We drove nearly 400km into Brittany along the west coast of France to Rochefort en Terre, a small town of only about 600 people.

Normally this would take about four hours, but the high­ways have a 130km/h limit (off­set by a toll to access the high­way), and this cut an hour off our travel time. Not that it mat­tered, as the French coun­try­side is won­der­ful to watch, pop­u­lated with hills and a vari­ety of colour­ful foliage. There are also end­less cows roam­ing the pas­tures; I finally under­stood why cheese, but­ter, choco­late, and cream are so promi­nent in French cuisine.

It’s strange to be in a place that’s so remote. To go for orga­nized sports, you have to drive to the near­est city, which is 30 min­utes away. At the same time, all the ameni­ties are a 5-minute stroll away. There’s no traf­fic here, no light pol­lu­tion, and no noise save for a bark­ing dog or two. In this part of the world, the cul­ture is rich in his­tory, but the life is rel­a­tively untouched by the com­pli­ca­tions of urban living.

cat

The first cat I’ve seen in a week. He’s grown old and docile, and luck­ily, this means you can pick him up, put him in your lap, and he’ll be just as happy as by the wood burn­ing stove.

door mat

Doormats are fre­quently embed­ded in the front entrance, in or out­side of the house.

brioche

Brioche, a French bread made heavy from extra egg and but­ter. Had as a snack between lunch and din­ner, as din­ner tends to be much later. Perfect for spread­ing but­ter or jam, and fre­quently served with chocolate.

standing in doorway

 

filet mignon du porc

Filet mignon de porc, served with a cream sauce with sauteed mush­rooms and cubes of lardon.

chocolate

Chocolate creme fraiche pots. The creme fraiche gives it a very rich and slightly cheesy taste.

The Villa

The biggest treat in Rochefort en Terre was the villa I stayed in. It’s my dream prop­erty; lots of her­itage and per­son­al­ity, but the inside is clean, mod­ern, and wired. The near­est lake is a 10-minute walk away, and the near­est ocean is a 20 minute drive. It wasn’t hard to relax when I could warm my feet by the wood burn­ing stove.

stone house

 

ensuite bathroom

My ensuite bath­room. Notice how the toi­let tank is built into the wall, which makes for eas­ier cleanup. Genius. Also, the lit­tle off-kilter yin-yang on the wall above it is the but­ton for flush­ing. The white porce­lain rack is a heater that can be used to keep your­self warm when bathing.

kids bedroom

One of the kids bedrooms.

kitchen view 1

Stainless steel appli­ances and gran­ite kitchen tops = hotness.

kitchen view 2

 

master bedroom

Master bed­room. The stone wall was part of the orig­i­nal design (the house used to be a doctor’s office), but even­tu­ally cov­ered with wall­pa­per by sub­se­quent own­ers. As part of the most recent ren­o­va­tions, the wall­pa­per was removed from that side of the rooms, and is now a com­mon motif through­out the house that gives it a nice rus­tic feel.

master bathroom

The mas­ter bath­room, with jacuzzi hot tub.

villa back view

The view from a third-floor win­dow, fac­ing the back of the house.

Europe 2010 travel diaries