CAROL DRINKWATER ❘ LOVE FRANCE A TRIP BACK IN TIME After decades living in France, Carol finally makes it to Brittany D
BY CAROL DRINKWATER
espite having lived in France for decades, I had never visited Brittany – but then last week, my husband offered me an
introduction to the region. He is the director of a small documentary film festival held in the town of Vitré, and invited me along for the weekend. If your taste is for the history and architecture of the Middle Ages, Vitré will spellbind you. Its medieval castle has pointy turrets and towers. The town’s historic centre consists of narrow winding lanes of cobbled stones and brightly- tinted picture-book houses. Thick stone-walled churches and chapels abound with gorgeous stained-glass windows and vaulted ceilings, walls of massive stone blocks. In the heart of the old town, the houses snuggle tight up against one another. They reminded me of illustrated nursery rhymes. They are wonky, multi-turreted, some with iron verandas, others with box windows that look like they are about to topple to the ground. If you enjoy oysters fresh from the bracing Atlantic Ocean, which is about an hour’s drive away, Vitré is also for you. For our first lunch, we dined on oysters and the freshest of white- fleshed fish and chips. Afterwards, I set off in
“IN THE HEART OF THE OLD TOWN, THE HOUSES SNUGGLE TIGHT UP AGAINST ONE ANOTHER. THEY REMINDED ME OF ILLUSTRATED NURSERY RHYMES”
the sunshine to traipse for miles. When I had tired myself out uphill and down dale, I whiled away a happy hour sitting outside a tiny bar sipping deliciously dry white wine from the nearby Loire valley.
From top: Vitré is full of historic buildings dating back to the Middle Ages; a sign on one of the buildings
The following morning, beautiful and sunny, church bells peeling into blue skies, I strode to the Château de Vitré. As I rounded the corner into its square, I was stopped in my tracks. The castle, constructed in the 11th century on the site of a wooden fortress later burned to the ground, is certainly impressive. Its multiple turrets soar skywards. It’s a fairytale building that dominates not only the old town but the surrounding countryside.
I wandered about the castle square, strolled onto the bridge that crosses the moat and then decided against a visit. I will save that excursion for a rainy day when I return. Instead I took off deep into the belly of the lower town, and up hill again. I paused as I strolled along Vitré’s impressive ramparts to listen to the river Vilaine burbling below. I gazed out over farmyards
78 ❘ FRANCE TODAY Jun/Jul 2023
populated with chickens, ducks, black sheep and goats, the latter climbing steeply to my feet to munch grass and say hello.
I was searching for two chapels I had heard were for sale, both for silly prices. Of course, they’d need renovation. Both are classified monuments so there would be strict rules as to how they were renovated and for what purposes. In my imaginings I was dreaming of a bijou cinema to show documentary films.
AN ENCHANTED LAND I found one, but not both. It was a lovely whitewashed building with faded cherry-red wooden doors built on a slab of dark rock. However, it stood in the middle of a cluster of houses with no parking, approached by a narrow lane. Not suitable for a cultural centre, but what a wonderful pied-à-terre it would make. My route back was circuitous and steep. I got lost over and over again – even in a place as small as Vitré! But what a perfect way to discover the Gateway to Brittany. I will certainly visit again, and soon, I hope. I returned home uplifted as though I had been transported back to a far-off time where I had wandered through an enchanted other-land. FT Carol Drinkwater is an award-winning actress and the best-selling author of The Olive Farm series. Her latest work is An Act of Love, a story of bravery and courage in WWII France
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