Running a French Holiday Gite in Rural Brittany

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Saturday is Josselin Market Day !

Stalls and stall holders at Josselin market
Every Saturday morning the streets of Josselin are closed to traffic and a busy market runs in the heart of this lovely mediaeval "little city of character" down the hill towards the Chateau.

The market runs down the hill and the normally quiet streets are packed with sellers of just about anything - fresh fruit and vegetables, fish, clothing, household wares, pots & pans, hot roast chickens, table clothes, computer games, plants, plastic BB-guns, hand-made jewellery, Breton cider, and much more. There's even a stall selling beds and folding dining room tables right next to another selling fresh chickens!

Bustling trade with lots of customers at the typical Brittany market
It can be quite hard walking down through the throngs of people because the residents of Josselin and the surrounds seem to take the event as an opportunity to stop and catch up on all the local gossip as well.

Sit outside on a cafe for a coffee or lunch after shopping at Josselin market
Every time we are over in Brittany we try to go to the market, mainly to browse, to buy a kilo of fresh green French beans and a demi of peaches or plums, the kids buy some XBox games from the English video game seller, and we treat ourselves to a scrummy sausage pancake for just a couple of euros from one of the stalls.

One of the other things we have as a little family tradition when we visit Josselin is we take a family picture. We don't often stop as a family to have a group photo but we now almost always stop in the same little park by the top of the market and I balance my camera on a wall to take the shot.

On my blog photo we have an older one of these family photos, which must have been taken at least 4 years ago, maybe more, because our children look an awful lot younger than they did in the photo taken this year, and I am sure I had much more hair then! I think it's just that I'd had a haircut just before my holiday, well that's the story I'm sticking to anyway ...

xxx
As well as the hair and age of the children this photo also has Whitey with us, our second dog who is a little love but does like sleeping in Dexter's bed.

Much more details on the lovely city of Josselin, which is about 15 minutes from our Gite is on our Gite website. We also have details of the times and days of Brittany markets in other towns near to our Gite. Please do come and enjoy Josselin market for yourself, we love it!

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Monday, September 03, 2012

Cheap dogs, cheap holiday ?

It's a tough life being a dog - relaxing at our Gite
Very much on my "to do" list is to add a page to our Gite website about taking your dog to our Gite, and in the past I've written about how much easier it now is to take your pet to France.

We try to take our own dog Dexter to the Gite when we go, and now he's been accompanied by Whitey who joined our family last year. I've taken loads of photos of the two of them lazing around the Gite (it's a dog's life !), and here they are chillaxing (as our kids would say) in the shade of a parasol by the barn.

We don't charge extra for pets in the Gite, only ask that the owners clean up after them and keep them off the furniture. The ferry companies normally charge a nominal amount of £15 or so to take your dog on the ferry, but I picked up news from DFDS recently that pets will travel free on for all DFDS sailings in the remainder of 2012 and all of 2013, as long as the booking is made between September 10th and the 23rd.

And to tempt you a little more, we've recently cut the price of the remaining September dates in our Brittany Gite so you'll save on both your crossing and on your Gite holiday as well.

Not a ruff deal at all !!

Two dogs, one happy boy, all enjoying the sunshine in Brittany

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