Since 1427, six different families have lived at the Manoir de Goaz Froment, and there are 1001 stories to tell!
During your stay, Blanche & Olaf invite you to enjoy a historical tour of the estate (a €25 fee goes to the Association des Amis du Manoir): "Dive into the history of a Renaissance manor in the Trégor region!" They will share with you why a manor was built in this location, the architectural transition from a Gothic to a Renaissance style, how people lived here in the past compared to life today, and the manor’s evolution from a noble residence to a working farm. These are just some of the topics they will recount with passion, helping you to truly understand this unique piece of Breton heritage.
Let’s start with Blanche: she spent all her holidays at her grandparents' house on Belle-Île-en-Mer. However, her family’s origins are not from the island; they span various French provinces like Berry and Aveyron, as well as Alsace (or Elsaß at the time), not to mention Ticino and Italy. Her father’s side traces its roots back to the 17th century, originating from a patrician family in Venice. One distant ancestor even became a cardinal and later a Pope!
And Olaf: when it comes to holidays, his eyes light up whenever he speaks of the Baltic Sea and the Scandinavian countries. This also connects to his roots. Part of his family comes from Westphalia and West Prussia. On his father’s side, the family cradle lies around the Baltic Sea, spanning Sweden, Livonia, and Latvia, and even includes an ancient knight who served the King of Sweden.
Blanche & Olaf are a Franco-German couple, and above all, Europeans. With their roots firmly planted in Europe, what could be more natural for them, given their love for the sea, than to live in Brittany? But before settling in the Trégor region in 2016, it was the Erasmus program that brought them together in Paris back in 1994, during an exchange while they were students.
Blanche Rubini and Olaf Mühlmann founded "les graphistes rübimann" in 1998 (later becoming rübimann design). Along with their two daughters, they balanced graphic design work with family life, working on major national causes such as Alzheimer's disease awareness (France Alzheimer) and winning the prestigious European SAPPI "ideas that matter" graphic design competition twice in a row. Other institutional clients include the French Ministry of Culture, the Fondation Abbé Pierre, and the cultural department of Fontenay-sous-Bois in the Paris region. Their expertise in bilingual communication is regularly showcased in publications by the Franco-German Youth Office (FGYO/DFJW) in Paris and Berlin.
Blanche, after university studies in fine arts and a period at the Central Saint Martin’s College of Art & Design in London, graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Paris (ENSAD), specializing in visual communication.
A graphic designer since 1996, she managed an SME for four years before being elected Deputy Mayor of Asnières-sur-Seine (83,000 inhabitants) at the age of 38, a position she held until 2014. Since 2010, she has been the Account Director at rübimann design. Her career path has provided her with, beyond her "eye" for design, a key competency that benefits her clients today: an intimate knowledge of business operations and management issues.
Olaf earned his design degree from the Fachhochschule Dortmund after a six-month stint at the Arts Déco in Paris, later completing a curriculum in pedagogy and philosophy. He financed his studies by working for seven years in the communications department of the city of Dortmund (600,000 inhabitants).
After contributing to the "Nous Travaillons Ensemble" graphic design studios, he founded the agency he currently serves as Creative Director, rübimann design. Concurrently, Olaf taught at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués Olivier de Serres in Paris (ENSAAMA) and participated in design research at the Fachhochschule Potsdam in Berlin. In 2019, he conducted a typography workshop for the DNMAD program in Savinna, Tréguier, and has been teaching graphic design there since 2023.
From 2011 to 2020, Olaf served on the board of the Alliance française des designers (AFD), and from 2011 to 2017, he was a member of the professional commission of the Maison des Artistes. He serves on various juries, such as the Joseph Binder Award in Austria.
Blanche & Olaf have lived and worked in the Trégor region of Brittany since 2016, focusing on new projects at the Manoir de Goaz Froment.
(Text partially written by Laure Morandi)
In the spring of 2017, artists and designers Blanche and Olaf Mühlmann acquired the Manoir de Goaz Froment to make it their home, becoming the sixth owners of the estate. In 2020, they purchased the land and the ruins of the former Saint Fiacre chapel, located 600 meters from the manor, in order to reintegrate it into the estate. They discovered the history of their manor by consulting various works published by the Brittany Region Inventory or by local history enthusiasts.
The Manoir de Goaz Froment, today located in the commune of Le Vieux-Marché (part of Plouaret until 1866), is steeped in history due to its seigniorial past and the exercise of "Basse Justice" (low justice).
The current Renaissance building was reconstructed by Yves Le Bœuf between 1598 and 1601 on the occasion of his marriage to Augustine Cariou de Goasven. Its origins date back to 1427 according to the montres (military reviews) of Tréguier.
It features layouts and stylistic elements from the late 16th century that reflect a relative modernity: volume, distribution, a ramp-on-ramp staircase contained within a tower acting as a central pavilion, window proportions, and monumental round-arched entrance doors adorned with columns and pilasters, each topped by a triangular pediment with Renaissance decoration.
