Wednesday, knowing that I wd be seeing some houses at La Garcilly – on the river Aff - popped in on my way to Redon and was quite taken with it. Came back with the Foret agency people to see a modern house in an estate on top of a steep hill. It was charming – and met the specifications but the hill and the estate put me off. For the second time I stalked out of a Notaire offended with their lazy arrogance (the previous time had been Pontivy) – but, on this occasion, shared with the young guy my opinion of French notaires. Like the previous one, they were simply unable to fit me in to their schedule. Pontivy had offered me an appointment a week hence – and the Garcilly guy couldn’t fit a 10 minute visit to the only house I was interested in (in the town) until some time the following week.
The morning started with another attempt to get a haircut – which is not as easy as I’ve been used to in Romania and other transition countries. In French rural areas, the hairdresser’s is a rare social phenomenon in more senses than one. No question of “come back in 10 minutes”. In Malestroit I duly accepted an appointment the next day at 11.00. Had time before my noon visit in the small town – broused in the newsagents; scanned the newspaper on a bench in front of the church in the warming sun. Spent a few minutes inside the church and thought of my parents. These old Brittanny churches with lovely stained-glass windows are solid reminders of the faith which sustained the people here – and have become an important element in my choosing this area. I’m reading Graham Robb’s The Discovery of France – which looks at how life was lived in the very different parts of France a century or so ago.
Tuesday, after the morning bike ride round the villages, I returned to Questembert for another agency which reckoned that I wd be better looking in the Redon area where the property was cheaper (further from Vannes). He put me in touch with their branch there. For me this is actually a better area – with both the confluence of river and canal and the TGV connection. And the location of the house is also great (with the exception of the traffic passing the front window). No word from Gwen of yesterday’s agency about the rest of the houses we didn’t manage to visit. Visited Rochefort-en terre – charming but a bit lifeless - frozen in time. Popped into 2 Malestroit agencies and also fixed visits.

getting serious

Deep into my third week of house hunting and in the last few days of the house let at Reminiac, another serious house appears on the horizon – at a charming village, Malensac, some 10 minutes or so from Redon. Up a short lane beside the pharmacie, it is bright and spacious – the front door opening onto what is currently a dining room – with a well-equipped kitchen to the left which has a nice view of the neighbour’s lawn. On the right of the house a large sitting room. Up a delightful wooden staircase, an open space in a large attic area used as an office gave (on the left) to 2 bedrooms and (on the right) to a third large bedroom. Outside, past the garage, a good vegetable garden area and new potting shed. All for 142,000. So what is it to be – this one which, as the agent rightly says, will sell and re-sell with no difficulty or the one in Finistere. Time for decision. I phone the Finistere agent to find out if she has been able to find me accommodation in the area while I check it out – and get an outline of the procedure. A birth certificate is needed!! Over lunch at St Martin on the canal, I make a rapid comparison of both the 2 houses and areas. Surprisingly the Finistere house scores well – with pluses being the neighbouring gite, the conservatory, the front garden, the charm of the front room and perspectives of upstairs rooms, the availability of almost all the furniture – and the present owners moving to the next door house (help with any issues on oil heating). There is a TGV at Morlaix in the north (about 45 mins drive compared with Redon being only 10 minutes or so away from Malansac).
The Malansac house has a slightly awkward garden arrangement (no lawn or front garden and the vegetable garden being round the garage corner).
Both houses are near the canal. Malansac has a Super U - and Plonevez sur Faou a small supermarket and 3 larger supermarkets 6 kms away. Both have medical facilities. Malansac has ready access to Vannes and the coast there – Plonevez sur Faou to Quimper and the more spectacular and less frequented Finistere coastline (inc Concarneau).

getting warm

Had a relaxing day on Sunday after all the driving of the last few days. And it was a glorious day. Cycled around the area first and then continued the reading of Julian Barnes Letters from London (1995).
Monday afternoon took me to Questembert, to the Agences agency who lined up 8 properties for me. We visited 5 of them, none matching the the longere which I saw in Plonevez-sur-Faou on Saturday morning. I have a feeling that the purpose of the viewing of the next couple of days is to confirm that this is the best available. Certainly it would make the task of setting up home so much easier – if I was able to negotiate for most of the furniture (which is quite to my taste).

