Domaine de Rochevilaine

The Pointe de Pen Lan is a low granite headland where the river Vilaine meets the Atlantic, and the Domaine occupies almost all of it. The hotel is not one building but a cluster of old Breton stone houses, some genuinely ancient, others carefully assembled from salvaged material, set among windblown gardens with the sea on three sides.

Every room looks at water. The spa is the property's main draw outside summer - a serious seawater and thalassotherapy facility with hammam, sauna and hot tub, backed by two pools and a fitness room. The restaurant has long been a destination in its own right, built on shellfish, line-caught fish and Breton produce.

This is a good base for the Gulf of Morbihan, the megaliths at Carnac, and the walled town of Vannes, all within about forty minutes. It is also one of the few genuinely five-star coastal properties in southern Brittany, and it stays open through the winter storms, which many regulars consider the best time to come.