|
Brits in Brittany How the authorities could know is unknown, but there are said to be up to 200,000 Britons either owning a property or living permanently in Brittany. Some Brittany Brits will be second home owners who visit on a regular basis, and some will have retired to the region. But many thousands have taken on the challenge of starting a new business as well as a new life in another land. If you’ve ever dreamed of running a gite, bar, restaurant, tea-shop or bicycle hire centre in France, read on. In these pages, we’ll be featuring the stories of Britons who have started a business in Brittany, and passing on their tips as to how best to survive… and even prosper. Half Acre Farm
Paul and Roz Chapman are a classic example of a couple who made exactly the right move when they took the big gamble and crossed the Channel to live in France. 
As they say, they wanted a life-style change, but that change was simply unaffordable in the United Kingdom:
“ For us,” says Paul, “ England had changed dramatically over a couple of decades; the roads and streets had become too busy, the yob culture was growing apace and political correctness had turned our country into a place we hardly recognised. We loved France and figured we must be able to do a better job of surviving there than George had in Normandy, so moved to South Brittany to give it a go.”
“ We sold up and moved over before buying in Brittany,” explains Roz, “ as we thought we would be able to move back to England if we did not find anywhere to buy- or did not enjoy living here. We came over in 2005, and property prices had been zooming up for a couple of years. Our total budget to buy and fix a property was 80,000 euros, and I know a lot of people thought we would not find much for that sort of money.”
“ I wouldn’t say we fell in love with the house we bought or anything romantic like that,” adds Paul, “…but it ticked enough boxes to suit our needs, especially as far as the price went!”
Non-Starter 
Having bought their potential half acre of Heaven and started on the renovations and improvements, it was time for Paul and son Michael to look around for work: “ The original plan was to get the house set up and then for me to go lorry driving, something I was very experienced at. Unfortunately, it was not until I applied for a commercial driving job that I realised I needed an expensive training course, and all in French! Obviously, that was gojng to be a non-starter for a while. ”
Dead Pigs
“ Having made a start on the house we needed cash desperately, so it was off to the agencies in search of work. All we could find was a job at an abattoir in Josselin, and I feared it would be some grubby shed with bits of dead pig lying around! As it happened, the place was a very modern and clean and sophisticated factory, and after a month there we were offered a year’s training course so that we could become pork butchers. As that meant a year’s contract, we said ‘yes’ right away. Half way through the course our eldest son Dan (23) arrived to live with us, and he was taken on by the abattoir like a shot. In fact, the management said that if we had any more family members looking for a job, they could start the next day!”
Accreditation
“ At the end of our training, we were all given CDI’s. This means a great deal for workers in France, as it means you have a safe job and can borrow money on this accreditation. So, there we were, with steady jobs and security. We have moved on to another abattoir since then, and the money is much better.”
So, looking back on the past three years, how do the Chapmans feel their gamble has paid off? 
“ I think it has been hardest for Roz,” says Paul, “ as she has struggled a bit with the language. It was naturally much easier for us as we were working with French people all day. She returns to England to see her parents regularly, but, as she says, she would never go back for any other reason as she is too busy looking after all her animals- and us, of course! Dan says he misses the night life in England, but Mike now has his own house and is living with his French fiancee, and says there is absolutely no chance of him going back to Blighty.”
For the future, Paul plans to go for his HGV lorry driving course, be self-sufficient for meat by next year thanks to their mini-farm and Roz’s hard work, and also extend the house:
“ We have lots of friends both French and British ( and Dutch!) and great neighbours. We could never have a life style like this in the UK, and all in all it has worked out wonderfully well. But as they say, if you want to live in Brittany, you must enjoy weather. When we visited France in the past, we always went south, and we were really surprised at how green and verdant it is in Brittany. Then we realised that it’s so green here because it rains quite a lot! That’s fine by me, but Roz says she would like to hibernate From January to March!”
To catch up with the Chapmans and their adventures on the Half Acre Farm project, visit: www.halfacrefarm.bretondiary.com ______________________________________________________________________________________
Life of Riley for Artist and Author
As well as showing his impeccable taste by being a friend of George’s, Alastair Riley is a multi- talented man.
The former head teacher produces not only brilliant silkscreen print work , but is also the author of two captivating guides to some of the lesser-known vineyards in France and their produce. Born in Essex, and now domiciled in Alderney, Alistair and his wife are perfectly positioned for their regular fact-finding and sampling forays into France. We find Alistair’s silkscreen creations stunning and you can see the great man’s work and buy his books and prints ( at a staggeringly reasonable price) by visiting www.alastair-riley.co.uk 
______________________________________________________________________________________________
 Building a better mousetrap...
