Five farm inns for a bucolic break

It’s funny how certain addresses have it all. A mill, a river. A terrace, a farmhouse. Country cuisine to die for. Pampered produce in the kitchen garden… and hey presto, the magic happens! No worries in the least – the meal becomes a feast. Make for these 5 farm inns eyes closed: you’ll hardly have set foot in them and you’ll already want to return!

In the blink of an eye

1. A family farm in Pays de Redon

Ferme de La Morinais (35)

In Pays de Redon, at the foot of the Île-aux-Pies cliffs, they cultivate the land…and their legacy. Pierre-Louis Guérin and Samia Gharet have taken over the family farm that’s been operating for five generations (and switched to organic farming). The inn’s been serving good food for thirty years now. The single menu includes Landes de Bretagne lamb, Coucou de Rennes and Noires de Challans chickens, strutting around in the open air, and freshly picked vegetables… Cuisine with the “Ecotable” label, traditional and inventive alike, to enjoy in a stone house or on the terrace. The cherry on the kouign-amann? On fine days, you can prolong the (pastoral) pleasure in a log cabin, “Little House on the Prairie” style!

Ferme de la Morinais

2. Girls’ stuff near Fougères

Les Filles en Bottes (35)

Girls in boots, and standing tall in them! Louise Lefevbre in the garden, Lénaïck Geffroy in the kitchen: they’ll both welcome you to their delightful farmhouse near Fougères, at the gateway to Brittany – as if it was your own home! The blackboard at the entrance announces the day’s menu, served near the fireplace or on the terrace. Complemented by fresh local products, with a hint or two of herbs and wild flowers, Lénaïck’s cuisine celebrates whatever the 4,000 m² of kitchen garden and orchard has to offer on any given day. Celery (caramelised in seaweed butter), courgettes (in hummus), beetroots and chards (with buckwheat risotto)… Take a stroll around the garden and see!

Les filles en bottes

Ideas

The inratables of the summer, the place to be to treat yourself to a seafood platter, the best views on the GR®34, the best spots to start surfing… in short, all the good...

03. Garden cuisine on the banks of the Rance

Les Jardins de la Matz (22)

Make your way through the village of Plouër-sur-Rance between Dinan and Dinard, carry straight on… and there it is at the end of the road! A true piece of enchanted Brittany, with its 40 permaculture gardens on the banks of the Rance. In the midst of the kitchen gardens, in the former cowshed, all exposed timbers and dried bouquets, the farm inn celebrates the vegetable kingdom in all its forms. Garden foccacia; leek maki and seaweed mayo; root vegetables, capucine leaves and labneh… Caroline Causse, an inspired chef, composes delicate cuisine that exalts the vegetables of the day, flowers, herbs and other (organic) local resources. The set menu changes every fortnight. We bet you’ll be coming back!

Les jardins de la Matz

04. A pork hotspot in the Lamours’ Valley

Le Char à Bancs (22)

To set the scene: a mill, a river, a large meadow … and oodles of charm! The valley is in Plélo, just 20 minutes from Saint-Brieuc Bay. Its farm inn opened in the 1970s. Since then, Jeanne-Noëlle, Céline and Louise, the 3 Lamour sisters, have picked up the baton from their parents. Enjoy a meal on the first floor of the mill, under a large glass roof with views over the kitchen garden. People come here for the emblematic pork and farm vegetable hotpot, which is always simmering away in the fireplace. Otherwise, there are galettes, burgers and the dish of the day on the menu. Le Char à Bancs also means bric-a-brac, pedal-boat rides, pony treks, a Parcabout (treetop nets trail) and more besides… So plan your day!

Le Char à Bancs

5. Seasonal feasts at the foot of the Arrée Mountains

La Ferme auberge Garsplegen (29)

You may well come across cows grazing in the field when you arrive. Bretonne Pie Noire and Armoricaines, ethically bred by Yannick Véricel. In his not-so-hard-to-find hamlet between Morlaix and Mount Arrée, he serves beef from his cattle and vegetables from his garden. In the kitchen, which opens onto the dining room (a beautifully renovated former cowshed), Krzysztof Chmiel composes bistro-style cuisine, improved versions of the fine fare our grandmothers used to serve up. Ox tongue with mashed potatoes and ravigote sauce and croustillant of chards, goat cheese and mint already have their addicts… when it’s the season. Another great address in Morlaix Bay, Le Puits de Jeanne, has kig ha farz on the menu. Impossible to find anything more “homegrown”!

Ferme auberge Garsplegent