Les Minutes Bleues walks a small group along Dinan’s medieval ramparts as the light goes out of the lanes. A guide carries the route, folding the town’s history into local anecdote. It closes inside the walls at a fine grocery, where regional flavours are tasted and shared. The festival stages each encounter at a listed heritage site of the Côtes d’Armor, in the blue light of dawn or dusk. Walking shoes are asked for.
Tag: guided-tours
Arc-en-Ciel Imprimeurs, a print works at Lécousse
Arc-en-Ciel Imprimeurs has printed from Lécousse for more than 50 years, and its 12 salaried staff keep the offset and digital presses running for local firms, authorities and associations. The guided tour crosses the workshops step by step, following production from books to advertising panels. The trade on show is at once traditional, technical and constantly evolving. Photography is prohibited inside, so nothing leaves on a phone.
Pouldu blockhouse, an Atlantic Wall visit
The Clohars-Carnoët Memory and Heritage Association opens a 775 m3 casemate of the Atlantic Wall above Grands Sables beach at Le Pouldu. Inside the restored artillery hall, the troop shelter and the rear firing post, panels and period weapons and uniforms set out the Breton Resistance, the fighting of the Lorient Pocket and the Laïta Front. A guide leads the round, or it can be walked alone. A booklet on the blockhouse is on sale at the door.
Des histoires à la bougie at the Abbaye du Relec
The guide opens at the Abbaye du Relec while there is still light enough to pick out the detail of the site, and sets out its history. The atmosphere shifts once night has fallen. By candlelight the walk becomes a veillée, and the légendes bretonnes take over from the history. The stories told in the dark are the lugubrious ones of Brittany, recounted on the departmental estate at Plounéour-Ménez for anyone from eight upwards.
Crazy Lobster composite workshop, Saint-Brieuc
Crazy Lobster shapes technical parts from carbon and glass fibre, a Breton workshop whose first customers were boats. The round crosses the shop floor zone by zone: machining, painting, infusion, sanding. A part is carried from development through prototyping and testing to a finished piece. The firm’s history lies in pleasure sailing and offshore racing, the trade this coast is known for, and that know-how now goes elsewhere in industry.
Maillard & Maillard, marble and stone at Mesnil-Roc’h
Maillard & Maillard is a family marble works at the Lieu-dit La Métairie du Rouvre, co-managed by Eric and Loic Maillard. Visiting hours are set while the production site runs, so the stone can be followed as it becomes material for interior fitting-out. A second trade sits beside it: taille de pierre for restoring old buildings and the region’s heritage. The third is the stone carver, who answers private and public commissions.
Armorique Vitrail, stained glass at Ploubezre
Armorique Vitrail stands opposite the church of Ploubezre, near Lannion, and normally opens only by appointment. For these two periods the glass artisan Pauline Le Goïc opens the atelier and the showroom together. Visitors watch her at the bench, hear what the craft asks of her, and see pieces that rarely leave museums, galleries or the salons dédiés aux métiers d’art. Her trade serves new commissions and the restoration du patrimoine alike.
Le Brut de l’Avette reed workshop, Québriac
Nolwenn Zaour and Simon Froger make anches at Le Brut de l’Avette, the cane reeds that give the bombarde and the veuze their voice. The visit follows one through every stage, from choosing the cane to the adjustments that settle its sound. Wind instruments also come here for repair, so a bench is usually in mid-job. The atelier opens inside the Semaines du Tourisme Économique et des Savoir-Faire, the Breton fortnight of company visits.
Skol Diwan Kraon ouvre ses portes à Crozon
Skol Diwan Kraon, the École Diwan Naig Rosmor, opens its buildings and gardens in Crozon for guided and self-guided tours. The school teaches wholly through Breton and has for more than thirty-five years, from the Très Petite Section up to CM2. Former pupils and parents come back to give their own account of life after the school, and the teaching team opens the day over coffee. The travelling duo Antoine et Clairette plays for the occasion.
Cépi Ébénisterie: Straw Marquetry in Moncontour
Cépi Ébénisterie opens its workshop on Rue Charbonnerie at Moncontour, one of 27 taking part across Lamballe Terre et Mer. The cabinetmaker works in two registers: furniture and objects made to measure, and the restoration of older pieces. The rarer trade shown is marqueterie de paille, straw marquetry, which the workshop also teaches as an initiation. Each opening is a short presentation of the craft with a demonstration, six people at a time.