On one of our longest driving days we plan to go from Dinan through Pleyben, Locranan, and Denarnouez (sp) to Audierne. About 20 km from Pleyben at St. Goazec there is Parc et Chateau de Trevaren which appears to be open to the public after 1pm daily.

Has anyone been there? Hard to find? Maybe a better stopover than going 40 km out of the way to see St. Thegonnic (according to via Michelin)?

The fastest way to go from Dinan west is to take E50 which comes close to St. Thegonnec and Guillimau (sp?)--I think that the latter is more impressive although when we saw it it was being extensively renovated and lost the patina of time. In fact, that is where you would drop south to go to Pleyben.

It's Gimiliau.

Thank you Michael. According to via Michelin it is nearly as fast though 39 km further. However, knowing our experience on the N and D roads if there are any 'diviations' or whatever they call detours and construction, we could suck that 39km up in a heartbeat.

Now about the garden, anyone been there? Stu Dudley? St. Circ?

I wouldn't think that 26 miles makes that much difference.

<i>About 20 km from Pleyben at St. Goazec there is Parc et Chateau de Trevaren which appears to be open to the public after 1pm daily.

Has anyone been there? Hard to find?</i>

It might be a nice stopover, but it probably is not a very important garden. I looked in <i>the garden lover's guide to France</i> (over 100 gardens listed) and it is not mentioned. The only one mentioned which is well east of Rennes is the Kerdalo, near Tr&eacute;guier.

It's Trevarez (as the song says, with a zee).

Yes, I've been there. It didn't do much for me. A lot of rhododendrons, azaleas, and hydrangeas. Occasional special exhibitions. Chateau mildly, but not deeply, interesting.

hi, hoping,

I jsut went onto that great modern invention called google and put in &quot;gardens in france&quot; and guess what - the first site to come up is a site called jsut that.

you get a map of france and a search engine - just put in the department you want and hey presto! it also gives prices and opening times.

you don't say what time of year you are travelling - if it's autumn, [sorry, the fall] a garden specialising in magnolias and rhododendrons won't be much good but it could be wonderful in April/May.

good luck,

regards, ann

ps - I just used the link on the gardens of france web-site to take me through to the web-site of the chateau.

as well as &quot;cascades&quot;, there is a festival of the potato on for most of the year, as well as other exhibitions. it also has some sort of cafe.

there is also a map.

can I come too?

Thanks all. Padraig I've enjoyed your other posts on the area. I googled it too. I have that parc and jardin site on my computer but missed this garden when I looked throughout the site last fall. Probably because I didn't realize I'd be anywhere near a town named St. Goazec.

Potatoes wouldn't do much for me, although we used to love the azaleas and rhodies in the spring in Eugene, Oregon. I guess since it's not far from Pleyben, we'll play it by ear and see how tired we are by that point. Somewhere in my notes there is mention of Kerellic Garden at Lacronan also, which is a possibility.