The Most Beautiful Villages of Brittany [Hardcover]

James Bentley (Author), Hugh Palmer (Photographer)

Book Description

Series: Most Beautiful Villages | Publication Date: September 1, 1999

A visual and verbal account of 31 villages and islands in one of Europe's most popular tourist spots. The villages are drawn from the four departments of modern-day Brittany: Finistere, Morbihan, Ille-et-Vilaine and Cotes-d'Armor. Brittany is very distinct from the rest of France. It is a place of dramatic contrasts - a jagged coastline, fertile plains and wild moorland. Its people and culture are Celtic; legend has it that King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table gathered in the Forest of Paimpont, and that Merlin is buried close by. Centuries of religious piety are enshrined in Breton architecture. Brittany's vigorous and varied village life and architecture are captured here in James Bentley's commentaries and Hugh Palmer's evocative photographs.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The latest installment of the lavishly illustrated Most Beautiful Villages series focuses on the picturesque hamlets of Brittany in northwest France. Written by James Bentley and photographed by Hugh Palmer, The Most Beautiful Villages of Brittany depicts the rich history of the proud and independent Bretons (who trace their ancestry back to the Celts). With 2,100 miles of coastline, the region's livelihood has forever been intertwined with a sometimes unforgiving sea, and the still-standing granite Romanesque homes and churches built centuries ago reflect the considerable Breton resilience. Well organized, the book is divided into four chapters, each dedicated to an area of Brittany (Finistère, Morbihan, Ille-et-Vilaine and Côtes-d'Armor), with villages listed alphabetically. Highlights include Josselin's medieval fortifications, Treguier's unique half-timbered houses, the steeply pitched roofs in Becherel, and the stunning rock formations and sandy beaches found along the famous pink granite coast of Ploumanac'h'. Throughout the book are wonderful shots of harbors dotted with colorful fishing boats, charming flower-filled town squares, intricate stained glass, and windows adorned with delicate Brittany lace. The last chapter, "Traveller's Guide," lists practical information (hotels, restaurants), as well as downright necessities (local creperies). --Jill Fergus

Review

The ninth title in Thames and Hudson's "Most Beautiful Villages" series is, perhaps, the most beautiful. The reason: its subject is Brittany, which boasts Atlantic fishing villages, medieval timbered towns, pastoral landscapes and historical Gothic cathedrals. . . . the book has a Traveler's Guide at the end, which lists hotels, local festival dates and-in almost every village-an address for that very Breton institution, the crperie. -- Town and Country Magazine, September 1999

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson; Unknown edition (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500019355
• ISBN-13: 978-0500019351
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 10.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #453,954 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most Beautiful, Indeed., November 16, 2000

By 

absent_minded_prof (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Most Beautiful Villages of Brittany (Hardcover)

Speaking as a native New Englander, I feel like I've seen enough terrific-looking towns that I can appreciate a really beautiful village. The ones photographed in this book are spectacular. This really is a great coffee table book. The colors in the photos just draw the eye in. It's hard to describe... You will see a whole village of ancient stone buildings, with rock walls in a sort of dusky brown, and suddenly, off to the side, a brightly colored painted boat. Or maybe just a little flower garden, with lots of little Manet-esque red blossoms. And the architecture, or course, is uniformly, yet diversely, amazing. Roman, medieval, and (slightly) more modern, it all just fits together so beautifully. Furthermore, the whole book is full of cool little articles talking about historically interesting tidbits of history, legend, etc. from the region.

Also -- if anyone who enjoys this book has reading ability in French, I'd like to recommend "La Langue Gauloise", by P.Y. Lambert. It talks about the original language of France, "Gaulish", an early Celtic tongue, from before the days of Caesar and friends. I think that one of the intriguing things about Brittany is that this original, pre-Romance-languages tongue of the region was largely reinstated, in the 5th and 6th centuries A.D., by Celtic-speaking refugees when Britain was being overrun by the Germanic-speaking Angles and Saxons. I think it's interesting to look at the place names in Brittany, and try to learn whether they were named back in prehistoric times, or in the era since the 5th and 6th century. This is the kind of question that this book raises -- the concatenated sense of sedimentary century laid upon century, laid upon century, is absolutely enthralling.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Most Beautiful Villages of Brittany, August 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Most Beautiful Villages of Brittany (Hardcover)

This book is one in a series of "The Most Beautiful Villages of...". Although they all have different authors the photography is exceptional. The book concentrates on four areas and the villages that make up each area. There is a short history of each region as well as interesting information on the villages and captions on the photos. In my opinion it is the photographs that give this book five stars. It is a wonderful "coffee table" book to own.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Painfully Beautiful!, September 11, 2010

By 

Russell Clay "Father Christmas" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Most Beautiful Villages of Brittany (Hardcover)

I bought this book for my wife to help us prepare for a trip to Brittany. I didn't know quite what to expect; would this be just another travel book with beautiful photos taken by professionals with high-end cameras? Would it set us up, or inform us? I am not interested in photos of places that I can never visit, because the photographs have been retouched or were taken on the penultimate day, at the exact moment when the scene was perfect. Most travel books have photos like that, and they are a waste of money to me because that beautiful mountain, lake, church, or winding road will not be what I see, even if I'm standing where the photographer stood.

Well, all such angst aside I'm happy to report that Brittany is as beautiful as the pictures in this book! We were, I am happy to report, informed about Brittany, not set up. We were made ready, our senses honed, our hearts opened to the right pitch. Brittany is as beautiful as these photos lead one to believe. Our hope was not in vain!

So I heartily recommend this book for travelers who are preparing to go to Brittany, and I commend the work that went into the book: my travel hat is off to Hugh Palmer and James Bentley. Good work, guys! Ok, your camera is better'n mine, but rather than using it to deceive me, you've used it to raise my consciousness. Thank you!