Allée centrale de Lan Kerellec, Côtes-d'Armor
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Pauline Daubé grew up playing hide-and-seek in the salons of Lan-Kerellec, ducking under the white sheets that covered the furniture every winter. Today she runs the place. The house has been in her family for four generations, a seaside villa built around 1900 on the rocks above Trébeurden and turned into a hotel in 1968. Few managers know their building quite this well. Pauline can probably still say which armchair a small person fits behind.
It is still, above all, a family house that happens to take guests. Outside, the Pink Granite Coast is on full display, with boulders the colour of weak rosé and islands scattered across the bay. Inside, someone has clearly had fun. Leopard-print Louis XVI chairs sit beside powder-pink velvet, as if a grandmother's house had been handed to a granddaughter with a sense of humour. Which is roughly what happened.
The garden is a riot of hydrangeas, as befits any self-respecting Breton house. There are just eighteen rooms, and nearly all of them look out to sea. The ones on the lower floors have their own south-facing terrace, which makes breakfast a fairly scenic affair. The bathrooms are in marble, and a few rooms have air conditioning too, although on this stretch of Brittany the umbrella tends to get more use.
Dinner is served in the old studio of Émile Daubé, a painter in the family. The easels have gone. The fireplace and the view have stayed. The chef, Anthony Avoine, cooks mainly from the bay. Lobster is the one to order, followed by anything involving apricots. The table by the fire and the table by the window both have their fans, and plenty of guests quietly switch sides at dessert.
By day, the hotel lends its guests a beach cabin on Tresmeur beach, a five-minute walk down the hill, which spares them the usual hunt for a sheltered spot. At low tide the island of Milliau can be reached on foot, as long as somebody has checked the tide table first. On misty days the islands join in the game, vanishing and reappearing across the bay as if they had been taught by Pauline.
This is a house for couples who prefer small and personal to big and buzzing, and pets can come too. A car makes life much easier: the station at Lannion is about twenty minutes away, and so are Perros-Guirec and the famous pink rocks of Ploumanac'h. Wellness here means a massage room and a long walk on the shore, so anyone dreaming of a spa weekend should book with open eyes.
These days the sheets stay in the linen cupboard and the furniture is out on show. Probably just as well. Leopard print was never much good at hiding.
A painters' house
The manor was built to the vision of the painter Pierre Gervais. Émile Daubé (1885-1961), a painter close to Marin-Marie and a teacher at the Beaux-Arts academy, kept art in the house after his family bought it in 1925.
Superior rooms sit at garden level on the sea side of the house, each opening onto a private terrace or a small balcony, with a south-western aspect towards the islands. They take a king-size bed or twins, some connect, and an extra bed is possible. Bathrooms have a shower or a bath and a separate toilet; air conditioning is in a few only.
The dining room's ceiling is carved like the hull of an upturned boat, work attributed by Relais & Châteaux to the Compagnons du Devoir, and its windows face the islands. Anthony Avoine, chef here since March 2018, cooks from the sea with lobster as the signature. The wine list covers all of France and leans towards the Loire, the nearest wine region.
From the upper floors the view reaches the islands of Milliau, Molène and Losquet. Prestige rooms have a large sea-facing balcony and most Deluxe rooms a large terrace, wide enough for sunbathing or a meal outside. At low tide sand and rock are laid bare below; at high tide the water fills the foreground. There is no lift to these floors.
The only room for four is a suite of two rooms. The parents' room, under the roof slope, has a king-size bed and a terrace over the sea; the children's room, with small beds and a garden view, takes one more bed. Each room has its own bathroom and toilet. There is no air conditioning, and no lift up to it.
At a glance
Where
Allée centrale de Lan Kerellec, 22560 Trébeurden, Côtes-d'Armor, on the Pink Granite Coast; south-west aspect over the islands of Milliau, Molène and Losquet; five south- or south-west-facing beaches in Trébeurden; the GR34 coastal path runs along the shore. Paris Montparnasse to Lannion three hours by train, to Guingamp two and a half hours by TGV; Brest airport about 1 hour 15 minutes away; berths at the port of Trébeurden
Why this one
From the Superior rooms upwards.
Daubé-owned since 1925.
Dinner under carved timber.
The Edit Notes
The categories are told apart by what lies outside the window. Superior rooms are at garden level on the sea side, with a private terrace or a small balcony. Prestige rooms have a large sea-facing balcony; most Deluxe rooms have a large sea-facing terrace. The Tradition room, recommended for one, is on the ground floor near the restaurant, with a sea view but neither balcony nor terrace. There is no lift, so the upper rooms are reached by stairs.
The manor closes every winter, from 1 November to 12 March inclusive, so an autumn break has to end in October. In season the restaurant serves dinner from Wednesday to Sunday, and also on Tuesday in July and August; lunch is served on fewer days. On Monday, and on Tuesday outside high summer, the dining room is shut and room service is the alternative. Pets are not admitted in the restaurant, and beachwear or sportswear is not accepted there.
The hotel lists air conditioning in only a few of the Superior, Prestige and Deluxe rooms, and none in the Tradition room or the Family Suite. Anyone who needs it should ask for a specific room when booking. The Family Suite has a parents' room with a sea-facing terrace and a separate children's room with small beds and a garden view; each has its own bathroom, and one more child's bed can be added.
The beach cabins face Pors Termen and Tresmeur, are lent on reservation and depend on availability, so they are worth requesting before arrival rather than on a sunny morning. They can hold beach games or fishing gear and suit an evening sunset. The island of Milliau is reached on foot over a strip of sand only when the tide retreats far enough; the tide table decides the timing of that walk, not the weather.
The price question
The money buys a family house with sea views from nearly every room, a serious dinner without a drive, and a beach cabin down the hill. It does not buy hotel infrastructure: there is no lift, no pool and no spa beyond one treatment room, air conditioning is rare, and the restaurant rests two evenings a week outside summer. The real comparison is a sea-view room elsewhere on the coast plus one dinner here.
Book it for two or three nights between spring and early autumn, built around evenings when the restaurant serves, in a room whose terrace or balcony is confirmed. Travellers who need a lift, a spa or reliable air conditioning, or who want a winter break on this coast, are better placed elsewhere.
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The Extra Edit
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