan... a rose by any other name... etc.,) on only the fourth 'pass' and so, needless to say, we were the last to arrive at the gathering, having passed through 4 or 5 sleepy hamlets since leaving the main road. Quite a party was already in full flow... at least twenty or so, already fitting very comfortably into the main living room cum kitchen. It was difficult to tell, as the more recent building work had been so well done, that this was in fact the newest part of the house. Tables bedecked and umbrellas shading the tables on patio areas were dotted around outside the house. The last time we had seen the newest part of the property it had been little more than an inner courtyard... a ruin that had been a house
(in the days when the Hamlet was probably called Brohan) and it joined the main house at the front and to the barn at the rear. Now this section (finished 7 years ago) forms a two bedroomed house with huge living room being a lounge/diner/kitchen... with bedrooms and bathroom above. Even with 20 or so guests milling around chatting with drinks waiting for the word 'Go' on the buffet, there was still space aplenty.
The transformation of this house over 15 years has been amazing. Loving care, eye for detail, the sweat of many a brow and excellent planning is obvious. The exterior of this, the mid section, which has been rescued from a ruin is seamless with both the house to the left and the barn/workshop with, above, studio apartment to the right and it looks more like a well maintained 18th Century house rather than one just a few years old.
The house 'to the left' has it's main front door adjacent to the front of the former 'ruin' and also has patio doors to the 'green' in front of the farmhouse (the original purchase). This has a cosy living room/kitchen with wood-burner and open staircase leading to the first floor. But, still here on the ground floor, behind the kitchen/living room is a double bedroom, flanked by a shower room with basin and toilet. Upstairs are two more bedrooms and another bathroom.
Above all...(and I'm having a mooch around whilst they are putting the finishing touches to the finger food and stuff...
oven required) this place has become three interconnecting dwellings on one plot (with a fourth developing as a further feature)... because when you include the barn and the studio above it (where you have a gite-ing opportunity) the whole property's use presents exceedingly flexible accommodation and umpteen choices and permutations whether for extended family or using two of the properties as letting opportunities at any one time according to preference. The fourth element is a small cottage to develop across the tarmac drive which has a concrete floor and wiring... The total usable living space (for those who can visualise this kind of thing) is 257 square metres.
"Come and have a look at the garden" I heard, filtering above the bubbling conversation... I decided to tag along because I had caught sight of snippets of the outside space from various windows and wanted to see how it was all getting along. There is a total of 6,248m2... An acre of woodland is down an adjacent lane and can be seen from the house and rear garden… a ‘live’ wood store. The immediate garden wraps around 3 sides of the house and, to the side - facing the lane is an area of common open, lawned land shared by 2 neighbouring properties.
So, if you’re looking for a comfortable 3 generation house… totalling 5 bedrooms or just one owners’ section plus 2 gite opportunities (plus a small cottage to develope across the drive) all with taste and style aplenty, It’s here at Berouan!
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