Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Château de Rosanbo, Bretagne, France

Wandering Around Cottage - October 2016 Edition


We've had a lovely autumn weather in Brittany so far so I'm not complaining at all, but it's been raining for two days now. It means the cats spend the day sleeping, each on their pillow and I'm thrilled that I finished the final coat of paint on Cottage's gate just three days ago.

L'automne a été très ensoleillé en Bretagne, alors loin de moi l'idée de me plaindre, mais il pleut depuis deux jours. Les chats passent leur temps à dormir, chacun sur son coussin et moi, je suis bien contente d'avoir fini de peindre le portail il y a trois jours.

 
As I watch the rain falling from one of the new dormer windows (one of my guilty pleasure), I'm reminded of an other very rainy day of August. 

Alors que je regarde la pluie tomber depuis l'un des nouveaux chiens-assis (un de mes petits plaisirs), me revient en mémoire une autre journée pluvieuse, en plein mois d'août.


Unfortunately, I had a friend at Cottage this day and she had in mind to visit Brittany, of course. Against all hope, we decided to get into the car under the pouring rain. While I was driving, I kept thinking it was the stupidest idea I had ever had since it seemed we wouldn't even be able to get out of the car.


Une de mes amies était au Cottage et évidemment, elle était venue pour visiter la Bretagne. A tout hasard, nous avons décidé de prendre la voiture sous une pluie battante. En conduisant, je me disais que c'était une idée stupide et que l'on ne pourrait sûrement même pas sortir du véhicule. 



But as I parked in a muddy field, a miracle happened, the rain stopped. We didn't need sunglasses yet, but we could get out of the car and visit the castle of Rosanbo.


Mais alors que je me garais dans un champ boueux, un miracle se produisit, la pluie cessa. Les lunettes de soleil n'étaient tout de même pas nécessaires, mais nous avons pu sortir de la voiture et visiter le château de Rosanbo.

 
It's a beautiful castle located about an hour away from Cottage. It's name, "Rosanbo" means "rock on the Bô", which is how is called the river nearby.

C'est un superbe château situé à environ une heure de Cottage. Son nom "Rosanbo" signifie "rocher sur le Bô", du nom de la rivière en contre-bas.


The buildings we can see today were created, added and transformed from the 15th century to the 19th century.

Les bâtiments que l'on peut admirer aujourd'hui ont été construits, ajoutés et transformés entre les XVe et XIXe siècles. 


We payed what I thought was a huge fee to visit the inside, but taking photos was forbidden. The tour guide said they didn't want any "leak on the Internet"... It pissed me off a little. 


Nous avons payé un ticket d'entrée qui m'a semblé exorbitant, mais je ne peux rien vous montrer de l'intérieur car les photos étaient interdites. La guide a dit que c'était pour éviter les "fuites" sur Internet... Cela m'a bien énervée.

 
But I had my little notebook at the ready, in order to write any interesting, funny or disgusting anecdote the tour guide would deliver... Well, she wasn't that kind of tour guide... She depicted each glass, each plate on each table in the beautiful rooms... And even I who love architecture and dishes was bored! There were a few interesting architectural details, but they mean nothing as I don't have a picture of them...


J'avais cependant mon calepin sorti, prête à écrire toute anecdote intéressante, drôle ou dégoûtante que la guide nous livrerait... Déception, elle n'était pas le genre de "guide à anecdotes" que j'aime bien. Elle nous a cependant passé en revue toute la vaisselle exposée sur les tables de chaque pièce et chaque meuble a été décrit en détails... Même moi qui suis passionnée par ça, je me suis ennuyée. Il y avait de jolies choses, cependant, mais vous les décrire sans pouvoir vous montrer de photos n'a aucun intérêt.

 
As I'm checking my notebook now, I only have two lines on my visit of Rosanbo. The first one says that the family that owned the castle during the French Revolution was decapitated in 1794. Some members of the family had escaped from France and came back to Rosanbo later. The castle still belongs to the same family.


En remettant le nez dans mon calepin aujourd'hui, je ne vois que deux lignes sur ma visite à Rosanbo. La première mentionne que la famille qui possédait le château à l'époque de la Révolution française a été guillotinée en 1794. Certains membres de la famille s'étaient exilés et sont revenus à Rosanbo plus tard. Le château appartient toujours à la même famille.

 
The second line is to me a lot more fascinating. According to the guide, there are many underground passages under the castle. During World War II, many works of art from Parisian museums were hidden in numerous parts of France to save them in case Paris was destroyed. Some of those works of art were hidden in Rosanbo's basement. I would have loved to know which ones, but the guide didn't know.

