If you want to live like a local in gorgeous Brittany with a delightful friend/teacher/guide, all while improving your fluency in French, contact Florence now and hope that she has availability! She welcomed my friend Ann and me as treasured guests and more than achieved her intent of giving us the best possible French immersion homestay experience at her exquisite Breton home. Florence is a talented teacher, gracious host, tour guide extraordinaire and is so kind, patient, and fun to be with. Our private gite accommodation was roomy and lovely with modern kitchen/bathroom(s), and views overlooking the countryside.All of our home-cooked meals with Florence (and in the evenings, also with husband, Dawson, their son, Luca, and also a cousin one night) were incredible and made with locally sourced ingredients, including vegetables from their garden and eggs from their chickens. These meals were also accompanied by fun French conversation with her and her supportive family. Also under Florence’s tutelage, we learned how to make galettes and crepes (and flan), and Dawson oversaw our cooking them. To expertly flip them as he does is a goal, but thankfully simply folding them over was also an option!
We started our days with breakfast and conversation with Florence. Then we sat together at the table in her sunny office/classroom upstairs, with their sweet dog, Maia, lying down nearby, and had our organized morning lessons and exercises. Florence expertly tailored our lessons to include exactly what we wanted to cover and helped us each to move forward in our comprehension and spoken French. But ALL times with Florence were learning opportunities. She would discreetly write on a small pad during our meals and adventures and would re-visit her notes later and let us know where we needed to make corrections. She would also occasionally gently correct us at the time. At the end of our amazing week, I understood French conversation better and was more confident in speaking it.
For our three excursions, we loved seeing and learning about the ancient, mystical stones at Carnac; exploring by ferry the Golfe de Morbihan (with 42 islands!), and by foot, the magical Ile-aux-Moines with its beautiful harbors and streets lined by quaint, flower-adorned homes; and, finally, wandering in historic, picturesque Vannes including buying fresh fruit and vegetables at the market and enjoying “moules frites” at an outdoor café on the harbor.
We were also kindly invited to visit Florence’s charming parents who live across the “valley” from them. Her talented mother gave us a tour of her exquisite garden and cut stunning flowers for us along the way for bouquets to take “home.” Then her gracious father insisted that we stay for an aperitif which we enjoyed with them and Dawson, too. On another afternoon, Florence asked me to join her in walking Maia in the beautiful countryside and through the small village where her grandparents lived, meeting neighbors and friends along the way.
Ann and I had two afternoons/evenings “on our own.” On the first evening, we had a relaxing dinner at our gite after stocking up at the local supermarket under Florence’s guidance. On the other night, we had a delicious meal at a charming, beamed-ceiling restaurant in the neighboring town of Saint-Jean-Brevelay where we were also entertained by local villagers doing expert karaoke. Florence dropped us off, and Dawson kindly retrieved us.
And, finally, getting to Florence’s home is so easy. Vannes is a direct 2hr30min TGV ride from Paris. Florence picked us up at the station on Sunday, and drove us to her home. She and Dawson drove us back to the station the next Saturday. After such a fun, fabulous, and informative week where we learned about and experienced French culture in Brittany as well as improving our working knowledge of the French language, we didn’t want to leave. Merci mille fois to Florence and her gracious family for everything! LAURA
Flo,
Thank you for all you did for Laura and me during our stay earlier this month. Really, it could not have been better—it was both fun and a great learning experience for both of us. We particularly appreciated all you did to accommodate our several special requests, from arranging a wonderful garden tour to a briefing on France’s government to learning to cook galettes, crepes and even galettes des rois. You and Dawson were such gracious hosts and made us feel welcome every day in your lovely home; I meant it when I said to let us know if you visit Texas as we’d enjoy seeing both of you again.
From creating grammar lessons specially directed to our numerous weaknesses to keeping a running note on vocabulary during casual conversation, you used every minute to best effect, helping us to be a great deal more comfortable in French. The combination of an excellent French teacher and an engaging tour guide is hard to beat! We loved seeing Vannes and the Gulf of Morbihan especially, and your own knowledge and love of the area made everything more fun.
I can heartily recommend a week with you to anyone interested in gaining fluency in French. Again, so many thanks! ANN