Family days out in Brittany

Family days out in Brittany

We have a lovely weekend planned my parents are coming to visit with my brother and sister in law. My parents have never been to France (apart from one very unfortunate trip many years ago, but I don’t think they would appreciate the details going on here!).

Though the weekend is tinged with sadness, there was a death in the family yesterday, we knew it was going to happen but nothing really prepares you for the news. I am just so glad that my parents are still coming to visit as I think this is probably the best thing they could do.

So yesterday was spent trying to get the house to look its best, no easy task when we still have piles of dirt and rubbish, it seems no matter how many times you go to the tip or sweep up, the dirt and dust is always there!

But we do our best and we book a room at a local B&B that is accessible, unfortunately our house will never be accessible due to the age of the house, and the fact that we really love our turned staircase, to make it accessible we would have to ensure that there are bedrooms on the ground floor and this is just not an option.

I’m so excited when they arrive, I want to show them everything (well what I really want is to set my mum to work in the garden so that she can make it like hers in the UK, but maybe I should wait till the next visit)

We have a wonderful couple of days visiting Morlaix and introducing my parents to the sit at a cafe, have a drink and people watch way of life.

We visit Carantec in the beautiful sunshine, and even get to paddle in the sea; yes it really was that warm! We also introduce my mum to the delight that is a sweet crepe.

We drive on to Saint Pol de Leon; we have never been here before and have always said that we must visit on our way to or from Roscoff ferry port. Saint Pol De Leon is a beautiful place and there are 2 large churches/cathedrals there. We light candles for my gran and wander around.

There is a very strange display of small boxes which each contain skulls (Saint Pol de Leon Cathedral, I have added the wiki link to read about the church, maybe because I am a bit lazy or because it is written so well).

The weather changes as we leave, and on the way home the heavens open, the thunder and lightning explode and we feel like we are driving across rivers on the roads. It’s good that the visitors get to experience so much of Brittany in just 48 hours!  

I take my mum around the lake and we do the photo shoot, you really cannot visit Huelgoat without having your photo taken on the rock, I think there is actually a law about it somewhere!

Our firstnight is spent eating at Hotel du Lac and I manage to use my best French and get the order wrong. Luckily we realise before the waitress leaves, but the meal is amazing, I have done it before but I will recommend the confit du canard again, it really is nice.

I also do my first big dinner, we have the table ready and I have cooked for 6, it is only as I am getting ready to lay the table that I realise we only have 2 forks, bugger at this rate we will be giving spoons out for dinner, luckily a quick call to Sheila solves our problems and I pop down and borrow a set of cutlery, we do have a nice canteen of cutlery in the UK and this will definitely be coming back with us on our next visit!

The weekend is over as quickly as it began and we are no sooner saying hello than we are saying good bye, once again the house is very quiet, I’m just so glad that they got to visit and enjoyed it.