L'Hostellerie de la Pointe Saint-Mathieu, the inn at the end of the world

When they walk through the door, almost everyone has the same look. The one looking for something that's changed, the one looking for a landmark that hasn't moved, even a familiar face, why not? Almost everyone has been here before, " back in my parents' day ", "when my grandparents lived here", " before it was redone ", "a few weeks ago and I wanted to show my parents what you'd done ". Almost everyone who walks through the door of theHostellerie de la Pointe Saint-Mathieu is familiar with the place and its history, and some are even proud to have contributed to it. They walk with the hesitant step of someone who doesn't want to wake up an old-timer who's fallen asleep in his old, battered armchair, and the confident step of someone who knows exactly where he's going. of a man who knows exactly where he's going - one to the right towards the gastro, the other to the left towards the bistro or his room (number 23, facing west, with a 180° view).

L'Hostellerie belongs to people as much as to the land, just like this abbey which, it is said, has been shining since the 6th century and was one of the departure points for Santiago de Compostela; like this lighthouse which has been illuminating the night since 1835 and carries its light up to29 nautical miles (55 kilometers); and the semaphore, built in 1906... In the Middle Ages, there were as many as 1000 inhabitants here, including monks; then a hundred or so souls in the aftermath of the Second World War. Today, there's no school; you have to go to Le Conquet or to the village of Plougonvelin. From the coastal path, you can see the Crozon peninsula, the Pointe de Pen-Hir and its Tas de Pois, and even, on a clear day, the Pointe du Raz; You'll watch the ferry going by on its way to Ouessant; you'll feel the telluric forces of a land of legends, the raw forces of nature... You'll pass by, then, and stop. With the Corre.

At the end of the world

When they decided to buy this inn at the end of the world, Francine and Émile Corre had no idea that, 70 years later, their descendants would have turned it into a gastronomic destination. The story goes that this old granite building with its monumental fireplace has been an inn for over a thousand years. It has welcomed pilgrims, sailors, peasants, workers, writers and painters too, perhaps... When the young couple (she wasn't even 25) settled at the foot of the abbey, they had the chance to meet and talk.settled at the foot of the abbey of Saint-Mathieu de Fine-Terre, in 1954, Brittany was suffering, but advancing at full speed towards modernity, without a thought for its excesses. The Corre have a sense of hard work, effort and resourcefulness. He, a carpenter, went to salvage the furniture left in the blockhouses of the Atlantic Wall by the routed Germans, and gave it a second life. He fitted out five bedrooms for one-night visitors, while she worked in the kitchen.

Francine and Émile welcome those who, like them, want a taste of this end of the world, emphatically described by Jules Michelet: " It is the extreme limit, the point, the prow of the old world. There, the two enemies face each other: land and sea, man and nature. You have to see it when it's furious, what monstrous waves it piles up at Pointe Saint-Mathieu, at fifty, sixty, eighty feet above sea level. sixty, eighty feet; the foam flies all the way to the church, where the mothers and nuns are at prayer. And even in moments of truce, when the ocean is silent, who has traversed this funereal coast without saying or feeling within himself: Tristis usque ad mortem? "Despite the austerity of a life battered by the winds (193 km/h during the last Ciarán storm), their son Philippe and his wife Brigitte will take over from them. He took charge of the kitchen, she of the dining room. They are going to enlarge, build, transform, expand, play the game of musical houses. Some of them now come to Pointe Saint-Mathieu for vacation.

A house in perpetual motion

Tanguy, the son, joined them " naturally ". Then Nolwenn, the daughter, in 2015. She had a single idea in mind: " To turn the house into a gourmet restaurant. "In the end, they all put themselves at the service of her talent, instinct and ambition. In 2018, the handover between generations is complete. The young chef, with an impeccable track record (Yannick Alléno at the Meurice period, Christian Le Squer at Pavillon Le Doyen in Paris, then Jean-Luc L'Hourre at Marinca in Corsica), will shake things up, sometimes taking them in the wrong direction: "It' s our duty to show people something different, a different way of looking at things. "Nolwenn will push back the boundaries with her iodized cuisine. " The way people look at the house is always gentle," she says, so she doesn't feel held back and even feels like she's growing wings. So she goes for it. The chef is benefiting from the arrival of a new generation of farmers, more responsible and committed, who support her, but also push her a little further into her limits. The gastronomic table and bistro are now the beating heart of L'Hostellerie, a house on the move. It's a house on the move, always striving for excellence, but never forgetting its past. Look closely at the restaurant entrance. There's always Francine, the grandmother, with Paulette and Janine in full consultation. These are Les Trois Commères by Louis-Henri Nicot, an earthenware piece published by Henriot, which, for the brother and sister, symbolizes the invisible thread that binds them to their history.