Well nostalgia sets in now. I have written pieces of it in previous posts without giving out too much of it. However, this is the end, sadly. I came to this little community to work for a worldwide big company of 1,6B euros and now it has been sold! I was planning my retirement next October 2020 but I decided to do it as we say here retraite anticipée or early retirement (this was done but in March 2021!). I will still be base in the Morbihan , precious Pluvigner but will be a consultant all over the world; first stop CDG Paris. Of course, this is when i say i work near Vannes in a 1504 castle ruin property the town is Saint Nolff. As the run of the jobs will be all over and sometimes without internet, post will be fewer and more space out but the blog will continue and eventually even more busy than ever! Stay tune please. Thank you for been such avids readers of my posts over the years.
While working in Paris and living in Versailles my dear late wife Martine asked me to slow down on my journeys around the world to stay closer to the family. Of course, I obliged and found me the management job here in Saint Nolff, the Morbihan dept 56 of the region of Bretagne/Brittany. It has been a wonderful rollercoaster ride indeed!!!
It’s a very nice job,or was as of November 4 2019 it will be another one. It provided me with plenty of travel opportunity as we have branches in 28 countries, and my job requires a lot of travel. One of the hidden benefits of the job! The people are/were very friendly and nice, and we are allowed to work pretty much independant. We are next to Vannes in quiet, small, cozy country heaven, a big change from my previous post near and in Paris. Yes a loving job if I can call it that.
I live about 35 minutes from the job by car on the road N165 or can take a semi detour and come into the country road D19 or even better the D779 . Traffic is minimum, and so far so good. Even thus notice traffic and people are picking up! The job is/was in an old castle originally built in 1504 ,now only the ruins of its walls remains, and the face of the manoir or mansion call Chateau, where the main administrative office is (so far) ,and where I had my office. For a while now ,the memories kept coming in as next year is my legal age retirement limit here so thinking already of the consultancy route to stay busy and more time to enjoy my belle France! ,and lovely Brittany !! Well it has happened earlier!
There will be many memories here, nice souvenirs after 8,5 years many new friends, but as the old saying life keeps on trucking and we must move along with it. Always looking forward to the future as long as our minds allow it. My first consultant work setting up finance procedures and some travel will be by Tremblay-en-France (Seine Saint Denis dept 93 just over the border with Roissy en France dept 95 Val d’Oise what most call Paris airport but not in Paris limits! ) the cargo zone of the Paris airport CDG. It’s a job on the subject of my university degree and same finance function as now in addition to been about 34 km from my in-laws and wife’s sisters houses in Seine-et-Marne dept 77
For the nostalgia, let me tell you a bit more on the town of Saint Nolff.
The town of Saint-Nolff comes from Saint Mayeul, Abbot of Cluny. The oldest document concerning Saint-Nolff dates from 1375, evoking a fact dating back to the second quarter of the 13C. It is unclear whether the parish actually existed before 1230. In the middle ages, the lordship of Gourvinec was one of the most powerful in Saint-Nolff. In 1790, the parish of Saint-Nolff was erected in town during the French revolution. The town, located at the bottom of a valley, where flows the Condat brook and where the railroad passes, it is only 19 km (about 12 miles) from Vannes.
The main thing to see here and it is very nice my stopping point for lunch many times next to the bakery and small resto around the mayor’s office is the Church of Saint-Mayeul b. 15-16C, renovated in the 17-19C. A cross-shaped Church, the two transept arms are formed by two juxtaposed bays having each gable and window with mullets on the sides.The bedside is square and pierced by a canopy. It originally included a nave without a aisle, a transept and a flat bedside choir. From this old church there remains only the choir whose bedside is pierced by a window with flamboyant lattice and a door of the south brace. The north cross brace dates from 1677. At the end of the 19C the two cross-braces were extended to the western façade to form aisles and the Church was vaulted, which made a carved sand-pit structure disappear. The bell tower dates from 1783. A small side door dates from the 16C. The pulpit and the confessional date back to the 19C. The stained glass windows of the choir and transepts are in a broken arch with flamboyant filling and the stained glass is from 1882 to 1886. The confessional and the pulpit date from the 19C. A statue of Saint Mayeul, patron Saint of St. Nolff, is visible in the Church.
The Chapelle of Sainte-Anne was built in 1493 in the immediate vicinity of the Saint-Mayeul Church. You can see a statue of St. Anne of the 16C preserved in the presbytery and the unusual presence of lily flowers in the mullions windows and stained glass, at a time when Brittany was still independent (union of Brittany with France was in 1532).
Other significant chapels here are the Chapel Saint-Aman or Saint-Amand. This chapel was built in 1528. The Chapel of Saint-Colomban was probably built at the beginning of the 16C and then deeply reworked in the 17C. The Moulin du Gourvinec, this mill was built by the family of Gourvinec, lords of Bézit. The first mention of this mill dates from 1503. Three wheels are driven by the Condat River, in order to turn wheat into flour. In 1930, it will be transformed into a sawmill, activity that will end in 1951. A time used as breeding poultry, it will be bought by the town in 1989, which ensured the restoration.
The town is famous for its festivals that are very much in demand so in this little town we rock!! The Festivals are: The Festival of hard heavy metal music Motocultor Festival, since 2013 during the month of August. It host more than 40 Groups local national and international, starting this year 2019,held over four days !.More info : http://www.motocultor-festival.com/wordpress/home/
Mamm Douar, since 2013, this is a festive and militant festival the name is Breton meaning the motherland or in French terre mère. It was created in 2009 in Brittany and since 2013, it is held in Saint-Nolff. More info : https://www.touslesfestivals.com/mamm-douar
The Festival of noise or La Fête du Bruit, a rock contemporary music festival in St Nolff ! More here: https://stnolff.festival-fetedubruit.com/
Some webpages to help you plan your trip here and why not, authentive Brittany or Breizh !!!
City of Saint Nolff on heritage in French
flower cities and towns of France on St Nolff
And there you go in a way my hommage to Saint Nolff, a town very small but by now very much attach to my world globe of wonderful places to be in . Not saying will not stop by but this is the end of the fix attachement. I still will be base in the Morbihan which we love it so much by now, and I will do my missions all over from here. Once in full retirement than my activities will be even less and spend more time in the area, hopefully start of 2021, adg. Thank you for reading this post.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 