A cheese that is “sister” cheese to Timadeuc Cheese, in that both are “Port du Salut” style cheeses, and the Abbey where it is made by nuns, l’Abbaye de la Joie Notre Dame, is sister abbey to the monastery, l’Abbaye Notre-Dame de Timadeuc
The cheese is very pliable and has tiny holes. Its very strong smell belies its very mild taste.
There are reports that the nuns may not make this cheese much longer.‡
‡ L’eau à la bouche, Canalweb, présentée par Claire Gibourg-Guindre, mars 2004.
History Notes
The Abbey was founded in 1920 under the name Notre-Dame de Bonne-Garde at Sainte-Anne d’Auray. The nuns didn’t own the building they were in, and the surrounding land was not well-suited for farming. In 1948, the monastery at Timadeuc bought for the sisters a new home, le château de la Villa Aubert, in Campénéac. The chateau was adapted for the nuns, with a new wing being built, and was ready for the nuns to move there at the very end of September 1953. At the same time, the nuns changed the name of their community to La Joie Notre Dame, “Gaudium Dominae Nostrae”. Since 1997, the Mother Superior, or the Abbesse, has been Mère Michaël Le Tendre. The community has 43 nuns (as of 2004).
