South Brittany Cottage

Ille-et-Vilaine named after two of its rivers River Ille and the River Vilaine was one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the province of Brittany. Ille-et-Vilaine has a relatively short coastline known as La Côte d'Emeraude (the Emerald Coast) Which stretches along the north coast of Brittany, from St-Malo to the Bay of Mont St-Michel.

Built on a rocky promontory, Saint-Malo is a fishing port and one of the great tourist centers of Brittany with a regular ferry service to the Channel Islands in the summer. A Welsh monk built a monastery nearby in the 6th century, and in the 9th century refugees fleeing Norman raids on nearby Saint-Servan settled at the site of the present-day Saint-Malo. The town was made a part of France in 1491 and by the 1500's it became a prosperous commercial seaport.

Rennes ( Roazhon in Breton) stands on the junction of the Vilaine and Ille rivers and is the capital of Ille-et-Vilaine and indeed Brittany. The city has two universities and by having such a large number of students in the city it ensure that there is a profusion of bookshops, cafes and bistros.

Redon was once an important port until the river silted up. It is sited on the junction of the River Vilaine and the River Oust, and it also has the Nantes - Brest canal crossing through the town centre. It has a large church St-Sauveur, a pedestrianised shopping street, a large indoor swimming pool, various restaurants and the only Irish Bar selling Guiness in the area!