Moulin de la Saline

Moulin de la Saline is a 19th-century tower windmill standing in Cherrueix, a coastal village in Ille-et-Vilaine on the shore of the Mont-Saint-Michel bay in Brittany. Built of granite, it stands on the Duchesse-Anne dike, a spot exposed to the steady sea winds that once made this stretch of coast a working milling district.

Where does the name "Saline" come from?

The mill's name points back to an earlier trade carried out on this exact spot: making and storing salt. Before the surrounding marshland was given over to grain farming, local salt pans supplied the coast, and the building next to the mill served as a salt store. That double history — salt first, then grain — explains why Cherrueix still reads as a village shaped by the sea as much as by farming.

What makes this a "tower" windmill, and how does it relate to the other mills in Cherrueix?

Moulin de la Saline is one of three windmills lined up along the dike at Cherrueix, standing alongside Moulin de la Colimassière and Moulin des Mondrins. All three share the same basic design: a round granite tower topped by a rotating cap carrying the mechanism that turned the sails into the wind. Grouping several mills in a row like this was common along the Mont-Saint-Michel bay, where the onshore wind was reliable enough to justify building more than one mill close together.

Moulin de la Saline itself lost its sails at some point, but the tower and the turning mechanism that once aimed them at the wind are still in place, so the mill's original purpose remains easy to read.

Is the mill a protected historic monument?

Yes. Moulin de la Saline was listed as a monument historique (inscription) by a decree dated 7 September 1977, together with the other two Cherrueix mills, Colimassière and Mondrins. Listing all three together underlines that the historic value here lies as much in the group of three mills visible from the dike as in any single building.

What is there to see inside today?

The mill belongs to the municipality and now houses the Maison des Produits du Terroir et de la Gastronomie, a house of local produce and gastronomy with a small exhibition space on the region's milling and salt-making history plus a shop selling local products. It's a practical way to combine a look at the historic building with tasting what the area actually produces.

Why stop in Cherrueix for this mill specifically?

Cherrueix sits about 20 kilometres from Mont-Saint-Michel and has become a base for kitesurfers, drawn by the same strong, steady winds that once turned the mill sails. The sight of three windmills standing in a row against the bay and the flat, open salt-marsh landscape is one of the recognisable images of this part of the coast — quieter and less crowded than Mont-Saint-Michel itself, yet just as tied to the region's history.

Frequently asked questions

Can visitors go inside Moulin de la Saline? The building operates as a house of local produce and gastronomy open to visitors, with a small exhibition and a shop, though it's worth checking local opening details before visiting.

Where does the mill's name come from? From the salt-making and storage once carried out on the site, before the area turned mainly to grain farming.

Does the mill still have its sails? No, the sails were lost over time, but the tower and the rotating mechanism used to orient the sails to the wind have survived.

How many windmills stand together in Cherrueix? Three — Moulin de la Saline, Moulin de la Colimassière, and Moulin des Mondrins — all listed as historic monuments in 1977.