Forgive me, I have been remiss, it is over a month since my last post (feels a bit like I'm a little girl confessing to our parish priest!). 

We spent a week showing my father the delights of Brittany, in particular Finistere, earlier this month. We are also trying to move house in the UK which has proved rather distracting, as anyone who has been through this protracted process will know, so blogging has been the last thing on my mind!

So, here is a quick update on our latest trip to Brittany. It started with a overnight trip from Portsmouth to Saint-Malo with Brittany Ferries. You can see a photo of the delicious sweet prawns that I had for dinner on the Bretagne, our favourite ferry.

We picked Dad up from Paimpol on the coast of Côtes-d'Armor. He had adventurously travelled there on his own from Amsterdam where he had visited my sister and her family. This was after travelling all the way from Melbourne. It was the first time he had been to Brittany.

It made sense to take Dad for a trip along the unmissable beautiful Pink Granite Coast (Cote de Granit Rose) as a slight detour on the way back to Ty Hir. 

We stopped in Ploumanac'h for lunch, strolling along the Sentier des Douaniers or old customs footpath from the port to the village centre, each bend revealing spectacular views of the beautiful boulder strewn coast.

The following day we popped into Huelgoat, picked some baguettes and went for a walk in the magical Forest of Huelgoat. 

We discovered an old stone clapper bridge which crosses the sparkling river Argent. After a short but strenuous climb uphill we stopped for a picnic at the La Mare aux Sangliers (Wild Boar Pool). We sat munching our baguettes, mesmerized by a crystal stream dashing its way through huge boulders on its way to join the Argent. The only sound we heard was running water and we saw hardly a  soul on the whole walk, not even the ghost of King Arthur!

On the Tuesday we set off early to explore the area around Camaret-sur-Mer on the Crozon peninsular. Dad has a keen interest in WWII and we wanted to take him to the remains of the Atlantic Wall which can be found just outside the town. There is a small museum onsite which unfortunately wasn't open but we were free to wander the site which is extensive. It is littered with German bunkers and gun emplacements over looking treacherous cliffs.

This beautiful windswept setting seems at odds with the terrible battles that must have taken place here, as evidenced by the destroyed buildings and bullet and shrapnel holes. 

The next day we had some time off, which meant Dad relaxing with a book in the garden while we caught up with some chores - such is the life of owners of property in a foreign country! Not that I'm complaining - luckily I love a bit of gardening and I am winning my war with the blackberries - I swear!

Late in the afternoon we made the 15 minute drive to our closest chateau, Domaine de Trévarez which lies in the heavily wooded Montagnes Noire. Nicknamed the Pink Castle, for obvious reasons, only a small part of the property is open to the public. The chateau was bombed by the allies during the war and the interior has been left to wrack and ruin, though parts have been restored by the local authority. The main attraction here are the extensive gardens which are famous for their camellias and rhododendrons which were out in force.

Thursday saw us on a ferry for the short trip from Roscoff to the Ile-de-Batz on the northern coast of Finistere. The island is known for producing fertilizer from seaweed which is used on the crops produced there. We saw a number of boats laden with this sustainable crop.

We took a short easy scenic stroll from the port to the Georges Delaselle Garden. This exotic garden lies on the coast and give lovely views towards Roscoff over white sandy beaches. It was created in 1897 and contains a collection of rare palms as well as many plants from the Southern Hemisphere. It is quite small and easy to explore in an hour. 

One of the highlights of the trip was the appearance of a Fire Salamander in our garden. I've only ever seen a squashed one before so it was great to see this one alive and well - we didn't even know we had them!

Well I hope that you enjoyed the highlights of my father's visit to Brittany, there is lots more that we did and saw but I will save that for a future post - bon week-end!

Hello again. Yes I know it has been a while, well quite a while actually. I admit I lost my nerve after my first few posts, I mean, who wants to read my ramblings?  Well I guess it's you if you are reading this. Well I am back, with the encouragement of some fellow bloggers, and I hope to share some of my experiences that may be of use to those of you who are considering purchasing a property in France. Also for people thinking of visiting Brittany, I will write about places we visit during our trips to Ty Hir as there are some really amazing sights within each reach of the gites. 

During our last trip to Ty Hir, which consisted mainly of preparing the houses for the upcoming season, in particular poor Andy on his hands and knees installing a boundary fence, we did manage to take a few hours off to go exploring.  We headed to the Pink Granite Coast in the neighbouring department of Côtes-d'Armor. La Cote de Granit Rose (doesn't if sound so much more romantic in French!), which is about an hour and a half from Ty Hir, is a 30km stretch of rock strewn beaches on the northern coast of Brittany. I say rocks but think huge boulders, shaped into all manner of strange things by the sea and wind. Some say you can find rocks shaped as rabbits, pigs and even Napoleon's tricorn hat! 

Our purpose in visiting the coast was to find the ticket office for a boat trip to the Archipel Sept-Isles. The Sept Isles Archipelago is a nature reserve which is home to 27 different species of birds, in particular the puffin, which is what we wish to see during a next trip to Brittany in June  (yes, we are birders, that's birders not twitchers!). We found the office for Les Vedettes de Perros Guirec, which run the boat trips, at the end of the Plage de Trestraou, a lovely wide white sandy beach. We then consulted our guide book to find out what there was to see in the area. It recommended Ploumanac'h which is apparently one of the most visited places in Brittany - and it seems that this is indeed the case. Our visit was during the middle of March and we had to drive around the village three times before we managed to park!  But it was definitely worth the effort, the view that unfolded before us as we walked towards the harbour was truly breath taking. It's easier to show you a picture rather than try to describe it. Anyway, unfortunately it was an all too brief visit, but we plan to return in June (not at the weekend!) and do the three hour walk along the coast which starts at  Ploumanac'h. It is something that I am really looking forward to.

So enough of my renewed ramblings for now. I'll be back on topic soon to continue the story of our French adventure!  À bientôt!