Out & About

Mont-Saint-Michel

This famous abbey only a ten-minute drive from ‘Le Petit Lapin’ has attracted visitors for centuries. Isolated on a granite island in a sheltered bay, this World Heritage site is also of particular environmental interest.

The coast here has the highest high tides and the lowest low tides in all of Europe and you can literally see the tide change by observing the water in the Couesnon River, which enters the bay just west of the peninsula connecting Mont Saint Michel with the mainland.

It’s also possible to approach the abbey by walking across the bay with a guide. This is a magical place, surrounded by low-lying polders on which local sheep graze.

Dol de Bretagne

This charming town a ten-minute drive west of the cottage hosts a large market every Saturday morning.

Its central street is lined with traditional houses often decorated with wood and its asymmetric granite cathedral was for centuries the ecclesiastical centre for all of Brittany .

The town has numerous restaurants and cafés to suit all tastes and budgets as well as a prehistoric menhir, a large upright stone whose precise significance remains a mystery.

The Sea & the Coast

Many visitors are attracted to Brittany because of its gorgeous seacoast.

Visitors  find it offers stunning clean blue water for swimming and wide sandy beaches for sunbathing as well as dramatic cliff walking along the coastal path that stretches for hundreds of kilometres.

The closest beaches to ‘Le Petit Lapin’ are only half an hour’s drive to the east between Cancale and Saint Malo– they are truly beautiful!

Cancale

This seaside town 30 minutes from the cottage is renowned for its delicious local oysters and seafood in general as well as the buckwheat crêpes for which Brittany is famous.

Cancale’s cafés and restaurants stretch along the streets beside the bay and allow visitors to watch the fishermen as they harvest the oysters or the sailing boats which follow the coast towards the open sea.

Nearby is an impressive nature reserve at Point de Grouin, which offers spectacular views over the Bay of Mont Saint Michel and towards Saint Malo. The paths here wind dramatically around and over rocks to the look-out point to the north.

Saint Malo

A fortified port, Saint Malo’s cobbled streets and picturesque views over the sea remind the visitor of Brittany ‘s maritime history.

With the Rance river on one side and the open sea on the other, Saint Malo offers both gorgeous beaches and little cafés, traditional granite architecture and a natural seascape. Its world-class aquarium  is well worth a visit, too.

Dinan

This beautiful Breton town, half an hour’s drive from ‘Le Petit Lapin’, is famous for its remarkable local architecture.

Set high on a hill overlooking the Rance river, Dinan is like an open-air museum of historic buildings.

Its little port with its riverside restaurants is charming, too, as is the nearby mediaeval Abbey of Lehon.

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World War II Sites

The D-Day beaches are within visiting distance (about 1.5 hours drive), and there are other important Second World War sites nearer by. There is an inspirational American cemetery near Saint James in Normandy (30 minutes drive from the cottage) and a German cemetery overlooking Mont Saint Michel (20 minutes from ‘Le Petit Lapin’).

The ‘Memorial’ museum in Caen (1.5 hours drive) gives an insightful overview of the battle to liberate France in 1944. The famous Bayeux Tapestry is the memorial of another war, the Battle of Hastings in 1066– is also within visiting distance (about 1.5 hours away).

Rennes

Rennes is not only the capital of the Ille et Vilaine department but the capital of all of Brittany.

A university city with a vibrant urban life, it hosts a fabulous Saturday morning market in its historic centre and offers all the urban excitement of shops, restaurants, museums and cinemas. Only an hour’s drive over country roads, Rennes is definitely worth a visit!