There’s a British TV comedy series that inspired today’s blog post title about a week we spent on the north coast of Brittany. In the show, when former mistress of the manor, Audrey, loses her husband, she sells the grand estate to a wealthy businessman but moves into the property’s small lodge house where she can keep an eye on the new owner. We both enjoyed watching it so it wasn’t unexpected when Bill asked me if I wanted to stay in a manor house. What did surprise me however, was that he was investigating a seaside vacation where we could walk along a rocky coast. Could this be the best of both worlds?

Since we gave up our cars upon moving to France, we now cover long distances by train. While that certainly has its limitations since there has to be a station in any destination we choose, the journey itself is now part of the vacation—reading, listening to music, eating, enjoying wine, both of us watching the scenery. Upon arrival, typically downtown, we can walk to the hotel/apartment, often passing a food market along the way to stock up for the week.

For this trip, we were in Paimpol (a 2-hour drive from Mont-Saint-Michel) where, within 10 minutes of getting off the train, we were walking through the front door of Le Manoir having to decide which of 7 bedrooms would be ours. Friends were coming for the weekend but even then not all of the rooms would be filled. Outside there was a gate through the walled garden that opened directly onto the beach and calm waters of the bay. Yes, the best of both worlds indeed.

The first mention of Paimpol was on a map of the area from 1189 and by the late 1500s this port city had become a major contributor to “La Grande Pêche” that sent fleets of boats to catch massive amounts of cod around Iceland and Newfoundland. For 400 years, Paimpol’s economy thrived on the lucrative fishing industry, which also fueled shipbuilding. However, as fish stocks dwindled, the town began capitalizing on its stunning natural beauty to entice visitors like us to their coast.  

Every day we’d walk out that garden gate to the beach to spend a few hours simply strolling along watching birds and fish. Our walking map noted several viewpoints that were especially picturesque as well as interesting features including an outcropping of pillow lavas. That’s a 600- million-year-old geological formation that occurred when molten lava erupted underwater, cooled rapidly, and  formed rounded shapes. The map also pointed to the ruins of several tide mills that I’d never heard of. At high tide they would capture water that would then flow back out to sea over the mill’s water wheel, driving the grinding stone to turn the wheat into flour.

One of these coastal walks took us to the Abbey of Beauport that was founded in the early 13th century. For 600 years it served as a religious and economic hub until it was closed down during the French Revolution and eventually sold off to three families from Paimpol. Some of the buildings were turned into a stable, a barn, a town hall, and apartments while others were abandoned after their roofs collapsed and remain so today. The buildings and the surrounding 100 hectares (247 acres) are now owned by the French coastal protection agency with the goal of maintaining the natural areas for both wild animals and humans to enjoy. We can now happily add ourselves to that list!

Photo notes: That’s the Manoir in today’s featured photo across the top and in the first paragraph is the view from the living room on one of our sunny days. More photos of the area are below in the gallery.