Abbaye de Bon-Repos' 30th Anniversary

Every year, all the regions in Brittany organise a week long Fête de la Bretagne, and we definitely wanted to be in the loop to see if anything was happening around the area we live in. When I learnt that the Abbaye de Bon-Repos was organising a massive open day to celebrate this Fête as well as its 30th Anniversary, I told Jason that we had to go.

After a week of grey weather with quite a bit of rain, it felt so good to be outside in the sun for a whole day! We arrived at around 12.30pm but the performances and activities weren't starting until 2pm, so we took the time to have a picnic (that I prepared quickly before leaving the house) and explore the grounds of the Abbaye.

We were pleased to find so many beautiful historical buildings as well as a nice area around the river where you can find a local market every Sunday morning. Plus, we met a British group that meet regularly at the Abbaye with their retro cars and Jason was over the moon. It's nice to know that there are local British people that are crazy about their cars and we can't wait to bring back the Capri from Wales so that we can take part in their meetings (they obviously warmly welcome French people too by the way!).

(PS: I loved this turquoise 2CV!)

This amazing building was built a couple of centuries ago alongside the ruins of an ancient Abbaye (there's definitely not much left of it!). However, at the beginning of the 20th century, it was left unoccupied and it was quickly covered by ivy, with trees growing inside its cloister.

It was exactly 30 years ago that the council decided to start the renovations and to open it to the public, organising regular exhibitions and activities around it. I'm so glad they did! You know how crazy we are about these types of places, full of history and intriguing architecture.

There were plenty of activities planned all afternoon and we didn't get bored for one second. I really enjoyed watching the 19th century traditional dances and it was nice to see these people in their costumes walking around and having fun too.

We also watched a few horse shows, which is always impressive! We almost missed the jousting that was taking place in front of the Abbaye. I didn't manage to take good pictures when we caught up with it, but it was amazing! Obviously their goal wasn't to kill the other knight, but you could tell that the horses were really going for it and the settings and costumes were beautiful.

Towards the end of the day, we indulged in a traditional homemade crêpe with salted caramel. Yum!

We're so glad we found this place and we cannot wait to go back and explore the area further, walking alongside the river and the Lac de Guerlédan.

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30% OFF my new Etsy Collection!

Happy Monday! I hope my British friends are having a great bank holiday. In France, there's so many bank holidays during the month of May but obviously, it doesn't really apply when you're working as a freelancer like me!

Anywho, I thought I would celebrate the fact that it's been just over a month that I've launched my new Etsy collection, so I've prepared a little discount! 30% OFF with code NEW30 for the whole week! So you have no excuses to indulge in some stationery goodness ;)

SHOP HERE

Enjoy!

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Zoo de Pont-Scorff

Although we celebrated Jason's birthday with his family at my parents' house (our bellies still remember it!), I wanted to make his birthday extra special and decided to plan a little surprise over his birthday weekend! Jason had no idea where we were going but quickly figured it out after seeing the signs for the zoo ;)

I always feel a bit sad seeing all these animals stuck in a manmade space. But then I remember how much zoos help keep endangered animals alive, how they work hard to keep these species healthy whilst helping them reproduce and I think we definitely need these type of places to carry on doing what they do. It's so horrible to see a beautiful rhino and then realise that there's almost none left in the wild... I fear that in a few generations, the only way people will be able to see exotic animals will be in zoos just because most of them will be extinct in the wild. Such a sad time for the wildlife!

Anyway, I'm not going to go on and on about it but thought I would mention my point of view! We both love animals and sometimes we were just sitting on a bench, watching them doing their own little things. We arrived just before they opened and we were some of the last ones to leave! We definitely made the most out of our day there.

We had such a great time with the giraffes! We went back to see them at the end of the day, and they were SO close to us. It's so funny when you realise how massive their heads are!

This monkey kept coming close to the glass when Jason was watching him! I think it's because he's so hairy haha. Also, how crazy is the orange colour on these little birds?! I seem to remember that they're close to flamingos and they get this colour by eating a lot of shrimps.

We went around the little farm and fell in love with all the guinea pigs that were running around their tiny house! It started to get pretty hot and I was glad I had the suncream with me as we were soon going around in t-shirts. I can't wait for the Summer to start!

(You get bonus points if you've spotted the cute duck family!)

At the end of the day, we arrived just on time to watch the keepers giving food to the elephants and the penguins. We stayed for quite a while watching the elephants picking up the food and having a little bath, they're so majestic!

We left the place super happy with our day out and Jason didn't realise that there was more waiting in the house! Although he prefers to drink good ales, he's now really into good whisky and we hadn't bought a bottle since arriving in France, so I got him an Aberlour, 10 years old, and I think it was the best gift to finish off a week of festivities :)

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