10 years in the Bay of Mont St Michel living at la Ferme de la Baie
10 years ago I arrived in France and picked up the keys to my new home in the bay of Mont St Michel. Henry arrived a day later with all our possessions packed into 2 box vans, which would fit a tiny corner of our new home. We are still here 10 years later and there have been quite a few changes, including a few grey hairs and a lot of anecdotes. Big Steve, our Ouessant ram, is still here too and if he could talk, I imagine he would have some tales to tell. Nursing new lambs Big Steve Pigs, chickens and teenagers Frodo, our friendly dog The...
read moreFromage et Pommes de Terre (Cheese and Potatoes) – Winter dining in France
France has a reputation for fine dining, enhanced by the Michelin star system of rating top restaurants, but for every day dining winter is the time for cheese and potatoes or fromage et pommes de terre. This is the cuisine of the Alps and it gets a national airing at the start of the year. Raclette Fondue is perhaps the best known Alpine dish, but raclette is a very popular and very sociable eating experience. Raclette is basically melted cheese. It is served with boiled potatoes and cold meats plus a garnish of gherkins and pickled onions....
read moreLa Grande Maree
The summer late night visits to Mont St Michel finished at the end of last week and we are heading into high tide season. The bay of Mont St Michel is famous for having one of the fastest rising tides in Europe. ‘Faster than a galloping horse’. The tides follow a fortnightly pattern and for a few days every couple of weeks the Mont is surrounded by water and appears to be an island. For some of the highest tides, there is the chance of seeing a tidal bore rolling across the bay, though that does need the wind to be in the right...
read moreTeenagers on Holiday
I don’t have children so I borrowed a couple of teenagers for a few days! Then I had to decide what we would do. I had learnt on a previous day out that the teenagers I had borrowed tend not to come with ideas, so I wrote a list of possible things to do. Of course I was still working. We have people arriving and leaving almost every day in August and there are always chores. Even teenagers can be a helpful pair of hands, though I am sworn to secrecy about what they did, in case they get asked to do it at home. Things that we did...
read moreGrimpant
We might not be up to a marathon, but today we achieved a first… climbing up and abseiling down Mont Dol. It’s always a challenge for us to find something that we both want to do, and also to find time to do it. So we closed for a couple of days and signed up for a climb. The day had started brightly, but by the time we were due to start the rain clouds threatened. There was very little chat from the instructor. We got our gear on, the instructor scooted up a cliff face, tied some rope to it, scooted back down and then it was...
read moreLe Marathon du Mont St Michel
It was the marathon at the weekend. 26 miles of apparently flat terrain, with the destination in site for a lot of the time. The route criss-crosses the Polders to Mont St Michel, so I popped out to see what was happening at the 35km point, which is about 5 minutes from home. I arrived as the eighth runner went past....
read moreLa Pointe du Grouin and dinner in Cancale
Drive past Cancale along the coast road and you will find La Pointe du Grouin, the most northerly tip of the St Malo peninsular. On a sunny day, the views from here are spectacular. I am always inspired looking at the vastness of the sea. You can often see the Îles Chausey, though the best way to get to them is from Granville, the other side of the bay. The point is on the GR34, the walking route around the coast of Brittany. Even on a not so sunny evening, when you look at the water you can see why this part of the Brittany coastline is...
read moreLe Tour de France 2016
The Tour de France is coming back to Mont St Michel next year on 1st July. The last time we had a time trial that finished at Mont St Michel. This time the start of stage one will be from Mont St Michel. With stages 2 and 3 also starting close by, it promises to be an exciting weekend. Image source: Ouest de France.
read moreMont St Michel at night
During the summer the abbey at Mont St Michel is open until midnight every night except on Sundays until the end of August. It’s a great way to see the abbey without the crowds and can be much more relaxing and quite a bit cooler on a hot day.
read moreRaspberry or Cherry
The season is here and we have been caught out. The raspberries are quite straightforward and half an hour every 2 days seems to be enough to stay ahead of the ripening crop. I will probably be picking raspberries until September. Cherries are bit more complicated. There are trees and ladders involved, and the best cherry tree is in the middle of the field, so I don’t just wander past to see how the cherries are coming on… so they have ripened while I haven’t been looking. Still we managed to gather about 5kg today and they...
read moreJam Time
I know it’s time to start making jam when the apricots arrive in the supermarket, the raspberries are turn pink and the Elder trees are covered in white blossom. And that’s now. I have just put the elderflowers to steep in water over night and will be making cordial tomorrow. Next the jam apricots will suddenly appear in the supermarket in boxes of 5 kilos. My crop of raspberries looks likely to be bumper, so I will certainly be making some apricot and raspberry jam in about 4 weeks time. Does anyone have any interesting jam...
read moreLe Marathon du Mont St Michel 2015
It’s arrived. It’s Marathon weekend and it seems most of our guests will be running! Previous guests have talked about how gruelling the race is as although the terrain is mostly flat, you can see the finish, Mont St Michel, from about the half way point. Follow this link to find out more: http://www.montsaintmichel-marathon.com/ For this weekend it does mean that St Malo will be full of runners running a 5k and a 10k race, and Mont St Michel will be a place to avoid on Sunday unless you are wearing shorts and trainers! There are...
read moreWhere We Are
On the border between Brittany and Normandy, minutes from le Mont St Michel
Le Fenil
Large open plan living area with vaulted ceilingAbricot
Cosy 2-bedroom gîte with a bath Romarin
Cosy 2-bedroom gîte with a shower Gardens and Grounds
Plenty of room to sit, to play games, to feed the chickens and to look for eggsBed and Breakfast
Rustic old farmhouse, with oak beams, original oak floorboards and a rambling gardenBed & Breakfast
Local Attractions
Historic towns, WWII sites, mussel and oyster farms, and World Heritage site le Mont Saint MichelLocal Attractions
Food and Fun
Sand yachting, accrobranches, golf, cycling, rambling, go-karting, horse-riding, sea-kayaking, eating…Food and Fun
Nice things people have said about their holidays with us