We have been spending a wonderful week in Brittany, Northern France. The weather has been great and our traditional stone cottage in the tiny hamlet of Ardilloux perfect. We have enjoyed exploring the area, occasional meals out and cooking meals at home. The hamlet is inhabited by non-English speaking French but are very friendly even supplying me with the fresh herbs I have needed for cooking.

We have visited many unique villages in the area. Saint-Malo on the Atlantic coast, originally built as a walled citadel guarding the mouth of  the Rance river, was for centuries home to feared pirates. They’ve all gone to Davy Jones’ Locker, though, and now it’s Brittany’s most-visited town.  Another of our favourite finds was Combourg, a village found between Rennes and St Malo ,  in north-east Brittany, in the Ille et Vilaine department. It is a  pleasant town dominated by the important Chateau de Combourg.

We have so much fun, including mistakes, like having no idea what we are eating at times (but never disappointed), how to pay for parking in certain areas and wondering if we will ever get our car back,  and accidentally forgetting and driving on the wrong side of the road. We even turned up at a restaurant today 1 hour early as we had no idea daylight savings existed here, let alone finished on Saturday !!! The restaurant was wonderful, giving us a wine and plenty of smiles, until the chef was ready to feed us. We are going back there for our last lunch in Brittany on Friday.