• Rural territory nestled between Rennes and Mont Saint-Michel, the Rives du Couesnon hope to attract new tourists eager for tranquility and nature.

  • To welcome them, the community transforms its former rectory into a rural lodging “of the future”.

  • A call for applications has been launched to try to find the manager of this atypical place.

It's been fifteen years since the last parish priest left the presbytery of Saint-Georges-de-Chesné (Ille-et-Vilaine). Since then, only a few spiders and bats have occupied the premises of this charming historic site located about thirty kilometers north-east of Rennes. Hidden halfway between the Breton capital and major tourist sites such as Saint-Malo, Dinan or Mont Saint-Michel, the small Breton town dreams of becoming a privileged starting point for excursionists eager for peace and nature. For this, it intends to transform its former presbytery dating from the 18th century into a rural lodging "of the future".

Supported by the new “Rives du Couesnon” community, resulting from the merger of four municipalities, the project is still in the construction phase and not yet fully defined. The essentials are clear: the building will be renovated and enlarged and opened for rental in 2022 if all goes well. “We wanted to keep this space in the domain of the municipality but its renovation was much too heavy for our small municipality (1.3 million euros). We had the idea of ​​making it a family tourist welcome to allow people to discover the region while hoping for economic benefits for our territory ”, explains Joseph Erard, deputy mayor of Saint-Georges-de-Chesné.Seeing families disembark throughout the year would be a real opportunity for the economy of this area of ​​"the third ring of Rennes" where it is so complicated to maintain commercial and artisanal activity.

Aware of its shortcomings but also of its assets, the community responded in 2018 to the call for projects launched by the tourist office of the territory of Fougères to reveal "avant-garde tourist sites".

Rather than opening a luxury hotel or a spa and targeting a chic clientele, the Rives du Couesnon opted for a family solution in the countryside.

This heritage lodge will offer a common youth hostel-style kitchen and a natural space to develop which extends over one and a half hectares.

"We will not allow anything to be done"

A lodging "of the future" turned not towards new technologies but rather on respect for the neighbor and the environment, in a spirit of social and solidarity economy. “We are looking for a manager who comes up with his ideas, who transforms this place into a real place to live. We don't want to impose anything and everything remains to be written. But we will not allow anything to be done, ”warns the elected official. Some candidates have already questioned the community on the possibility of installing yurts in the natural space. "We are not opposed to it".

Open until May 11, this call for applications could well profit without knowing it from the consequences of the health crisis.

With the various episodes of confinement, many city dwellers admit to dreaming of a new life in the countryside, far from the tumult and crowds.

With its wild setting and its heritage to save, Saint-Georges-de-Chesné presents itself as a serious candidate for radical change.

Rurality has its revenge.

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  • Tourism

  • Society

  • Nature

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