Bécherel: Holiday Apartments and Holiday Homes

Since 1989, Bécherel has been France’s first Cité du Livre, or City of Books. The Cité du Livre comprises around 15 bookshops, two female calligraphers and illuminators, a bookbinding workshop, as well as publishers, illustrators, artists and craftspeople. The Maison du Livre has an exhibition room, workshop spaces and an auditorium for conferences, readings and performances.

Culture and History

Bécherel’s fortified town retains an almost continuous remnant stretching for just under 500 metres, dating mainly from the second half of the 14th century and the first quarter of the 15th century. The Prieuré Notre-Dame retains a 17th-century bell-tower porch; the present-day church of the Prieuré Notre-Dame was rebuilt in 1866 under the direction of Jacques Mellet.

The Maison du Gouverneur is a late-16th-century house with a façade of dressed stone and Renaissance pilasters. The Maison de la Filanderie is a former 16th-century cloth merchant’s house with a half-timbered façade decorated with fern motifs. The Lavoir de la Couaille was built in the 19th century on the site of an older washhouse where locally grown flax was bleached.

Books and Events

The Marché du livre takes place from March to December on the first Sunday of every month. The Fête du Livre takes place every Easter weekend and includes exhibitions, a book market, meetings with authors, workshops, performances, concerts, readings and film screenings.

The Nuit du Livre de Bécherel is a festive evening held every summer at the beginning of August. La Fureur de lire is a national book event organised in Bécherel in October. Plume & Or offers demonstrations, courses and workshops on Latin calligraphy and illumination in Bécherel and Rennes, as well as on request.

Gardens and Paths

The Jardin du Thabor provides a green place to relax in the heart of Bécherel. The Jardin de l’ancien couvent is a terraced garden of landscape value, adapted to Bécherel’s hillside location.

The landscaped banks of the Étang de la Teinture provide a circular walk around the pond and an educational trail through a wetland. The Promenade du chemin de ronde offers views of the wide-open landscapes around Bécherel.

Transport Connections

Bécherel Centre stop is served by STAR line 82 and BreizhGo line 7.

More Local Pages

Pipriac, Sainte-Anne-sur-Vilaine, Rennes, Saint-Benoît-Des-Ondes, Plesder, Villamée, Gosné and Saint-Père

To the main travel overview: Ille-Et-Vilaine.