Saturday a long drive to visit an intriguing house in Poullaen (in Finistere) which I had seen on mayer-immobilier internet more than a month ago. With a small valley of pond, trees and stream at back, it looked adorable – and well priced at 127,000. However, it seemed a bit remote – with 2 summer houses next door (English). The next house Sylvie took me to see was next to a dam created some 40 years earlier to feed a nuclear power plant (!) which has been closed for 30 years. It was remote and fusty. The last visit was magic – to a logere in a village not far from the Canal and Carhaix. It has the angles and perspectives I love in a building and is in fact 2 houses –with a small (2 bedroom) gite next door. Now on market for 130,000, its pleasant UK residents would be next door neighbours. And it’s in middle of regional park area and some 35 minutes drive from Quimper where there is both sea and TGV connection. Round the corner is one of these antique garages where I picked up books by Stepen Fry, Ian Rankin (my first), Paul Scott (time to read this guy who wrote in the 1960s) and Julian Barnes. I indicated I was interested in spending a few days in the area before making a decision.
Then back to Loudeac where 4 visits had been arranged – 2 in the town (11,000 pop and with Carrefour) itself. First (at 152k) was typical estate house – with 4 bedrooms and flexibility but little character. Second had nice living room accessing south facing verandah but needed fair amount of work (empty for 8 months or so). Other 2 houses too remote and needing work.
Back in Reminiac, started to think about the logere – and the realities of life in Finistere village.
Thursday was a public holiday but I saw in newspaper that a nearby Super-U was having a sale – which included bikes. Beautiful drive – and bought one at 70 euros.
Friday went back to Pontivy area – with Columbie agency. They first showed me an old house just off the central square on the market for 200k but likely to go for about 160. Hadn’t been lived in for 6 months – and had no real charm. Then a real original stone house just 5 minutes from river in centre – with very large garden at back and near a swimming pool. But the house was small and had no character.
Popped in to Loudeac and Rohan in whose environs property seems to be cheaper – and made arrangements for visits on Saturday afternoon and Tuesday.

house search

Drove on Wed from Redon to the Pontivy area – which has a great atmosphere which belies its 15,000 population. Its located in a small bowl of hills with the Blavet river flowing through it and a mix of medieval streets and grand buildings giving it a real Napoleonic feel. It is apparently the fastest growing town in Brittany – which is not good for purchase prices. The notary could offer me an appointment only in a week – so I walked out. The neighbouring house agents offered a meeting an hour later which allowed me time for a walk around and a chat with an Englishman in a La Foret agency who was able to take me to a couple of great houses – but 12 kilometres out of the town. Most interesting is in Guen.
On outward journey, I saw 2 agencies in Questembert and fixed visits for Monday next. On way back from Pontivy I called in at Josselin to visit the EngIish bookshop – and managed to see a house in the centre at the Foret agency (which I am using for Redon). Also picked up 2 le Carre novels – of which I have become a recent devotee. His language and values very acceptable.
Two interesting items on the British TV news – rather hidden amongst the blanket coverage of the first days of the historical coalition there. First that the Nottingham hospital system is now buying its food ingredients from local suppliers and saving both prices (two pounds fifty a patient meal day) and local jobs. It’s possible through a “processing hub” which ensures quality. As the presenter asked, why hasn’t this happened before. I would assume the French and German systems have been doing this for some time. The answer was that the concept of local food sourcing has been slow to take off.
The second item is a report on police spending which has just been issued which asks that the issue of police numbers should be put on a more analytical basis – rather than being determined by a political bidding war which uses simplistic language of police on beat.

Back to house-hunting. I’m told that the Morbihan area from Ploermel south is the highest priced part of Brittany – for several reasons. First the micro-climate is more favourable (with the gulf stream); the area is within the commuting distance of towns such as Vannes, Rennes and Nantes. North of Ploermel is (with the exception of Pontivy) a more remote area – with fewer towns.
On Wednesday I found a charming house in the Redon area which is actually in the Ille et Villaine part of Brittany, stretching from Dinard on the Channel almost to the Atlantic coast in the south. Redon has a slightly run-down air – but good train connections and proximity to the Brest-Nantes Canal. The house is a few minutes walk from both the Canal and a supermarket. Only drawbacks are the traffic passing the front door and the 2 flights of (almost medieval) stairs – to the bedroom, study and then a large attic area.
Have just finished Colin Thubron’s Behind the Wall. Written in mid 1980s, the early part has echoes of Gulliver’s Travels - with Thubron’s European stature and features arousing intense curiousity. “Do I smell?” is a question he poses to the Chinese passenger as the plane descent into Beijing starts the book. Although these were still the times of the bike, modernisation and the active displacement of old buildings was already underway – and Thubron’s various conversations reflect the conformity of the people.

lift off

After several hours trying to get BlueAir to accept our mobile telephone number (and clarify where the shuttle bus in Paris was) I managed to buy a ticket online late afternoon yesterday which allowed D to catch the train from Redon at 20.20 from Redon to Paris and get successfuly from there this morning to Beauvais and fly at 11.00 this morning to Bucharest. And Hilary and I left at a drisly 06.15 for Nantes with the skies apparently also clear for her trip back to Leeds. The skies opened around Nantes - but back safely.
The picture is a small scuplture we saw in the window of an atelier in Josselin

travel headaches

And then, suddenly, Hilary was with us. I drove down to Nantes airport to pick her up Friday morning and we visited Redon on the way back. Nice place
Saturday we went to the peninsula.

