Friday 9 December 2016

Highlights and Holidays

Josselin Festival

 December is here and already another year at Maison Driscoll is behind us. Once again we have been blessed with many guests from many countries with many stories to tell. That's the fun in doing what we do, you never know what to expect when the door bell rings and a new customer arrives. In the past twelve months we've had a Romanian pop singer, two Dutch, with a vintage Land Rover, Fishermen and of course the usual array of impressive motorcycles from all over Europe. I very much hope that mother fate has a similar adventure mapped out for us in 2017........Very much looking forward to it.

One of the main highlights of 2016 was the bi-annual festival held in the nearby town of Josselin. This is a huge event for the area, which attracts many visitors from all over the world. If you dress in costume entrance is free. We were lucky in that the weather was perfect, warm and sunny. All manner of entertainment is on hand, Jousting, sword fighting, fire-eating and dance to name but a few. If Ferrets are your thing then you are catered for. I personally was very impressed by the birds of prey, especially the Bald Eagle that refused to play and disappeared up to the top of the Church spire and wouldn't  come down for sometime, smart bird.
The grounds to the chateau are free to enter during the festival which is a treat in itself. And the bars and restaurants of course are open all day and there's nowhere better to sit and watch the weird and wonderful sights wander by.
The day is rounded off with a grand firework display over the Chateau and the adjacent River Oust. Unfortunately those of us that run a chamber d-hote and have to get up bright and early to make breakfast for our wonderful guests have to be in bed long before all that happens, so we just have to take other peoples word that it is quite a spectacle. Tough life, but someone has to do it. :)  

 November saw the staff of Maison Driscoll (Karen and myself) get it's first proper French break since we opened for business. We took a gite for three days up on the Normandy coast, very close to the D-Day landing sites. Although the weather was pretty windy and a tad chilly, we wrapped up well and took in the sites.
As it was a short stay we only got to see two of the beaches, Utah and Omaha. Utah, out of the two I found the most moving, apart from the presence of a very good visitors centre/museum and small bar come restaurant, very little seemed to have changed, I was very impressed.
Granted, my birthday lunch in that very restaurant was washed down with a D-Day beer, but I can forgive them that, it didn't come across as tourist trap just out to grab your Euro, I think they had the balance just about right.



Omaha
Christmas is now approaching, a period that Maison Driscoll is very much looking forward to, as our (young adult) children will be spending it with us here in France for the first time. It's only for a couple of days but it will be great to all be together again on the special day.


So now it's all eyes on the new year, lets hope it's a good one, and if you fancy seeing what Bretagne is all about, you can always book in with us. 

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