A year in Petit Bretagne (with apologies to Peter Watsisname)

At the end of the first week of a fortnight's stay on holiday in Brittany in the North West of France for the dave27 clan, it seemed appropriate for tonight's little epic to be devoted to the region, and I'm going to double up with the story of our own little bit of La Belle France, and, given how long it's taken to perfect, the title seems pretty apt. But I'll come back to that a bit later.

Brittany has always seemed to me just that little bit different from the rest of France. Ever since me and Mrs D and the dave27-ettes first visited the place getting on for three years ago now, we have been enchanted by the place. It may well have something to do with the fact that it's very reminiscent of the countryside of southern England, and its geographical closeness is perhaps the reason for that.

Set in the extreme North West of France, Brittany is often thought of as a little nation state, all on its own, with its own unique culture and environment. Even the name Bretagne describes its connections with Blighty (Grande Bretagne). It was known in the time of the Celts as Armorica ("the land of the sea") for good reason because the place abounds with myths and legends of towns and villages which have disappeared into the ferocious English Channel and it shares with Britain the love of Arthurian legend.

The beaches of Brittany are beautifully clean and fresh, as is the water, although the majority are of rock and stone rather than sand and you will need to take sandals if you are visiting to protect your feet from cuts, as the dave27-ettes now know to their cost.

The place is a favourite with English tourists and visit any seaside town in the summer and you'll come across Brits with their shorts and ill fitting sandals.

Among the main towns in Brittany are Quimper (pronounced Camp Air), Vannes, Dinan, Rennes (the capital of Brittany), St Brieuc, St Malo, Roscoff, Perros Guirec and the beautiful haven of Mont St Michel. They are all distinctive little towns and villages, full of romance, back alleys, markets and good food (it says here). Crepes (pancakes) are a specially in Brittany (the dave27-ettes love them) as is live sea food in the supermarkets (you can marvel at the sight of live crabs crawling aggressively over each other, and this will keep the kids amused for hours).

By and large Brittany is unspoilt and countrified, although some of the larger towns do tend to get pretty busy, but in common with the rest of France the larger roads and autoroutes are a great relief to drive on after the jams and speed cameras which seem to be ever present these days in Blighty. You can go for hours on some roads in Brittany (literally) without meeting another soul and I found it extremely relaxing compared to the pressures of driving in this country. Life in general is also a great deal slower and more relaxed and you must be prepared for everything to switch off between the hours of midday and two, so be warned. Get your shopping in early, or be prepared for a long wait.

The main supermarkets are E Leclerc, Intermarche and Carrefour and in general they resemble the Asda/Walmart experience, with huge hangar type set ups stocking pretty much everything under the sun, including computer equipment and other electronic goods. Most of them also boast their own bakery and there's nothing like a genuine newly baked croissant to start off the day.

It will take you a while to adjust to the slower French way of living after spending your life in the harsher life of Britain, which always seems busier and more rushed.

The people of Brittany I have always found to be a genuine pleasure, and there's none of the stereotypical French arrogance or ignorance to be found here. As far as I'm concerned, that's all a bit of a myth put about by English xenophobes, who like to paint pictures of ignorant Frogs reeking of garlic and Gaulloise fags and sporting berets. Haven't seen any like that, although they do like their wine and their roll ups and their long lunch hour.

Anyway, that's enough of the holiday brochure and it's time to get back to the adventures of the dave27 clan...

 

As I said earlier, we first spent a holiday in France about three years ago, in a mobile home on a campsite in Brittany. We loved the place almost from the off and decided that it would be wonderful if we could somehow get our own place over there. At first Mrs D was determined to get our own mobile home to stay in, but she soon got apprehensive when she heard that they only last about ten years and are prone to getting flattened in gales.

However, the die was cast and we'd decided to take the plunge. We'd got a fair amount of equity in our house over here, so we knew we could raise the cash to get our own property if we saw anything, so Mrs D set off on her GRAND PROJECT.

She started checking out websites of properties in Brittany and was astonished by some of the bargains on show. The prices had apparently started creeping up from the real low of a year or so previously, but we were genuinely shocked at what you could get for your money. One website we found particularly useful was that of Beehive France and we eventually got talking to the agent who ran it, an English guy called Nick Bailey, and asked him to show us a couple of places.

	To visit the Baileys' site

We were definitely just a bit doubtful when we saw some of the ads he was running for properties because they didn't look all that special at all, particularly the one we eventually opted for, which you can see above.

The first time we went over to look, we were a bit apprehensive because some of the cheaper properties were real tips, and we were half of a mind to lose Nick and split the scene, but we decided to stick with it and eventually struck gold when Nick showed us a little gite (cottage) in a place called Plusquellec near Callac. It was only like an enormous

shed and needed quite a lot of work doing on it, but it had a sound roof, thick walls and enormous potential. What's more it cost just £7,500, and,even with the twenty grand or so we eventually spent on it, it was a real bargain.

All the work is done on the place now (even though we've had a few issues with builders, but the less said about that the better), and we've extended our living space with a conservatory and have got an outdoor swimming pool out the back, and at a modest valuation our gite is now worth about fifty grand, not that we've got any intention of selling our romantic retreat.

This is our third holiday out there this year and we've rented it out to a few family and friends. We plan to do a lot more of the renting out next year and can see the place earning its keep time and time again. It's set in an enormous plot of land and is now lovely and comfortable, with all the necessary mod cons, although still very much in keeping with the cottagey feel and atmosphere of the place.

Bargains like this aren't as easy to find these days, but they can still be had if you're prepared for some work and/or refurbishment bills, and you'll never regret the investment when you've plunged in, although me and Mrs D do occasionally refer to Lindily (the name of our gite) as The Money Pit (a la the film starring Tom Hanks).

However, as I sit here, writing this op on a laptop PC, connected up to the Internet, but sat at our wonderful antique farmhouse table, in front of our gorgeous log burner with French stick and cheapo crate of Kronenbourg at my side, and think of you poor souls burning your lives away in the grim English weather (not that Brittany is rainless, we've had some particularly wet days in our times at Lindily), I can't help a smug grin of satisfaction creeping across my face. Vive La France...

Brittany is a gorgeous place and one that the dave27 family has thoroughly fallen in love with and Lindily is perfectly placed to use as a base to enjoy all the sites, secluded and quiet and yet right in the middle of a wonderful rural area, from where you can see some of the finest countryside in France.

We're set near a farm, right on the top of a hill, overlooking the surrounding area and strategically placed to view everything around you - we wouldn't change it for the world.