Daniela's mum died on Sat night - have to get her back to Bucharest - and Hilary back to Leeds. But the ash cloud is drifting again and flights are being cancelled in France. BlueAir website also acting up and unable to take our booking of the Beauvais (Paris)-Bucharest flight (perhaps just as well). Having been a distant observer of the April chaos, I am now in the middle of it. We think of driving tomorrow to Nantes - put Daniela on the TGV for Paris - and, if flights are grounded, then drive to St Malo to let Hilary take ferry to Portsmouth.

Dinan and Becherel

Monday was overcast and cold – as we headed with Adrian and Susanna following – to Dinan on the minor roads north. Dinan is quite amazing – with the strongest fortifications I have ever seen commanding the heights over the river and riddled with tiny medieval lanes.
After the farewells, the real find was on our return journey. We had intended to visit Rennes but were diverted by a sign on the road for Becherel – ville du livre and duly encountered what is for me a dream place – one of what is now a European network of 2nd hand book towns and villages. I had encountered one quite by accident in Fontenoy la Joute (Lorraine) on a long drive I had made on my own in 1997 from Bucharest to Brussels to take up a dreadful job I survived for 6 months with TAIEX – which was then the body helping the accession countries access knowledge about the acquis commaunitaire. I quickly discovered that it was little more than a travel boutique run by a bustling dragon of an Englishwoman masquerading under a Polish name.
Being Monday, most of the 16 bookshops were closed – but a couple were open. The first a real antique book shop whose cafe area was just like a sitting room and where we were left to our own devices. The second was a cavernous area – where I tracked down my Michel Mohrt and almost got the Jean Michel Revy and Romain Gary books I’m looking for. Hopefully we’ll return another day. They have apparently a blog – www.becherel-autour-du-livre.com
At one level it is annoying not to have regular access to the internet to be able to follow that link. At another, it is an encouragement to read what I have already downloaded

Ploermel et al

The weekend was the English bank holiday – so we had the pleasure of a visit from Susanna and Adrian – arriving midnight. Vide greniers had promised – but proved disappointing at Ploermel at Augan. Ploermel itself, however, is the first place we visited which I could imagine living in. Lively and full of charm – it has two large churches in the centre – both with delightful stained-glass windows. An organ was playing in one on our first visit – but I could find no way in to enjoy the performance. When we revisited on Sunday morning a christening was underway in the second – wood ceilings and Breton stone are the impressive features of these churches. Proximity to such a spiritual haven is probably on my checklist for houses! The newsagent’s had a very impressive range of magazines – including a fairly recent literary venture modelled on New York Review of books – www.booksmag.fr

Josselin gave us 4 serindipidous moments – an exhibition of marqueterie by Jacques Moisan in a tiny ancient church adjoining its fairy-tale castle which looms over the river. A sculpteuse seemingly specialising in capturing the relationships between men and women – I photographed a small one in the window of a couple reading back to back with the woman’s hand trailing. Hands are so expressive – I remember one of Dobre Dobrev’s paintings of a quiet Bulgarian square with a languid hand in the air. You can get a sense of the sculptress at http://creatures.celestes.free.fr
The final delight was a second-hand English bookshop – from which I emerged with 3 gems - a Jonathan Raban book whose title I had come across when I was considering the Syrian job some years back (Arabia through the looking glass); a highly appropriate Colin Thubron book - Behind the Wall about his travels in China in the early and mid 1980s; and a Morris West thriller I had not yet read - Cassidy.

Sunday night we ate well – and I had the rare pleasure of a conversation a quatres – with Adrian’s questions proving skilful in eliciting from me some rare opinions about the goodies and baddies in politics and why the British system is in such a mess. Although I did opine that the recent expense scandals are perhaps not quite what they seem! Most of the so-called misdemeanours were in fact the result of the advice given by the House officials – and the felons were few and minor. I am never disposed to conspiracy theories – but on this occasion I have to ask about the timing and nature of the revelations. The financial melt-down and collapse of neo-liberalism has required string government action and a rethink of the role of the state. One would have expected a resurgence of socialist thinking. So perhaps the expenses scandal was a preemptive strike – to ensure that the legitimacy of government activity remained under question.