Domaine De Kereven

We stayed here for four nights at the end of a tour of Brittany. The location is excellent and the Domain stands in its own grounds about 4 minutes drive from Benodet. It was spotlessly clean and is run by Sylvie and Christian both of whom made us extremely welcome, Sylvie even booking restaurants for us due to our lack of speaking french. The breakfasts were first class.

Super hotel with very welcoming owner Sylvie who has a great sense of humour! Very helpful with local advice and nothing was too much trouble. Lovely en suite room, very clean. Very comfortable bed.. All rooms are decorated individually in tasteful colours. Breakfast was continental with lots of choice and all very fresh. We had the use of bicycles free of charge and cycled along the coast. Lots of lovely local restaurants, bars and beaches.Very peaceful gardens to sit in and relax. We will definitely return!

We were meeting up with French friends on vacation in the bayside town of Benodet (August 24-September 3) but we did not want to be confined to a typically small and depressingly decorated hotel room. Domaine de Kereven, a mile or so “inland,” surrounded by 20 acres, sounded perfect. It was. We reserved the last unit available (as of early July), one of a number of cottages on the property. We were disappointed as we had fancied a room in the main "mansion"—which looks old but was purposely built as a B&B in the 1980s—although it turned out to be a blessing. The house also contains a large dining room where a 9-Euro breakfast is served (available also to cottagers), and a comfortable, whimsically decorated communal area with a laptop computer for guests’ use. (Wifi is disconcertingly sporadic in the region and non-existent, during our stay, in our cottage, although it had a separate Wifi code.) A large patio with tables and chairs fronts the house and the lawn contains an array of children’s play equipment. The proprietors, the brother and sister team of Sylvie and Christian Berrou (who spent some of their early years in Quebec), are friendly, down to earth, possessed of barbed wits, accessible, English-speaking and over-the-top helpful. When making the on-line booking, I inquired if there were a bedside table for my husband’s CPAP machine and air conditioning—being more familiar with sultry summers in Georgia and Florida, I did not know there is never a need for a/c in Brittany’s always-“fresh" climate. I got a tri-party call from booking.com to relay their worry that the property might not be suitable for us. We kept the reservation anyway. When we prolonged our stay and requested one more of the palm-sized soaps in the bath, Sylvie—who tackles everything with energy and alacrity—hopped off her riding lawnmower and ran to her own quarters, returning with a huge bar. And when I got sick, she referred us to a nearby doctor and made the appointment for me. Our compact cottage turned out to be one of three identical duplexes, all with patio and umbrella table and chairs. We had no idea anyone was in the adjoining unit, as they are very privately separated by hedges and lush plantings, of which there are many on the grounds. The hydrangeas, here as all over Brittany, boast the hugest heads I have ever seen. Other cottages are sized for four to six people. There is a central, paved parking lot but we were told to pull our car right up next to the cottage. Like the B&B rooms, our unit was furnished simply but stylishly, with prints of folk in early Breton costumes on the wall. The main room was a combination kitchen/living/dining room and was a great convenience when I contracted strep throat/bronchitis; I could sleep late, eat when I wanted, move around when I felt like it, and not feel constricted. Not to mention a money-saver as we could buy and store snacks, breakfast fixings and other groceries, and wine, at the nearby Carrefour supermarket. The kitchen, which ran the full length of one wall (including a generous shelved pantry) contained a sink and dish-drain area; four-burner cook top; under-counter fridge; microwave; toaster; electric kettle; coffee maker (plus supplies of "real" coffee, tea, sugar); complete sets of dishes and eating/cooking utensils; chopping board; dish washing liquid; sponge, kitchen towel—all you could think of except, perhaps, paper towels. There was even an iron and vacuum cleaner. (In France, occupants of such gites are expected to clean before leaving, and we did our share.) There was a reading chair; four chairs and a table (holding a lamp, and a vase of those gorgeous hydrangeas) for eating; a phone; small flat-screen TV; heater, and a luggage rack, although the sofa (which I believe could sleep a couple of children although that would be pushing the limits of the cottage too far) stayed piled with the rest of our bags throughout our stay for lack of floor space. A curtain covered a generous closet with shelves. The bedroom was small, with barely enough room between the (comfortable) bed and wall to sidle in. We made do. The CPAP fit snugly on the floor. There was no heater but a second blanket was stored in the hall closet; even on blustery nights we never needed it. A built-in shelf on each side of the bed held lamps with adequate reading light. The bathroom also was cozy, with a shower whose two pocket doors slid closed at a right angle. The linens, which included a face cloth (albeit the French mitten type), were plump and absorbent. Although space was tight, there was plenty of room to lay out toiletries and cosmetics, and the under-sink cabinet held a hairdryer. There also was a heater, which came in handy the first five days when the temperatures were unseasonably cold and it poured with rain; a window we could open to create a breeze (and dry some handwashed items) was welcome when the weather finally turned sunny and crisp. The Berrous were extremely accommodating when we decided to stay a few days longer—for me to recuperate and to enjoy the finally nice weather. And what a difference it makes to be in Brittany when the sun is shining! We were lucky, though, that it was after the last Saturday in August, when the season is considered “over” and the French return home for the annual “rentree” or “re-entry,” when school starts. Otherwise, there might have been no room in the proverbial inn as the French reserve their vacation lodgings well in advance and most of the desirable rooms are taken by spring. We probably saw more of southwest Brittany than most of the French, who come mainly for the sun, the beaches and the surfing. We ranged far and wide to visit historic chateaux (a surprise find); charming villages; atmospheric fishing ports and even a fishing museum and a fish auction; Romanesque churches; awesome cliffs; Quimper’s picturesque alleyways, cathedral and art museum; the perfectly preserved 17th-century town of Locronan; picture-postcard-perfect Pont Aven, and the prehistoric, mini-Stonehenge-like sites at Carnac and Locmariaquer. Yet, in my estimation, Domaine de Kereven is reason enough to return.