Rochefort-en-Terre

In Brittany there are 22 Petites Cités de Caractère - small towns of character - and on Sunday, we went to visit one of them: Rochefort-en-Terre. It's about half an hour's drive from our base in Brittany and we had visited it a few weeks ago but spent the whole time wandering around in awe that we forgot to take any pictures, so we had to go back for another look, this time with cameras at hand!

The weather forecast had predicted temperatures of 29 to 30 degrees, so we all decided not to bring jumpers or cardigans. Unfortunately, the sun was hiding behind the clouds and it was rather chilly when we got out of the car, with only body heat and Mummy's scarf to ward off the cold!

We set off and soon forgot all about the cold because Rochefort-en-Terre is just so beautiful. At every turn, there was another charming street, another beautiful house, another burst of colourful flowers.

We followed a way-marked path that leads along a 7.5 km walk that takes in the surrounding forrest and countryside before bringing you back into the town.

The forrest walk was so quiet and peaceful and very lush and green.

There were lots of fun things to do along the way!

The path took us alongside fields of crops.

By now, the sun had come out and it was hot!

Some horses taking shelter from the sun.

We had some pretty serious house-envy along the way! We all agreed that this one was our favourite.

A couple of hours later, we arrived back into the town, and after some restorative galettes, we strolled around, feasting our eyes.

Among the many cute little shops, our favourite was that of a local sculptor who makes her pieces from wire. Birds, shoes, cow's heads, skulls, flowers, jelly-fish - all constructed from bent wires, and the result is both delicate and arresting.

We walked up to the castle at the top of the town and had a look around the grounds, inspecting the well:

 and the little chapel (check out the apparition of St Conor of Sandymount at the window):

...before finally heading home.