Friday, September 22, 2017

Château de Kergournadeac'h, Brittany, France

Wandering Around Cottage - September 2017 Edition


I've been away from my blog and my computer altogether a little longer than I expected. September didn't have a mellow beginning! Anyway, I'm back, but I have to warn you, due to a little eye problem, there will be no proof reading of this post... Please guess the words that are weirdly typed...

Je suis restée loin du blog et de l'ordinateur en général un peu plus longtemps que ce que je pensais. Septembre a commencé sur les chapeaux de roue. Enfin, me voilà de retour... Je dois vous prévenir, cependant, que pour économiser mon œil droit qui connaît un petit problème, je ne relirai pas cet article... A vous de deviner les mots qui sont mal tapés !


Let's get away from all our personal problems: I'm taking you away to Cleder, a charming coastal town of Brittany where there is an impressive number of castles and manors. Today, we're discovering the Castle of Kergournadeac'h (I'm sorry if you spit your coffee on the screen trying to pronounce it - I should have warned you before hand not to).
Eloignons-nous des problèmes du quotidien :  je vous emmène à Cléder, une petite ville sur la côte Nord de la Bretagne, découvrir le château de Kergournadeac'h. Désolée, vous venez de cracher votre café sur l'écran en essayant de prononcer ce nom ? J'aurai dû vous avertir avant qu'il ne fallait pas.


This castle can't actually be visited for two very good reasons: it's in ruins, so there isn't one floor left and it's on private grounds, so it's forbidden to come in, but I thought there were pretty nice views from the road... Once I had driven for what seemed a very long time on very narrow country roads to find it. And the "new" house of the land owners isn't too shabby to look at!


Ce château ne peut pas réellement se visiter pour deux bonnes raisons. Il est en ruine et il n'y a plus un seul plancher. De plus, il est situé sur un terrain privé et il est donc interdit d'entrer. Mais j'ai trouvé qu'on avait un bon aperçu depuis la route... Le dénicher au détour d'une forêt m'a quand même demandé de conduire longtemps sur de toutes petites routes de campagne en priant chaque seconde qu'un tracteur n'arrive pas en face ! 


From what I read "Kergournadeac'h" means "home to the man who doesn't flee" because it's said this land was given to knight Nuz as a gift because he helped Saint Pol to fight the dragon that was terrorizing people on the nearby Island of Batz, island you can see a glimpse of on this older post.


D'après ce que j'ai lu, "Kergournadeac'h" signifie "lieu de l'homme qui ne fuit pas" car ce territoire avait été donné en cadeau au chevalier Nuz en remerciement de l'aide qu'il avait apportée à Saint Pol pour combattre le dragon qui terrorisait les habitants de l'île de Batz, non loin de là, île que vous pouvez apercevoir dans ce précédent article.


If we don't know how much truth there is in the above legend, it seems there has been a castle there at least since the 13th century. The castle we can see today is the result of several transformations as often. It was finished in 1620 by his then owner who had worked quite some time to get the castle to look like he wanted. Sadly, he died only nine years later.

Si on ne sait évidemment pas à quel point la légende ci-dessus repose sur une base de vérité, il semble bien qu'il y ait eu un château en ce lieu depuis au moins le XIIIe siècle. Les bâtiments que l'on peut voir aujourd'hui sont, comme souvent, le résultat de multiples transformations. Ils furent achevés en 1620 par le propriétaire d'alors qui avait beaucoup fait modifier le château. Malheureusement, il mourut seulement neuf ans plus tard.


Why is the castle in such a state today? Sure, time has passed... But time was "helped". In 1760, the lady of the castle set it to fire, hoping her son would join the French royal court if he didn't have a home in Brittany anymore... I did see this story at least twice on the Internet, but some other sites don't mention it, so I'm not really sure it's true... But I find it interesting.

Pourquoi le château est-il dans cet état ? Bien sûr, le temps a fait son oeuvre. Mais il semble qu'il ait été bien aidé... En 1760, la propriétaire du château y met le feu, espérant priver son fils de son confort et le pousser ainsi à la cour de France. Si j'ai trouvé cette histoire au moins deux fois sur Internet, elle n'est pas non plus sur tous les sites et je ne suis donc pas sûre qu'elle soit authentique, mais je la trouve intéressante.