As the old saying has it: ‘Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.’ Nowadays, it would probably be more apposite to substitute the word ‘website’ for ‘mousetrap’. There are tens of thousands of websites ( including this one) devoted to some aspect of France. Now, a Brittany-based Brit has come up with what he hopes will be the ultimate answer for those who wish to know what’s on and where to go-and why they should go there- in every area of France.
We will leave our friend, humourist, writer and ideas man Tony Wright to explain his Big Idea in his own inimitable way:
Act 1. Scene it all before: Two old codgers are seated in a run-down bar, deep in the boonies of Brittany. One is overweight, grey and wrinkly, and the other is the celebrated writer and raconteur, George East. They are crunching pork scratchins, to take away the taste of the local plonk, ‘Vin Morrison’. George: Shame we can’t get a decent pint of Thruxteds Old Ditchwater, Tone. Tone: S’right G.. You’d think the French would be capable of growing a few hectares of hops instead of all this maize. You can’t even eat it you know. I pinched some from a field one day, and boiled it till the bottom fell off the saucepan. It was still as hard as getting a decent exchange rate for the £.In the end, I used it to keep the neighbour’s Afghan Bullrat off the roses. Geo: Does the smell put him off, then? Tone: Nah…..I chuck them at him. Geo: Tidy…d’you know, our baker’s baguettes can stun a rabbit from the kitchen window? Tone: Not surprised. I left two teeth in one the other day. I think Tesco’s ought to send a posse over to show them how to make a decent loaf. I mean, I don’t mind a bit of crust, but right through to the other side is a bit much. Geo: Veritablemente….. what’s this I hear about your new website? Tone: Well G, to be honest it all came about because I was getting a bit fed up missing all the action. Geo: Action? In Brittany? Tone: Absobloominglootely….the other day, a bar not 10k away from mi casa had a pig-roast, and I only found out the morning after. Then, there was a Breton line-dance bash at the local salle de sport….. I was only 2k away, watching a repeat of Percy Thrower’s ‘Gardeners’ Question-time’. So, I was pondering on this dilemma, when ‘urinal!’, the solution hit me like a stale baguette. …..write a website that tells you what’s going on in your area. Geo: Aren’t there already sites that do that? Tone: Nah, the problem with the present sites is that the areas they cover are too vast. Every time I find something worth going to, it turns out to be three hours away. And what with the price of diesel being on a par with gold bullion, I just ‘canna do it captain’. Geo: A bit like telling someone in Norfolk that there’s a boot sale in Dorset? Tone: Bang on ….everything’s either too far away, or I’ve just missed it.
Geo: So how are you going to get all the local info. on what’s occurring all over France?
Tone: Aaaah ( tapping nose in a crafty cockney kind of way)….. that’s my master-stroke. I’m going to build a website for every canton in France, and find a local editor to write the content for each of them. Geo: What’s a canton, when it’s at home?
Tone: A canton is a group of villages, or part of a big town. It’s really just an excuse for another layer of administration, not that the French need an excuse. There are about 4000 cantons, and each editor will pay an annual fee for his web space. Whats-on-france.biz could in fact generate 4000 new businesses.
Geo: So how exactly will these editors make their money?
Tone: They’ll be able to charge for classified ads, a business directory, a diary of what’s happening, special sections for ‘Business of the month’, and links to affiliate deals like Google Adsense and Amazon will earn revenue with ‘click- throughs’. They’ll operate within certain guidelines, but will be responsible for the editorial content, including local stories and competitions. They’ll have complete freedom to exercise their creativity in making what is in effect a local, on-line newspaper. It’s a dream ticket for someone who’s always wanted their own business, and wants to give their creativity an airing.
Geo: What a belter! But what kind of support will they get once they’ve paid for and started their site?
Tone: We’ll keep them supplied with any software updates free of charge, and there’ll be a hotline to answer any problems that might occur. As well as that, I see Whats-on-france as a team thing. Once we get the ball rolling, we’ll have all those brains ticking away, bringing fresh ideas to the pot. I want to encourage all the editors to chip in to make this site a must-see for all expats.
Geo: These local sites could actually generate business by encouraging local enterprises to offer special deals.
Tone: That’s the plan G. At the moment it’s a real problem for a bar owner who wants to lay on a special food night. How can he spread the word? Now, by putting an ad. on www.whats-on-france.biz , he’ll be able to reach all the locals as long as they’ve got an internet connection.
