Product Description

Geography and geology have combined to make Brittany a land distinct from the rest of France. A place of dramatic contrasts, it occupies the great northwestern peninsula of the French landmass where a jagged coastline, fertile plains, and wild moorland lie beneath a sky by rapid turns sullen and sunny. A strong sense of separateness, reflected in the continuing strength of local village traditions, has remained a characteristic of the Bretons who, alone among the peoples of France, are Celts rather than Gauls. The architecture of the Breton villages is a testimony to centuries of religious piety: calvaries and ossuaries abound, including remarkable Gothic examples like those at Rochefort-en-Terre in Morbihan. Josselin in the same dpartement is home to a magnificent chateau with a Gothic inner facade generally hailed as a masterpiece of sculpture in granite. In Lhon, Ctes-du-Nord, you can stand and admire the ruined grandeur of its priory and chateau or, in Ille-et-Vilaine, explore the restored keep of Grand-Fougeray's thirteenth-century castle. The local houses are often built of granite, an ideal material for resisting the Atlantic winter storms. Though the ocean is sometimes a savage surround to the Breton peninsula, it also provides the seafood that makes any visit to the villages and small towns of Brittany a gastronomic delight. The sea yields succulent lobsters and langoustines, while the villages of the river estuaries enjoy mussels and oysters. Brittany's vigorous and varied village life and architecture are captured in James Bentley's perceptive commentaries and Hugh Palmer's stunning photographs. Complete with a traveler's guide, The Most Beautiful Villages of Brittany offers an evocative portrayal of the coastal and inland communities of this resilient land.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #434618 in Books
• Published on: 1999-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

Amazon.com Review
The latest installment of the lavishly illustrated Most Beautiful Villages series focuses on the picturesque hamlets of Brittany in northwest France. Written by James Bentley and photographed by Hugh Palmer, The Most Beautiful Villages of Brittany depicts the rich history of the proud and independent Bretons (who trace their ancestry back to the Celts). With 2,100 miles of coastline, the region's livelihood has forever been intertwined with a sometimes unforgiving sea, and the still-standing granite Romanesque homes and churches built centuries ago reflect the considerable Breton resilience. Well organized, the book is divided into four chapters, each dedicated to an area of Brittany (Finistère, Morbihan, Ille-et-Vilaine and Côtes-d'Armor), with villages listed alphabetically. Highlights include Josselin's medieval fortifications, Treguier's unique half-timbered houses, the steeply pitched roofs in Becherel, and the stunning rock formations and sandy beaches found along the famous pink granite coast of Ploumanac'h'. Throughout the book are wonderful shots of harbors dotted with colorful fishing boats, charming flower-filled town squares, intricate stained glass, and windows adorned with delicate Brittany lace. The last chapter, "Traveller's Guide," lists practical information (hotels, restaurants), as well as downright necessities (local creperies). --Jill Fergus

Review
The ninth title in Thames and Hudson's "Most Beautiful Villages" series is, perhaps, the most beautiful. The reason: its subject is Brittany, which boasts Atlantic fishing villages, medieval timbered towns, pastoral landscapes and historical Gothic cathedrals. . . . the book has a Traveler's Guide at the end, which lists hotels, local festival dates and-in almost every village-an address for that very Breton institution, the crperie. -- Town and Country Magazine, September 1999

About the Author
James Bentley, a distinguished travel writer, is the author of several volumes in The Most Beautiful Villages series. Hugh Palmer is a leading photographer of architecture and gardens, and has contributed to numerous Most Beautiful Villages books.

Customer Reviews

Most Beautiful, Indeed.
Speaking as a native New Englander, I feel like I've seen enough terrific-looking towns that I can appreciate a really beautiful village. The ones photographed in this book are spectacular. This really is a great coffee table book. The colors in the photos just draw the eye in. It's hard to describe... You will see a whole village of ancient stone buildings, with rock walls in a sort of dusky brown, and suddenly, off to the side, a brightly colored painted boat. Or maybe just a little flower garden, with lots of little Manet-esque red blossoms. And the architecture, or course, is uniformly, yet diversely, amazing. Roman, medieval, and (slightly) more modern, it all just fits together so beautifully. Furthermore, the whole book is full of cool little articles talking about historically interesting tidbits of history, legend, etc. from the region.

Also -- if anyone who enjoys this book has reading ability in French, I'd like to recommend "La Langue Gauloise", by P.Y. Lambert. It talks about the original language of France, "Gaulish", an early Celtic tongue, from before the days of Caesar and friends. I think that one of the intriguing things about Brittany is that this original, pre-Romance-languages tongue of the region was largely reinstated, in the 5th and 6th centuries A.D., by Celtic-speaking refugees when Britain was being overrun by the Germanic-speaking Angles and Saxons. I think it's interesting to look at the place names in Brittany, and try to learn whether they were named back in prehistoric times, or in the era since the 5th and 6th century. This is the kind of question that this book raises -- the concatenated sense of sedimentary century laid upon century, laid upon century, is absolutely enthralling.

The Most Beautiful Villages of Brittany
This book is one in a series of "The Most Beautiful Villages of...". Although they all have different authors the photography is exceptional. The book concentrates on four areas and the villages that make up each area. There is a short history of each region as well as interesting information on the villages and captions on the photos. In my opinion it is the photographs that give this book five stars. It is a wonderful "coffee table" book to own.

photography France
We will be going to brittany this summer. What a preview this book offers. I am making my travel plans based on the gorgeous photographs and descriptions. A treasure to keep long after seing the places, or also to dream of places where time seems to have stopped.