Since this date, the castle was mostly used as a stone supermarket for buildings like houses or chapels all around. Now, just in case you were planning to visit the place in order to get a stone or two for you own garden walls (not that the idea ever crossed my mind), let me tell you the building is now protected as a "historical monument"... I guess it means I need to keep finding stones in the field behind Cottage...

Depuis cette date, le château a surtout été utilisé comme carrière de pierres pour construire des maisons ou des chapelles aux alentours. Pour le cas où vous soyez déjà en train de planifier votre visite pour piquer quelques pierres pour le mur de votre jardin (non pas que cette idée m'ait traversé l'esprit), laissez-moi vous annoncer que le bâtiment est maintenant classé... Je crois que je vais donc continuer de déterrer des pierres dans le champ derrière Cottage...


Would you fancy having such a beautiful ruin in your garden?

Cela ne vous plairait-il pas d'avoir de si belles ruines dans votre jardin ?



See you next time,

A la prochaine fois,

Hasta la proxima,



PS : I still remember that I have at least one reader living in Florida and I hope she's safe after the hurricane. I love checking the map on blogger that shows me where all my readers are from... So many natural disasters happened lately around the world and I hope all of you are safe.


30 comments:

  1. Absolutely stunning, charming, and my kind of dwelling, made of stone and in the old fashion way of rugged edges. How lovely, Magali! And I hope your eye situation heals. I know, I've seen some changes in my vision in the last year and so far, I'm fine, but it's annoying to have all these floaters in my eyes, then to have the beginning stages of cataracts AND needing new glasses! BE WELL!

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  2. I hope your eyes gets better soon. Love the pictures you showed and the story behind the castle. Whenever I see pictures like those I always wonder who lived in them and what was their story.

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  3. Hi.....you did a fine job with that bad eye..hope it's better soon..i do so enjoy your day trips..the history in Europe is fascinating to me..castles..manors & dragons..oh my..and i think yes..yes i'd love a ruin in my garden..the owners new home is pretty wonderful too..love the windows an door with transom..always love a transom..sure hope the end of sept has been kinder to you then the beginning..have a Great weekend.!!

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  4. How beautiful!! Hope you are back to normal soon!! xoxo

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  5. I love the little tours you provide us with Magali. It really makes me feel like I'm there.

    Sorry about your eye and I do hope it gets better soon.

    xxx

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  6. Hi Sweet Magali, I am one of your readers in Florida and am happy to report that we are safe and well, and so very thankful that the storm was downgraded to a category two before it reached our city. Still devastating destruction, but not as bad as it could have been. Thank you for your kind thoughts.

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    1. It's such a relief to read the comments and find out my readers are safe. It must have been so scary.

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  7. Thank you for including us in your trip. I loved it. It would be so wonderful to visit the places you travel to, but the next best thing is pictures you share with us. I live in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA and we don't have ancient places to visit, although we do have our beautiful mountains and desert!I hope your eyes get better soon!

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  8. I just love it when you share your beautiful country's historical spots. Yes, I would love to have this castle siting in my garden! It is so beautiful and so fun to make up stories of what must have gone on in the castle and to the people. Thank you for your clever way of story telling. Loved it. Have a wonderful day!
    xoxo Jo

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  9. Travel time! A castle in your own backyard, how interesting. So many historical castles, churches and monuments in France, I enjoy looking and learning about them:). I hope your eye improved by now and take care, Kathleen in Az

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    1. The eye is now slightly better so I can read on the computer, blog again and reply to comments!

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  10. It is lovey! I am surprised that they do not do occasional tours.

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  11. This castle is gorgeous. I hope they can restore it someday. What a beautiful place to visit. Thank you for touring us in your beautiful homeland. Love seeing these posts when you travel around where you live. Happy Friday. Have a great weekend. Hope the eye gets better.
    xoxo
    Kris

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  12. I would fancy having that ruin on my property. I adore rural decay, or should I say medieval decay, in this case?