Geo: What about clubs and organisations? Tone: Editors will be encouraged to offer free space for clubs and societies. Our site is all about improving communication for everyone at grass roots level. The best way of describing the main aim of whats-on-france.biz is that I have designed it to help the community thrive and prosper. Initially, it will be aimed at expats, but once we have cracked the dual language site, we expect the French locals to benefit as well. Geo: So they’ll be able to put their 20 year old motor in the classifieds? Tone: Yup, but with one proviso…they’ll have to put a price on it. They won’t be able to say, ‘ Prix interessant’. Geo: Fair play. So no more missing the fish and chip night at the ‘Chien et Canard’? Tone: Quite right. And by using the classifieds which will be free for the time being, you’ll have somewhere to look to find that second-hand set of hickory golf clubs without driving 250k, only to find there’s dry rot in the sand-wedge. Geo: Any plans to help starving writers? Tone: Pas demi.. I’m going to put a section on each site where writers can upload their work. As you know, I’ve been running www.writersinfrance.com for a number of years, and this new site will give fellow authors a wider audience for nowt. Geo: Well, if there’s anything I can do to help encourage the writing fraternity….. Tone: Aaah, I was going to ask if I could put your name to our first competition. I’ve called it, ‘You could be George!’. It’s based on the TV programme, ‘ You could be Nancy’, but without the singing, the girls and definitely without Lord Lloyd Wibbler . Geo: So what do they have to write? Tone: They’ve got to submit a George East-style anecdote about life in France. All the details are on the site. And the winning story will have a choice of a signed copy of one of your books, or a second –hand copy of Margaret Thatcher’s memoirs. Geo: Tough decision. And I suppose you want me to judge the entries? Tone: Well, I’ll get it down to the last 500, and you can take it from there. Geo: Tone? Tone: What’s that G? Geo: I’m not a camel….get ‘em in. Tone : Tidy G…..’nother packet of scratchings? Geo: Ouink, ouink. _____________________________________________________________
Cornering the market atChez Winnie!!When asked what they most miss about Britain, many expatriate Britons living in France do not eulogise about country pubs or perfect summer evenings at a cricket match. What they say they really hanker after is the things they took for granted in their local supermarket or corner shop. Like hard English cheese, real sausages and even baked beans in proper tomato sauce. It is not that they cannot adopt and adapt to the cusine of their host country...just that, quite naturally, they like a taste of home. 
Plenty of parking outside... | 
...and plenty of products inside |
And it is not just Britains who feel that way. Consider the number of Polish grocery shops springing up in the UK, and anyone who has seen a Frenchman looking mournfully at a white sliced loaf in an English supermarket will know how much we all like familiar foods. A couple who saw a market for a traditional English grocery shop in Brittany and set about cornering it are Jason and Sarah Francis. 
Chez Winnie is in the Cotes d’ Armor ( 22) department and can be found in the picture-postcard Breton village of Caurel, which overlooks the lac de guerladan, the biggest stretch of enclosed water in Brittany. With over 400 lines in store, holidaying or resident Brits can pick up anything from a haggis to a sticky toffee pudding. And the locals are becoming more and more enamoured of some Britfood which they once would have crossed the street to avoid. So with gites, a bar or a B &B establishment the common dream for Brits wishing to set up shop in France, why did Sarah and Jason decide on a corner store type operation? “ Before we married, Jason already had a property here, and his mum and dad have lived in this part of Brittany for a long time,” Sarah explains. “ We were both fed up with the UK, and needed to work if we moved over sooner rather than later. The shop at Caurel used to belong to a Frenchman but had been closed down for some years. We started off intending to sell both French and English food, but so many Britons have either moved to this area or travel to shop with us that we became more and more of a British groecery shop.” And travel to Winnie’s the Brits do, with customers coming from all three other departments of Brittany: “ We have a very widespread customer base,” says Sarah. “ Some of our more far flung regulars will shop with us and then go down to the lake for lunch, which is not a bad way to spend a day!” 
Lake District - the lac de Guerdelan So, having made a great success of Chez Winnie, what is next on the menu for the young couple, and what advice would they give to other Britons thinking of starting a business in Brittany – or any other part of France?:
“ Our main plan for the future is to look at the prospects of doing a delivery service for people who find it difficult to visit us. Then of course there is the eternal renovation of our home. We might find enough time to finsih that competely one day!
“As to advice for other Britons who would like to come over her and start a business, a prime rule must be to do your homework in the form of research, and ask yourself if it is likely that people will want to buy the goods or service you are providing. More importantly perhaps, will enough people want your good and services? Then ask yourself if you are prepared to take a risk and do a lot of hard work and come to terms with living and working in a foreign land where they do things differently from back home. “ We have done a lot of hard work and taken risks, and it is paying off for us. We are also loving being here and doing what we do together, and that is a really important thing...” For all contact details and information about Chez Winnie, go to www.chezwinnie.com
|
