Last Monday, I left my brother Antoine and his family in Carnac and drove to "La Salle", the house of my great grand-mother where I spent many vacations when I was a young child.
The house is located in the middle of Brittany, on the territory of the commune of Poullaouen near the town of Huelgoat.
As it is in the middle of a small forest, to access it with a car, you need to take the "Allée des Voitures" (carriage lane). You need to know where it is, as the sign is very discreet.
The big house nowadays is owned by my first cousin Marielle and her husband François.
On the back of the big house there are other buildings, and several lawns.
When I was young, there were three big trees there, but they needed to be felled as they were very old and ready to fall.
In the big house, I found the old washroom, that was probably there at the construction of the house in 1870 by one of my ancestors, almost 150 years ago, and that we were still using in the 1950s.
Nobody is using it nowadays. The inscription inside the lid says: "Close the lid after usage, thank you".
There are still furniture that was there 60 years ago, for example twelve chairs like these two ones, all in good shape.
In the living room, I found a framed picture of my grand-father Henri when he was at the École Navale, in 1910-1912.
The small house on the back of the big house is call "la maison du garde" (the house of the guardian). It is owned by two of my first cousins François and Olivier.
The covered area had been rebuilt recently. In my childhood, it was already in existence and was called "la pergola".
Also nearby are several farm building that have been renovated and that are owned by my first cousin Ludovic and his wife Peggy.
I was happy to be able to walk in the nearby forest that is still owned by my cousins. It reminded me of my childhood.
Near the big house there are several interesting trees, including this palm tree that my grand-father Henri planted in 1942 when he returned with his family from Tunisia.
There are also these four araucarias, that I remember very well. As their leaves are very sharp, the araucaria is nicknamed the "despair of monkeys".
I took several seeds and I will try to grow one in British Columbia.
I was very happy to see again La Salle, that I had not visited since 1990, and I thanked Marielle and François that welcome me in the house.
Here they are in the front of the big house.
I stayed less that 24 hours and went to Binic where my grand-father Henri built a house 90 years ago.