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  13. I think if I owned the castle, I'd figure out how to live in it...it is beautiful in all its ruin-glory. I loved your tour.

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  14. One could only imagine what it would be like to have a castle in ones backyard, even a castle in ruins, but my imagination is good, and I don't think it would be awful. O to have that much money! Thanks for the tour.

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  15. Oh to have lived in that castle. So sorry that it has been so badly damaged, but maybe some day it will be rebuilt and back to it;s splendor.

    Have a great week and thanks so much for the tour - loved it.

    Mary

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  16. Est-ce que l'anecdote que tu racontes sur ce fils que sa mère voulait obliger d'aller à la cour du roi ne ferait pas un bon début de roman ? Ah, avoir dans mon jardin une belle pierre provenant d'un ancien château... un rêve ! Bon courage pour ta nouvelle semaine de travail ! Bises

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  17. une ruine certes mais agrémentée de si jolis hortensias !!! j'ai un faible pour le logis au bout de l'allée... que l'automne qui débute sous le soleil dans le Nord soit clément en Bretagne ! monique59

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  18. In case I'm "the fan in Florida"-I'm still here :) !!! We had alot of wind...trees uprooted, power lines down in older neighborhoods where power is not underground. Long lines for food, gas and water. We're next to the water so we had to evacuate away from the (West) coast. After eleven days of uncertainty over which coast it was going to hit we all had frazzled nerves. You didn't know whether to pack and get out or stay put. Since the storm was so big (it covered the entire state) people from the Keys, Naples, Sarasota, Miami, (even Orlando) were all trying to get out of the state at the same time. The roads were just parking lots. People ran out of gas on the roads and the Governor had gasoline trucks coming up the opposite direction (with no traffic) to try to keep gas stations filled up for the people. The Keys took the biggest hit. Our family went about twenty minutes north to our daughters house...you couldn't have gotten out if you had wanted to on our coast by the time we all knew where Irma was headed. We were really blessed with no loss of power, a few limbs on the roof. My house lost power for a week so we stayed put at her house. We had rented a van and packed nearly everything we owned in it-what a job!!! I'm still sorting through boxes and tubs. My best friend drove all the way to Alabama before she found a hotel room! It seems if we get a hurricane here, it's usually around our Labor Day Holiday time in September. Strange. Well, there you have it. All of us over here made it pretty good. Thanks for thinking of us and keeping us in your prayers.

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    1. You described it so well, Nonni! Glad you and yours stayed safe!

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    2. I can't imagine how worrying the wait must have been, especially after seeing the damages on Saint Barthelemy and Saint Martin islands. I hope the rest of the season will be quieter.

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  19. Oh yes, I would love a French ruin in my garden! This is simply stunning and as you say the new home is not bad. What a lovely tour, I enjoye each photo and will stroll through again. Enjoy your week.......

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  20. What a beautiful 'ruin', yes, I would love to have it in my garden! Imagine the parties you could have! xx Karen

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    1. Those ruins would make a fabulous background, especially if they are well lit at night!

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  21. Mi querida Magali siempre me encantan tus relatos de la historia y gracias por eso y te dire que escupi mi jugo de naranja al tratar de leer aquella palabra :)) a los 3 dias de regresar de Peru nos tuvimos que preparar para el huracan Irma y estuvimos sin electricidad por unos dias.( Me gustaria tener unas cuantas piedras del Castillo en mi jardin ). Espero que todo este bien contigo y gracias por recordarme. Hasta la proxima !!!!
    nelly

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    1. Varios lectores de la Florida me dijeron que perdieron el poder durante unos días. Pero me alegro de que esté a salvo, incluso sin piedra castillo en su jardín. ¡Mantenerse a salvo!

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  22. fascinating post! That building is still beautiful even with half of it gone.

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    1. Yes, it keeps its charm and in our minds we can see how beautiful it used to be!

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  23. I enjoyed my visit to Cleder, I love the romance of a castle in ruin.
    Amalia
    xo

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