Stop in the main square for a coffee or tea (there is one delightful salon de thé that serves tea in a manner that would do justice to the Ritz); and for the evening there are dozens of restaurants, all of them good – though take note of their closing days as they are not open every night.

Dinan, inland a little from St Malo on the coast of Brittany, is one of the most delightful little fortified towns you can come across. Yet despite having a rather inglorious new area with its attendant apartment buildings, warehouses, out-of-town shopping and factories, the original part of the town seems hardly to have changed in several hundred years. The best way to approach Dinan is to take the tiny, winding lane that is signposted – Dinan-Port.

Leaving the main road just before you enter the (new) town, this little lane twists and turns past a couple of old houses, a glorious youth hostel by a water-mill, and then opens up onto a stretch of the river Rance. As ports go it's a bit of a non-entity these days though in bygone days did serve as a main landing stage for goods of all descriptions. Today a few river barges and a decent number of pleasure craft line the river bank for half a mile or so, bringing an extra quality to the feel of the place. You really do feel you have stepped back in time.

Continue along the road until the first bridge, just past a café-restaurant on the left (the river side). Slow to a crawl and turn right, very gently as you are likely to encounter pedestrians ambling along the road, and drive carefully up the cobbled street, being careful not to upset any of the tables outside one of the best restaurants in the town. The road is steep – you should try walking it ! – and there are several little b&b's that make a perfect place to stay. As you approach an arch in the road, one of Dinan's ancient gates (Porte de Jerzual), turn left or right and park the car. Then you take Shank's pony and climb to the glory of the old town. You will immediately see why so many artists adore this place. The houses are original 17th century and some of them look as if they might not last much longer – but they've been saying that for 50 years or more.

The walls of Dinan still partly surround the town and although you can get on the top there is not exactly a circuit that you can make. The cathedral is a beautiful haven of peace – though come to think of it the entire old town is not exactly rowdy.

Back down the steep, cobbled hill you come back to the river. Several excellent restaurants make this an ideal place for lunch or dinner and you should also make the effort of walking along the river bank to nearby Hendaye. Cross over the bridge and take what looks like a tow-path immediately to the right. The walk is about 4kms (just over 2.5 miles) and on a nice day is glorious. The trees you encounter are enough to make the trip worthwhile and you can stop at an artist's cottage along the way. Yet at the end of it is a gem. As you pass a lock-keeper's cottage (still functioning) with a couple of dogs lazing outside in the sunshine and, at least when we walked past, the lock-keeper himself sitting outside on the river bank in a huge armchair puffing away on a pipe and with the newspaper spread out in front of him, you come to another bend in the river and through the trees you can see Léhon Abbey.

You'll cross the river by a little hump-backed bridge and walk through what might best be described as an avenue of flowers, lined with neat little houses that look as though they might have been constructed for a romantic film set. And here is Léhon Abbey, an almost abandoned 12th century building but you can still enter the beautiful church – you will probably be the only people there as it is off the beaten track an not known by many – but you'll be glad you made the effort. The village's one restaurant, owned by a wonderfully charming lady who is happy to serve you tea, wine or anything else at any time of the day or evening (a great place for dinner but you'd be advised to take the main road from Dinan to reach here as it's a long and lonely walk back along the river at night). And then back to Dinan, either the way you came or, if you prefer something a little different, on the opposite side of the river bank, though this path is not as well maintained.

From Dinan day-trips are pretty easily organisable to go to St Malo (what a disappointing place that was after all the hype – it's a grey, tree-less, touristy place totally enclosed by its walls and to be honest the only decent thing to do is to walk the entire circuit atop the walls, with lovely views on the sea-side. we went planning a full day there and stayed two hours); Dinard, an interesting seaside town with a casino, a good beach-front walk and some good restaurants; or, most interestingly of all, to Mont St Michel, only about 45 minutes away and just across the "border" into Normandy.

Mont St Michel's history goes back to Roman times but it was only in about 700 that it was built up in any way. By the time of the Norman Conquest of England it had become an important monastery and is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry. The English laid siege to it in 1423-23 – part of the Hundred Years War. Yet it resisted and grew in stature as France slowly developed from the various "nations", yet was to decline in importance during the 17th and early 18th centuries. By the time of the French Revolution it was almost deserted and was used to house political prisoners. By 1864 its monastic use had been restored. The best time to go, to be honest, is either very early or in mid-afternoon, once the hordes of bus-borne tourists have had time to get fed up and wish to go home. The whole point of visiting Mont St Michel is to go to the very top and enter the monastery and church (entry €8.50). It's a long climb up narrow lanes but surely is the only thing worth seeing – on the way up you just pass one tacky tourist shop after another, and over-priced restaurants and cafés. Yet incredibly, of the three million people who visit Mont St Michel every year, only 30% of them go to the top ! Whether this reflects on their fitness or their idea of "culture" nobody is quite certain. A novel way of reaching Mont St Michel (though you need a car to get there) is to walk across the bay at low tide, but only with a qualified guide and they operate from Genêts, reached via Avranches.