 
La deuxième ligne est sur un événement que je trouve fascinant mais sur lequel j'ai peu d'informations. La guide a expliqué qu'il y avait de nombreux souterrains sous le château. Pendant la seconde Guerre mondiale, des œuvres d'art de différents musées parisiens ont été cachées dans toute la France dans l'espoir de les sauver si Paris était détruite.  Certaines de ces œuvres ont été cachées dans le sous-sol de Rosanbo. Lesquelles exactement ? J'aimerais le savoir !


The gardens are the pride of the castle owners. The bower is said to be the longest of France and is indeed very impressive. But overall, I was disappointed by the garden, maybe that's because I've gotten used to admiring beautiful English garden on Mike's blog, A Bit About Britain.


Les jardins font la fierté des propriétaires du château. La charmille est censée être la plus longue de France et elle est effectivement très impressionnante. Mais dans l'ensemble, le jardin m'a déçue, peut-être est-ce parce que je suis habituée à admirer les jardins anglais sur le blog de Mike, A Bit About Britain


Even if the castle is maginficent, it wasn't my favourite visit ever because the staff wasn't the most friendly one, but we were lucky with the weather as the rain resumed as we were finishing to tour the garden.


Très honnêtement, si le château est superbe, cette visite ne m'a pas laissé un souvenir enchanteur car l'accueil ne m'a pas semblé très sympathique. Mais le temps s'est montré vraiment coopératif car il s'est remis à pleuvoir juste comme nous finissions de faire le tour du jardin.

See you next time,

A la prochaine fois,



PS: I'm sharing this visit at the following parties:



43 comments:

  1. Merci pour ces magnifiques photos!! J'adoooooore ces hortensias!!
    Je comprends parfaitement ton sentiment, l'accueil est ce qu'il y a de plus important, et n'importe où, dans n'importe quel domaine. Il peut pardonner beaucoup comme malheureusement laisser un goût amer...
    Belle journée!

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  2. Thank you for this blogpost!I looked up the name of the castle and even on the Internet there are no photos of the inside.That's a pity. They don't even have a site to visit or maybe I couldn't find it. I don't like it when they don't allow photography even without flash. How would anyone want to visit the place if they have no clue what's inside?Do they even publish a book about the castle with photos?AriadnefromGreece!

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  3. Oh Magali, this is my absolute favorite setting and style of abode. A castle, nestled within green and hydrangeas! Lovely, just breathtaking!

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  4. I greatly enjoyed your bit about Rosambo - it sounds like my kind of place, and a little familiar (have you taken us there before?). It also reminded me of my visits to beautiful Britanny, many years ago. A pity about the boring guide (who didn't seem to know much?) and the photos! I get very irritated by photo-bans, unless they are in private homes or, of course, during church services. Then I saw you'd given my little project a flattering mention - thank you! I will need to dig out some stuff about gardens now - though I do think there are many bloggers who take much better photos of gardens and flowers than I do! Thanks, Magali x

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  5. too bad no photos are available. Sometimes they put a few on line so if searching you know you want to visit. Almost sounds like they don't want visitors with a boring guide too - won't get recommendations to others. Glad the weather cleared for you.

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  6. How fortuitous that the rain stopped just in time, even though it wasn't exactly your cup of tea. It's really amazing when we stop and think about the rich history of places such as this.

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  7. Good Morning Magali. Loved the tour. Sorry it was not the best. The castle is so beautiful and has wonderful history. Too bad they do not know more about the families that lived there and about the paintings stored there too. Still is a gorgeous property.
    Kris

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  8. Magali interesante historia y muy hermoso castillo lastima que no pudiste tomar fotos de adentro del castillo y tambien me gusto el tunel formado por los arboles,y por supuesto mis flores favoritas las hortensias :) gracias amiga y hasta la proxima....nelly

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  9. Hi....cats always have the right idea for a rainy couple of days..which i like to call..do nothing days..
    i'm thinking i'd be pissed too..the outside seems like a nice guide yourself tour..did they make you take your muddy shoes off..the under ground tunnels sound like a fascinating tour waiting to happen..too bad they didn't have documents of the art that was saved there..be fun to google the titles..maybe one day the armchair i travel will be on a plane to visit France an the places you've shared..for now the one at my laptop will have to do..*sigh*

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    1. P.S. Love the new banner pix too...

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    2. P.P.S....just googled the the castle an you're the third on the list with this post..pretty cool.!!

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  10. The tunnels of the trees and boxwood(?) has a bit of romance and mystery. Interesting about the Paris paintings, so much was illegally aquired during World War II. Lovely the beautiful hydrangeas, glorious with rich colors against the castle. Thank you for the tour with your friend. Keep warm,
    Kathleen in Az

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    1. The trees used for the tunnels are hornbeams (I had to look it up as I didn't know the word in English). Thanks for visiting and always taking the time to comment.

