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Highlights

    • Sleeps ten in five bedrooms
    • Two Sitting Rooms
    • Two Bathrooms
    • Separate Utility and Toilet
    • Large Kitchen-Diner
    • Patio

The Cottage

The cottage is situated in the centre of a small commune called La Denilais, which consists of a central farm house and about a dozen cottages and out buildings. The commune dates from the early 18th century, with most of the buildings being constructed around 1730, as we believe ours was.

As you will see from the photos there are actually two houses joined together (via the extention that runs behind them) that makes up the cottage. This gives two quite independent houses both with a bathroom and sitting room of their own. They are known as the old and new houses when we talk about each side. The old house, on the left in this picture, is the original one we bought in 1989, the new one (right) is the one that was bought in 1998 and was finished in 2002.

The cottages are of traditional design, build of two foot thick solid granite stone, particular to the region and supported on large oak beams. Originally they would have been two floors with the ground floor for the farm worker, family and some animals and the top floor for storage, accessed by a temporary ladder. They now both have three floors with proper stairs but we have been able to keep most of the beams and exposed stone work.

Outline of facilities

In total there are five bedrooms which altogether will sleep ten people. There are three bedrooms in the old house - layed out as two doubles and one twin - and two very large bedrooms in the new house - one twin and one double. Each side has it's own bathroom, the old house having the bath with shower attachment and the new one a modern shower. On the ground floor of each is a sitting room with traditional stone fireplace.

Linking the two houses together is a long extention that has the kitchen and dining area. This overlooks the garden through four large french windows. At the far end of this extention there is a separte utility room and a third loo.

The Commune

La Denilais lies about a mile outside the small village of Aucaleuc, which has the nearest Tabac and telephone box, Aucaleuc is in turn 5Ille et Villane and Cote de Emerald miles to the West of the medieval town of Dinan. Dinan, is an attractive walled town with cobbled streets, churches, and medieval fortifications, battlements and castle. The main town overlooks a small port which sits at the end of the navigable part of the Rance river, the boarder between Côtes-d'Armor [22] and Ille-et-Vilaine [35]. Dinan is about 30 minutes from the coast by road whilst La Denilais itself is only about 25 minutes from the nearest beach.

Ferry Ports

The most convenient ferry port for the region and best port for La Denilais is St Malo, directly 25 miles to the north, which is only 30 minutes away on a typically fast and empty French motorway.

This main road network now goes most of the way through Brittany and Normandy and so the journey from Caen (2 1/2 hours), Cherbourge (3 hours) Le Havre (3 1/2 hours) or Roscoff (1 1/2 hours) has been reduced considerably in recent years.

See directions.





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