The main door leads to the vestibule, while the secondary door opens directly into the lower hall, the former courtroom.
Regarding the owners of the seigneury, according to the “Nobiliaire et armorial de Bretagne” (Breton Armorial and Nobility), we know of: Le Bœuf, Lord of Goasfroment and Kerminihy, parish of Plouaret. Yves Le Beuff, son of Alain, married Marie Taillart before 1535.
Yves Le Bœuf (Le Beuff) (1569–1648) married Augustine Cariou de Goasven (1570–1633) in 1600. Their son, François Le Bœuf (c. 1620–1696), married first Julienne Rospabu and then Françoise Coupé.
On August 5, 1696, Julienne Le Beuff served as godmother to a bell for the Saint Fiacre chapel, which stands 600 meters from the manor. This chapel found no buyer after the Revolution and is in ruins today.
François Le Bœuf, a notary, is referred to as an "esquire" and Lord of Goaz Froment in the 17th century.
His coat of arms is "sable with a bull's head or, accompanied by an endless number of spur rowels also or" (de sable semé de mollettes d'esperon d'or a la rencontre de boeuff de mesme).
In the mid-18th century, the lands passed into the hands of Louis Julien Le Lay de Kerverzio, then Yves Marie Le Lay de Kermaben.
Seized and sold as a "National Property" (Bien National), the manor was acquired in 1794 by Jean-Baptiste Juste (grandfather of Charles Le Goffic). Born in Versailles in 1746, this former soldier of the French Guards who had served under the orders of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette, was a "Postmaster" in Lannion in 1784.
The Marquis de La Fayette is said to have stayed at the Manoir de Goaz Froment for three months in the autumn of 1801.
From 1806 onwards, the Le Guen farming family occupied the lands and remained there for 200 years. Subsequently, the estate was held for twelve years by brothers Christian and Didier Kulig.
In the spring of 2017, artists and designers Blanche and Olaf Mühlmann acquired Goaz Froment to make it their home, becoming the sixth owners of the estate. On July 29, 2020, they purchased the land and the ruins of the former Saint Fiacre chapel to reintegrate it into the estate.
In 2020, Blanche and Olaf commissioned the Lannion-based architecture firm Atelier Rubin to expand the manor's kitchen. In the 1970s, a portion of the building known as the "Maison du four" (bakehouse) had been demolished, leaving a gap between the manor and the house. This expansion restores the visual balance between the manor and its outbuildings, recreating a sense of unity for the entire estate.
References (in french)
Partiellement d’après l’Inventaire du patrimoine culturel en Bretagne
Armoiries des familles Le Beuff et Le Lay : Carte du nobiliaire de la province de Bretagne
(Par Jacques Chevillard, Bibliothèque nationale de France)
Bibliographie pour aller plus loin :
Christel Douard et Jean Kerhervé, Manoirs Une histoire en Bretagne,
Éditions Locus Sous, Châteaulin, 2021. [p. 174]
Jean-Louis H. Dupré, Le manoir du Traou en Le Merzer,
Auto-édition, Imprimerie de Guingamp, Guingamp, 2003. [p.123-131, couv. IV]
Alain Le Nedelec, Vie de Château d’Armor en Argot,
Éditions L’écho, PointCom Ploumagoar, 2010. [p. 302-305]
Université du temps libre des Côtes-d’Armor, La Poste aux chevaux en Côtes-d’Armor, Les Presses Bretonnes, Saint Brieuc, 1991. [p. 221-233 : Lannion: Le fils du gondolier Jean-Baptiste Juste — troisième propriétaire, Lafayette…]
Christian Kulig et Patrick Worthington, Châteaux et Manoirs, Éditions Trésors du Trégor, Saint-Thonan, 2013 [p. 24, 33, 243, 256] et 2020 [p. 12, 26, 35, 253, 255]
Christian Kulig, Regard sur les épis de faitage en Côtes-d’Armor, Éditions Anagrammes, Perros-Guirec, 2009. [p. 10, 52]
Yves Ollivier, La seigneurie de Kermaben en Plouaret (22),
Y. Ollivier, 2005. [p. 51-56, 62, 63;
Généalogie de la famille Le Beuff — premier propriétaire : p. 208-213;
Louis Julien Le Lay — deuxième propriétaire : p. 62, 63,…]
Sites internet pour aller plus loin :
Inventaire du patrimoine culturel en Bretagne (Région Bretagne)
OP : plateforme ouverte du patrimoine (ministère de la Culture)
Télé-Trégor : Le Manoir de Goaz Froment (vidéo de 11’01 tourné en 2013)
Manoir Renaissance Trégor, Bretagne
Côtes de Granit Rose
Trégor Pays d’Art et d’Histoire
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