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  11. What a lovely place to visit! I am glad the rain cleared for you!

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  12. What a beautiful castle and I think it's wonderful it's still in the same family. Thank you for the arm-chair tour. Cats always seem to know the best way to cope with inclement weather, don't they?

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  13. Such a gorgeous place. Thanks for the beautiful photos♥

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  14. Thank you for taking us along on the tour. The castle is beautiful and it's to bad that you couldn't take pictures. The grounds are stunning. It's to bad that the guide didn't know more, it would have been so much more interesting if she did.

    Cats have the right idea about sleeping on a rainy day.

    Enjoy your weekend.
    Mary

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  15. Lucky for you at least the rain stopped on your arrival. The castle is beautiful but what a shame they didn't let you make photos. Like you say, nothing to remember it by................Happy for you your gate was finished in the nick of time. Rain and sleeping cats sounds so cozy.........

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  16. Rosambo sounds very interesting. A tour guide can make all the difference! At one of my visits to Edinburgh castle, there was such an enjoyable young man who was both knowledgeable and entertaining. I think I fell in love with him a little bit. And, no Pictures! Hmmmph.

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  17. How wonderful! Thank you for this lovely tour. I'm so glad you made the trip!!

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  18. My sweet Magali, what a glorious and romantic place! I am so glad the rain stopped long enough for you to walk around and take photos. Thank you ever so much for sharing your lovely pictures with us.

    Hugs to you!

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  19. Very interesting place! The hydrangea looks awesome. thank you for sharing.

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  20. It seems that visit was meant to be with the rain holding out just long enough for your tour. The tunnel through the hedge is cool, but I would love to explore the tunnels under the house, thanks for sharing.

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  21. Hi Magali, thank you for the tour. I am so intrigued by old buildings. It would be fun to pop back in time for a peek. Have a lovely weekend. xx Jo

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  22. Hi Magali, thank you for the tour. I am so intrigued by old buildings. It would be fun to pop back in time for a peek. Have a lovely weekend. xx Jo

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  23. The hydrangea against the stone walls are so lovely......wonderful alleyway, too. I love that the tunnels protected the art :) So glad it stopped raining for you. xx Karen

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  24. Too bad about not being able to take pictures inside the castle. The outside is beautiful and the flowers, so pretty. Thank you for the tour (at least of the outside).

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  25. What a wonderful tour. Too bad the staff were jerks cuz it really makes a difference. But you got wonderful pics anyways! Cheers.

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  26. Encore un château breton que je ne connais pas. Celui-là a l'air superbe ! Il faudra que tu me le fasses découvrir un de ces jours. Bises

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  27. The castle looks lovely and you're right...it would be nice to get a peek inside...but your photos of the grounds are beautiful.

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  28. I hope this finds you and yours doing well. May we display your header on our new site directory? As it is now, the site title (linked back to its home page) is listed, and we think displaying the header will attract more attention. In any event, we hope you will come by and see what is going on at SiteHoundSniffs.com.

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    1. You're welcome to use the new header. It changes every now and then, though.

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    2. Thank you so very much for giving permission. You can see your linked header under All, Home Improvement, Travel and France. Regarding your header changing, the only thing that really matters is attracting the attention of visitors and getting them to your site. So, there is no need to keep up with the changes. If you could say something (preferably good) about SiteHoundSniffs.com here and there, I would greatly appreciate it.

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  29. le château est une jolie bâtisse bien entretenue et les hortensias sont dignes de la renommée de la Bretagne en la matière; mais il est vrai que le jardin mériterait plus de variétés de fleurs pour plus de gaîté...
    dans la nouvelle bannière du blog, la photo du coucher de soleil est sublime !!!
    bon long week-end - monique59

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  30. In Wikipedia they spell it Rosanbo.
    At their website rosanbo.net you can look at three pictures from the inside (castle - inside visit).
    I love those hydrangeas and I've never been to Brittany but I'm very interested.
    Meike B.

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    1. Thanks! In French, there are no "n" before the letter "b", but as the name is in Breton, the name is spelled with an "n" and you're right in most of the post I had the bad French habit of writing an "m". I corrected that. Thanks again!

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  31. Ca faisait longtemps que je n'avais pas eu de pb pour te laisser un comm, mais cela vient de se produire sur le post suivant où tu te transformes en sorcière (sourire!).
    J'ignorais que le château de Rosambo devait son nom à la rivière Bo... De beaux hortensias! Bonne soirée.

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  32. C'est un château magnifique mais il est vrai qu'on ne peut que supposer l'intérieur. Dommage.
    Bisous. Babette

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