Great Brittany

A few weeks ago I got it into my head to spend a few days between Christmas and the New Year in front of a roaring fire in a chateau somewhere and I came across a reference to Chateau Talhouët in the Morbihan area of Brittany.  The website looked lovely and my contacts with the owner were pleasant.  Given the severe weather we'd been having, we weren't sure until the last minute that we would actually go, but go we did.

A two hour train trip to Rennes and a rental car driven for another hour into the countryside brought us to the perfect place.  We were welcomed by Bourbon, the huge Irish wolfhound and his little Maltese pal and settled into our room, which had 14 foot ceilings, a lit polonais with a little crown at the top and pretty boiseries.

The fireplace in the huge salon blazed just as I had imagined and we read in the lamplight in front of it before we were called to dinner.  The first night we joined a few other guests; the second night we were the only ones staying there, and instead of dining in the dining room we drank our champagne at the table for two set in front of the fire.  The champagne was justified, folks.  It was our anniversary, a major one.