Eva and Nathan opened this family cidrerie at Hénansal a year ago, and they now walk visitors through the whole of it. The round begins in the orchards, with the apple varieties and the blending, then moves to the vats and the press that draws the juice. Fermentation does the rest, turning the cider sparkling on its own with no gas added. The bottling line closes the circuit, and a tasting with the two growers ends the visit.
Tag: guided-tours
Le Vieux Bourg butter works, Plœuc-L’Hermitage
Butter is the gold of the Breton larder, and at Le Vieux Bourg it is still churned in one farmhouse workshop. Arnaud takes visitors into the production room and, depending on what is being made that day, walks them through the steps that turn milk into refined butter. The round ends at the tasting bench. The flavoured butters carry Breton notes, buckwheat among them, from a farm trade that once topped up the income of the region’s smallholders.
Visite flash: the Bretons and the stone giants
A short mediated sequence at the Musée de Préhistoire de Carnac, turning from the stones themselves to what the Bretons made of them. Between reality and imagination, the mediator shows how the megaliths have inspired artists and advertisers. The museum holds one of the richest prehistoric collections in Europe, with 3000 objects from excavations at Carnac and nearby. The alignments themselves run for 4 kilometres. No booking is needed.
Les secrets du lin à l’hôtel des de Gaspern
Sidonie & Compagnie opens its doors around flax, one sitting of the Semaine du Tourisme Economique et des Savoir-Faire in Guingamp. Visitors push open the doors of the hôtel des de Gaspern, in the heart of the town, where the plant’s many faces are unfolded. Charlotte, a naturopathe working there, draws out what flax offers for wellbeing. The visit closes over a sweet creation that each person makes.
L’Abri des Temps: a village bookshop at Moncontour
L’Abri des Temps is a general bookshop at Moncontour, open for the Semaines du Tourisme Économique et des Savoir-Faire. Its booksellers walk visitors through the premises and the way the shop is run. The stock mixes new and second-hand, with shelves built up in sciences humaines, nature, jardin and paysage, and a choice shaped by rural life, traditions and history. What the hour turns on is how that holds in a village of 800.
Planc’h: a Workshop Visit to Breton Cutting Boards
Planc’h is a Saint-Briac-sur-Mer workshop where cutting boards and butcher’s blocks are shaped by hand from Breton timber. The visit follows that work at the bench, and the makers explain how they pick a plank and how each species behaves. Their wood comes from a family sawmill at Plouër-sur-Rance. The visit belongs to Les Semaines du Tourisme Économique des Savoir-Faire, the Breton fortnight that opens working businesses to the public.
Aber Wrac’h Odyssée: La Route des Phares
Four lighthouses of the Aber Wrac’h archipelago set the route: the two towers of the Île Vierge, the light of the Île Wrac’h and the Lanvaon tower. Hervé skippers the boat, grandson of a semaphorist at Aber Wrac’h and from a family of Plouguerneau boat builders. He explains how lighthouses and coastal buoyage work, and carries the memory of shipwrecks and shipwreckers. The run passes the Wrac’h, Stagadon and Vierge islands close to the water.
Chapelle Saint-Quirin and its altarpiece, visit in LSF
The Culture and Heritage Department of the Pays d’art et d’histoire Auray Quiberon Terre Atlantique opens the chapelle Saint-Quirin at Brech to visitors. The sober classical building is marking its 350th anniversary, and it houses one of the finest altarpieces in Morbihan, from the late 17th century. A French sign language interpreter accompanies the guide. Les incontournables also opens megaliths and chapels elsewhere on the territory.
Des monuments bien vivants: Trégrom war memorial
A guide of the Pays d’art et d’histoire du Trégor leads a commented visit of the monument aux morts of Trégrom, by the Église Saint-Brandan. The reading moves from the stone to the memorial practices that settled in after the Great War. The series title, Des monuments bien vivants, argues that a village monument is still in use. Lannion-Trégor Communauté holds that label from the Ministry of Culture, and prints its season in Breton too.
Geological Walk from Tréhorenteuc to the Jardin aux Moines
Samuel Piriou, a geologist and guide, walks a five-kilometre route out of Tréhorenteuc into Brocéliande, reading the ground as he goes. Erratic blocks and rock outcrops carry the explanation, and maps account for the shape of the landscape. The route reaches the Jardin aux Moines, the megalithic site whose significance Le Géologue Ambulant interprets on the spot. Ancient heritage is described too, and places on the free outing must be booked.