Brittany property boom stirs tension

By Caroline Wyatt BBC Paris correspondent

Property prices have soared in Brittany

Sipping a coffee at the Ty Breizh café in the quiet centre of Bourbriac, it is easy to see what attracts people to Brittany.

Unspoilt rural landscapes surround the village, the pace of life is distinctly unhurried, and as the signs in the local estate agent show, houses are incredibly cheap by British standards, which with a little renovation can be turned into dream homes for British families.

That is just what Peter and Maggi Phillips did when they bought an old mill house just outside Bourbriac two years ago, and moved from Devon with their children Ashleigh, Charlotte, William and Grace.

Warm welcome

The family's quality of life in Brittany is far higher than it was in England, and Peter has found a job as a builder, working with Bretons and learning the language as he goes.

But have any of the family felt animosity from the people of Bourbriac, as recent media reports in Britain and France have suggested?

"No, not at all," says Peter, shaking his head.

The Philips family have been well received by the local community

"We would never have expected the warmth of the welcome that we had when we moved here. It's been very good, very positive."

His wife Maggi, cooking the family dinner in the cosy kitchen of their old Breton stone house, agreed.

"In the two years we've been here, we've never come across any animosity. Our kids are in school, and they don't come home crying - they've made friends, and our neighbours are lovely. We invite them to parties and they look after us."

Well integrated

The children certainly seem well-integrated at the local school, where they're spending the morning rehearsing songs in both English and French for a show this weekend; the family's efforts to learn the language and befriend their neighbours seem to be paying off.

Many other British families, like the Phillips, are also doing their best to integrate with the local community here.

Some 35 of the village houses are owned by British citizens, with around half of the homes occupied all year round.

The rest are holiday homes, meaning that of the village's 100 or so British home-owners, around 50 live here on a permanent basis, out of a total village population of 2,339.

Guillaume Bricaud: 'Local people can't afford to live here'

So the British do not yet form a major proportion of the village, despite press reports in Britain claiming that up to 800 British citizens live in Bourbriac.

But the Bretons who organised last month's demonstration say that integration is not the real issue anyway, but the sheer number of incomers buying homes in Brittany, regardless of where they are from.

Anna Kerrain and Guillaume Bricaud co-founded the Breton group 'A-Stroll' (which means 'Together' in Breton), which led the protest.

Both are young, idealistic and horrified to be called racist or anti-British. Both could better be described as anti-globalisation campaigners, who are trying to protect Brittany's unique heritage - and the future of its young people.

Forced out

They say their small demonstration in Bourbriac in February was not aimed against the British, but at bringing the government's attention to the way young people here have been priced out of the housing market by French and British buyers alike.

Yannick Botrel: No hostility towards the British

Anna Kerrain tells me: "People see the house prices going up, and it's not the fault of the English but maybe some people might think that.

"We are not against the British but against the speculators who make their money on property, and don't think about whether that makes it unaffordable to local people who want to live and work here, where their family and friends are."

Guillaume Bricaud nods vigorously. "We have nothing against the English, just property speculators - the rich people who come here from wherever, drive up the prices, buy our houses and monopolise the region's resources."

This idea that we hate the British is just plain stupid Yannick Botrel, Mayor of Bourbriac

And that applies as much to Parisians buying holiday homes in Brittany as it does to British residents.

The mayor of Bourbriac, Yannick Botrel, is also keen to play down any tensions, saying any anti-British sentiment is purely a creation of the British media.

"This idea that we hate the British is just plain stupid," he says indignantly.

"We've never shown any hostility towards the British here. We are a very tolerant people. Bretons don't vote far right, we don't like extremism and if you asked most villagers, they'd say it's simply not an issue. They don't care - they have other things to think about."

But the British and Parisian home-owners here must be cautious: if too many do move here, they could risk endangering the very way of life they've come to Brittany to enjoy, as small traders, shop-keepers and factory workers - especially the young - are forced further and further out of the Breton countryside in search of affordable housing.