CÔTES-D'ARMOR: Near Callac. Charming stone cottage with two bedrooms, outbuildings and 2.7 hectares of meadows and mature trees.

This is the cottage people have in mind when they picture Brittany, and it comes with six and a half acres of countryside to go with it. Built of dressed granite beneath a slate roof, with two stone dormers above the front door, a wisteria and an old grapevine trained across the gable, it stands alone in its own sheltered garden, with not a neighbour's roof in sight.

The land runs away from the house in a long sweep of grassland scattered with fine old trees, enclosed by Breton banks and hedgerows: grazing enough for horses, sheep or a few cows, room for an orchard and a kitchen garden many times over, and quiet corners to leave to the deer and the owls.

Inside, the ground floor is given over to one generous room where the equipped kitchen and cozy living space sit together around a traditional fireplace with a wood-burning stove. Upstairs, reached by a staircase lit from above by a Velux, are two double bedrooms, a bathroom with a bathtub and a separate WC. A garage adjoins the west gable, a shed stands behind the house, and further out in the meadow there is a roomy timber cabin.

Mains water and electricity are connected, the water heater was recently redone, and the full diagnostic file including the regulatory energy audit is available upon request.

The village lies a few minutes away and is one of the designated Communes du Patrimoine Rural de Bretagne, gathered around a classified church whose spire is the tallest in the Côtes-d'Armor. There is a Breton pardon with its horse fair each September, music in the square in summer, and waymarked walking straight from the commune. Callac with its shops and schools is ten minutes by car, Guingamp and its TGV station is reachable in less than half an hour, and the beaches of the Côte de Granit Rose are just forty minutes away. (6.50 % fees incl. VAT at the buyer's expense.)