We started the day by going to Jugon les lacs, to see what a vide grenier was. We had seen it advertised in a leaflet as happening today. We found that it was a flea market, which might have been fun except that it was so popular that there was nowhere in the village to park. So we reverted to our original plan for the day, which was to visit Dinan and the dovecotes in the area noted in Colombiers et Pigeonniers en Bretagne Profonde.
Dinan is most certainly a charming town, with some lovely churches, old buildings, town square, and also a nearly complete wall around the old center. As any worthwhile tourist should, we took the time to walk around the walls and take in the village. To our pleasant surprise, we found a charming park with deer, chickens, pheasants, and yes, pigeons.
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Taden Rue SouqueDovecote nesting holes located on the exterior wall. |
The dovecote of Lesturgant at Malguénac would have been very interesting to find. Auffret reports that it is six sided with 600 nestholes and complete with potence. Although being almost 300 years old, he reports that the dovecote is in a remarkable state of conservation. The potence, a rotating ladder designed to assist in the harvest, is very unusual being supported by a round stone in the shape of a grinding stone, that itself is supported by a granite base. A large round stone in the shape of a grinding stone to serve as the potence's base is not all that unusual as can be seen at kergournadeac'h. It may well be that these were in fact a logical re-use of a worn grinding stone. Perhaps the additional stone in this instance was placed there because the "grinding" stone's base center hole was larger that the main pole used for the potence. However, for whatever the reason, having yet another stone placed on top of the round one certainly is unusual. Eight sided dovecotes such as La Gravelle and Ville Meneuc in Saint Lormel we were to find, but this hexagon one eluded us. It is dated 1697, being a rather new addition to the manor, which dates back to 1570. It is located 8km west of Pontivy. The dovecote is built on a terrace behind the old manor that overlooks and dominates the valley of Blavet.
The Manor of Du Gros Chene near Pontivy is also called Manor de la Villue Neuve. The manor house has nest holes built into the exterior manor house itself, more similar to Balangeard house than the one at Taden. The nestholes lie in three tiers just below the attic windows. The manor, designed by Guillaume Jouannic, is quite old, dating from the 15th century, and is now part of the agricultural college. This should have made it quite easy to find, and as an added bonus quite accessible too, but alas, it was not to be.
Day four turned out to be much more successful, locating the dovecotes at La Garaye and La Gravelle near Dinan. 
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