Château du Guilguiffin

Landudec - Finistère - Brittany

Visit / History of the Park


Le Château du Guilguiffin se présente à l'extrémité d'une large allée spacieuse. Il déploie sa façade, ses ailes de retour, sur une cour d'honneur que fermait une grille. Derrière le château, des écuries superbes et qui à l'époque renfermaient un bon nombre de chevaux.


In the old days, people got to the Guilguiffin castle through a long path which gave on to an esplanade shaped in a crow’s foot, on the edge of the woods surrounding it; paths and horse-riding tracks converged towards it.


Three circles of pillars which were built for the sake of ornament on low walls shaoped in an arc of circle enclose the courtyard. At the top of those pillar, hunting scenes or arabesque flames feature five jugs.


Le tracé des jardins propose encore un ensemble de traces issues d'une œuvre remarquable réalisée au XIXème siècle par un esprit conservateur de l'art des jardins du XVIIème siècle.


The Eastern garden, surrounded by high walls, proposes and gives way to the interpretation of marks of ancient paths in a big regular garden appearing at the end of a dry summer.


The design as a whole is a part of a solid symmetry true to the regular garden of the XVIIth century.


The “pontique” rhododendrons, the old apple-trees planted along the wall, a few topiaries, recall the time when they were very much used in the XVIth century. The palmer trees from Himalaya come from a recent period, in the XIXth century.

 

In a field in the South west, an old dovecote with 640 patches of lawns, which used to be a nobility privilege in the old days, recalls the age of the place. More recently, a farm which was built in the outhouses took all the elegance of the park away, which was formerly the pride of its owners.

Some of the paths had totally disappeared. They had been replaced by thickets or fields.


The park had become the waiting courtyard of the livestock, before they left for the pasture fields or for their return to the stables. That lasted for several years and the primeval line did not survive the stamping of the livestock.


The first purpose was to open it up with projecting to sharpen the architecture. For that sake, new paths had to be reshaped across woods and fields; the breast walls had to be heightened again, alignments had to be planted again and the paths had to be lined with stones. After all that, an important program of floral planting followed.

In 1987, the hurricane which made havoc all over Brittany did not spare the estate and destroyed twenty years’ efforts.


Although a written report was given in, and in spite of the promises of refunding by the government, the State, which owed 1.5 million francs, will never respect its promise.


After noting that there had been up to 5 million francs damage and after approving the refund, the written report was interred straight, in spite of the fact that the Secretary of State for tourism intervened. As for the insurance, it only refunded 250 000 francs as a “disaster area”.


The owner challenged the government a second time although he knew the project was financially impracticable.


That last attempt was not unsuccessful since after five other years of works which were entirely led by the owner himself and realized by the workers recruited for that sake, the Guilguiffin estate was to be renewed again.


Mr Davy drew the third enclosure again which had to be built for the initial project. And he recreated entirely the architectural structure to give it back its regular original style of the XVIIth century.

The woods were cut up then burnt, and what could not be used was taken to the dump.


That new restructuring and new remaking of the park constituted an asset in spite of the recent damage.


Some areas with amputated and condemned trees were razed and unstumped and transformed into a park.


A few trees were saved from the storm. Others were planted anew, the lands were reshaped, leveled and seeded anew. The walls and pillars were rebuilt. The flowers-beds were drawn again, the flowers and the flowers-trees were planted anew.

- 310 azalées et 520 rhododendrons. (1995).


- 350.000 bulbes de jonquilles en 27 variétés (1995-96)


- 6400 hortensias.

The pre-inventory of “ Remarquable Gardens and Parks in Finistère”.Regional Direction of Parks and Gardens of Brittany mentions in its report more than sixty species among which some are listed down :

Horticultural essences :
- Hybrid Rhododendrons
- China azaleas
- Japans andromedas
- Heathers, gunnières, agapanthes
- Japans bamboo
- Boxwood topiaries ( from the classical period )

And the oldest ones of the park :
- Trees from Judea
- Wisterias from secular china

Domineting vegetals :
- Epicea from silka
- Euramerican poplar
- Pine-tree from Monterey ( 1930)
- Beech-trees, oak-trees, chesnut trees.


GIVING WAY TO TOURISM
From farming which the property was living on to the opening og tourism, it was not easy choice to make, for even if the perspectives seemed interesting, an excessive marketing could have disastrous effects on all the work done. The lack of the farm-profitability these last few years, ( in spite of Limousin cattle raising on top of French genetics ) will lead to selling the livestock, the product of the sale enabling the owner to finish furnishing the bedrooms of the castle, and to opt for a selected tourism.
The objective and wish of the present owners is to enable to enjoy staying in that property, as they remain careful to preserve and privilege :
- The authenticity
- Space
- Charm
- Calm
- Privacy
The first clients came in 1995, and today, the bedrooms of the Guilguiffin castle are mentioned in the best French and Foreign Guides. Among others :




- Welcome to the castle
- Châteaux et Hôtels de France
- Charming bed and breakfast
- Castle reception
- Karen 's Brown Guide

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Château de Guilguiffin
29710 LANDUDEC
Finistère - Bretagne
Tél. : 33 (0)2 98 91 52 11
Fax : 33 (0)2 98 91 52 52

Bed and breakfast
2 km from Quimper
1 km from Douarnenez,
17 km from Audierne
28 km from “La Pointe du Raz”