Kristine Allard takes children and their parents through Redon to explain how its festival of autumn came about. The walk follows the origin of the foire Teillouse and of the Bogue, the two gatherings that fill the town at harvest. The chestnut is then set out as the emblematic tree of the pays de Redon, with its fruit and its prized wood. It closes on the knack of telling a châtaigne from a marron.
Tag: guided-tours
Jules Gros in Breton at La Roche-Jagu
Jules Gros spent a lifetime writing down how Trégor actually talks, and the Domaine départemental de la Roche-Jagu has turned that record into a room to walk through. Olivia Blondel made the sculptural half and Gaby Kerdoncuff the sound. This guided reading of the exhibition is given entirely in Breton, announced by the estate as Gweladenn heñchet en diskouezadeg. The manor runs it as one of its own Breton language visits.
A house for the korriganed in the Toulfoën forest
The Pays d’Art et d’Histoire de Quimperlé Communauté takes families into the forest on the trail of the korriganed, the little people of Breton legend. The walk reaches a mysterious dolmen among the trees. The group then learns songs drawn from the lore of those creatures, and finishes by building together a house worthy of them. The ground is uneven and unsuited to anyone who finds walking hard, so sturdy shoes and rain gear are part of the kit.
Visite gratuite du Grand Cairn de Barnénez
The Grand Cairn de Barnénez is opened to visitors without a ticket, and it is considered the oldest mausoleum in Europe, raised some six thousand years ago. Its facade runs 72 metres long, 28 metres wide and nearly eight high, and eleven passage burial chambers give it its rhythm. Some tombs still carry engraved messages nobody has read. Guided visits are offered, and the cairn stands on a promontory above the bay of Morlaix.
Visite des huîtres Legris, Plouguerneau
Maison Legris is a conchylicole house whose oysters are raised in the Archipel de Lilia, off Plouguerneau. The visit sets out from the family’s oyster bar facing the open sea and crosses a few hundred metres to the chantier. The oysters are then sorted, graded and packed for dispatch while the work is explained. The thread running through it is the métier de l’ostréiculteur, worked on the beds of the archipelago.
Les clés de la Ville-Close, walled Concarneau
A guide from Concarneau’s own heritage service walks the Ville-Close, the historic heart of the town. The route traces its maritime history, then its civil and its military past, so that the medieval walled town is read closely instead of simply crossed. The service that leads it carries the Ville d’Art et Histoire label, and the Maison du Patrimoine takes the bookings. The visit takes thirty-five people at most.
Visite chantée de Saint-Efflam par Marthe Vassallo
The Festival de Lanvellec et du Trégor takes its audience inside the église Saint-Efflam at Plestin-les-Grèves for a guided visit that doubles as a recital. Marthe Vassallo, one of the greatest voices of Breton music today, walks the building with Natacha Adlerfliegel, the festival’s guide conférencière. The reading of the church is broken at intervals by chants traditionnels bretons. The sung repertoire returns under the vault that framed it.
Visite de la Cidrerie Coat Albret à Bédée
Morgan opens the Cidrerie Coat Albret, at La Haie Rénier in Bédée, while the apple pressing is at its height. Visitors follow the fruit through the press, then drink the juice as it comes off, before fermentation has begun. A tasting led by the house compares its apples, its juice and its cider. This is a family holding whose bottled ciders and juices sit among the department’s regional specialities, and Breton games close the children’s round.
Boulangerie Le Signor: pastry and bread at Saint-Thonan
Boulangerie Pâtisserie Le Signor opens its ateliers de fabrication at Saint-Thonan for the Semaines du tourisme économique et des Savoir-Faire. The hour starts on the organic raw materials, the founding choice of the house, then the pâtisserie and its artisanal creations. In the bakery the bread is followed from the pétrissage to the façonnage to the cuisson. It closes in the salle des préparations, on the measures against waste.