La Passerelle keeps a small théâtre à l’italienne, one of the 170 historic houses of that form counted in France. The guided visit takes families into the room: the parterre, the baignoires, the balcony and the boxes of the two upper floors, and the poulailler above them, also called le paradis. Two age groups go round separately. The house is listed, and its 250 places have carried jazz, classical and current music.
Tag: family friendly
Brendan ha sekred Kells, film en breton
Ti Douar Alré, a house of Breton language and culture, shows this film dubbed into Breton for children. The story is set in ninth-century Ireland, in the fortified abbey of Kells, where Brendan is a monk of twelve. Brother Aidan, a master illuminator and keeper of a fabulous unfinished book, takes him on as apprentice. To finish the manuscript Brendan leaves the abbey for the first time and meets Aisling, the wolf-child.
Le mystère du Haras, Haras national de Lamballe
The Haras national de Lamballe lets teams behind the scenes to work out what became of an archive that has gone missing. The clues sit among the stud farm’s historic buildings, and progress takes exploration, reasoning and pooling what each team has spotted. Children from eight take part with an adult beside them. The hunt belongs to Les Minutes Bleues, whose programme also opens the Abbaye de Beauport and the Château de La Hunaudaye.
Halloween baking at the Biscuiterie Ménou
The Biscuiterie Ménou gives this holiday session to the gâteau breton. The short programme around it also takes in a spider-shaped bread and a pumpkin brioche. The house has baked at Plougonver since 1879, three generations of the family have worked the bakery, and its range runs to palets, galettes and gâteaux bretons. The group is capped and booking is required. The boutique-musée beside the ovens carries two centuries of the craft.
Taverniers d’un soir au château de la Hunaudaye
The château de la Hunaudaye hands its Taverne over to visitors for one sitting of the festival Les Minutes Bleues. Each team pits its knowledge against the others and calls on creativity, exploration and strategy. Shakers in hand, the players mix the best breuvage sans alcool they can manage. The team that comes out ahead is declared Tavernier du château. The festival opens the hauts-lieux of Côtes d’Armor under the blue light of dawn or dusk.
Il était une fois Bon-Repos, balade contée à l’abbaye
A told walk through the Abbaye de Bon-Repos, run by the Association des Compagnons de l’Abbaye de Bon-Repos. A story, a sound and a making moment carry the house’s own history into the dark. The senses do the work, not a commentary, and families with young children are who it is built for. The walk sits inside Les Minutes Bleues, the festival that opens the Côtes d’Armor’s natural and cultural high places under blue light at dawn and dusk.
Danses bretonnes pour enfants avec Danserien Sant Ke
Danserien Sant Ke is the cercle de danse bretonne of Saint-Quay-Portrieux, and it opens its practice to the youngest beginners. The cercle’s own members lead the figures, so children pick up the steps from the people who perform them. It is held in the Salle le Celtic, where the cercle also holds its galette des rois. Admission costs nothing and places are held by reservation. The same cercle runs the Festival Eskemm.
Chantons avec nos jeunes enfants, in French and Breton
The École de Musique Danse Théâtre du Kreiz Breizh sings with parents and children under three at the library of Plouguernével. Songs, comptines and finger games run in French and in Breton, as Kanomp gant hor bugale vihan. Nobody has to sing well: parents hand their own top-50 rhymes round. It is one of twenty-four free meetings the Communauté de communes du Kreiz Breizh spreads over twelve communes, run here with the association RAOK.
Kayak à la tombée de la nuit sur le Guic
Dusk sets the hour for this descent of the Guic, the river presented as emblematic of Belle-Isle-en-Terre. Paddlers follow the water downstream with the sounds of the valley around them, watching for wildlife as the evening light settles on the banks. Guiding comes from the Aquarium des Curieux de Nature, the commune’s nature interpretation centre, together with the Station Sports Nature. Les Minutes Bleues, now in its fifth edition, places the outing among the dusk slots it opens across heritage sites of the Côtes d’Armor, from age six with an adult and from twelve alone; booking is strongly advised.
Le Mystère Abgrall: a trail through Guerlesquin
Guerlesquin hands over a game booklet and a problem: Erwann Abgrall, a wealthy Breton eccentric, has vanished, leaving an immense fortune of murky origin, no will and no heir. The booklet turns each walker into an investigator, reading the heritage of the Petite Cité de Caractère to crack the riddles. Maître Braouzec, a notary in Rennes, carries the succession. The trail covers twenty-four Breton towns of the Petites Cités de Caractère network.