Le manoir de l'Hermitage

L'Ermitage, now spelt Hermitage, owes its name to this large 20th-century building better known as the Manoir de l'Hermitage des Dunes. It is located just a few metres from the ocean.

The manor house was built on the model of a Breton priory. It belonged to René Millet, an architect who designed the plans and owned land on the seafront where he planted many trees. The wind-blown pine trees still stand as testament to this.

At the time, the seafront was further away from the building, and there was also a house in front of the manor house, surrounded by a large garden directly on the dune. The heavy storm of 1916 destroyed the house and the sea washed over the land, washing away the Hermitage manor house. Pointe du Bien, as it was known before the French Revolution, disappeared.

Today, the manor house belongs to the Hermitage des Dunes campsite.

* Extract from Monique Albert's book "Flâneries aux Moutiers-en-Retz".