The Pays de la Roche aux Fées (Fairies’ Rock)

La Roche-aux-Fées stands in countryside, 3km from the village of Essé on the road to Retiers. The size of the megalithic monument is quite astonishing : 19.50 metres long, 6 metres wide, 4 metres high. It is in fact the largest dolmen in France and said to be the best preserved in Europe. It dates from the Neolithic Age, around 2,000 years B.C. The long gallery grave consisting of 41 blocks of shale has four burial chambers whose significance remains unknown. The question that immediately springs to mind is how men from that era managed to build it. It has been shown that the stones came from a site at the heart of the Forêt du Theil-de-Bretagne, more than 4km away. Each one weighs several tonnes, the heaviest weighs 45 tonnes making a total of around 500 tonnes in all ! In the absence of logic, legend moves in… so it is said that fairies built the monument in a single night to prove that they really exist. It is also said that lovers who count the same number of stones will have a wonderful future together. It must be said that once a year, myth becomes reality when at the time of the winter solstice the sun rises in line with the stones - a truly magical sight !

Pays de la Roche aux Fées is at the heart of the beautiful countryside of Ille et Vilaine, with lots of footpaths to explore. The area is 30km south of Rennes and Vitré, just under 3½ hours from Paris and less than 1½ hours from Nantes and Angers !"