Coast, country and character


Karen Tait speaks to estate agent Dan Newton to find out what his area of Brittany has to offer property buyers


How long have you worked as an estate agent in France and how did you start out in the profession? I’ve worked in real estate in France since 1986; I started off with my parents in a company called Savoir-Faire Find & Renovate. In those days, we had the status of ‘intermediary between notaries and foreign buyers’ as well as being maître d’oeuvre for the renovation side, where we managed a team of local artisans and cumulated about 400 renovation projects from adding bathrooms to cottages through to full renovation of manor houses and gîte complexes. My parents called it a day in 1996 and I went to work for a traditional estate agent here, before getting my own license in 2006.


Which areas of France do you and your agency cover? The agency started in the heart of Brittany and has developed to cover 19 departments, from Lower Normandy and Brittany down through the Limousin and Périgord regions to the Nouvelle-Aquitaine/Occitanie borders. Basically, the western half of France. I personally take care of the Prestige Branch in Brittany, our new extension to the agency.


Describe the Brittany region in five words Coastal, green, varied, legends and active.


What is the appeal of your area? Brittany accounts for a third of mainland France’s coastline and this can vary from long sandy beaches, discreet hidden estuaries or rugged rocky cliffs. They say that in Brittany you are never more than an hour from the coast. Inland Brittany


is lovely too, with lots of forests, rivers, characterful villages, castles and manor houses, not forgetting its palaeolithic sites.


What’s your favourite corner of the region? If I had to choose one of the many, it would be the village of St-Nicolas-des-Eaux in the Blavet valley – the Blavet river runs from Lorient up to Pontivy. The village itself is built along the river and has a choice of bars and restaurants for cool summer evenings after a walk or cycle along the towpath.


Is Brittany easy to reach from the UK? Very easy. There are two ferry ports: Roscoff with sailings to Plymouth and St-Malo to Portsmouth, plus Caen is only two hours away. You have Rennes and Nantes international airports, as well as several smaller airports with flights to the UK and Ireland.


Who would the area suit? Everyone’s needs are different, but if you are looking for a region where you are within easy reach of the coast for swimming, surfing and sailing;


On the market


great countryside for walking, cycling and riding; if you want to live in the countryside, but less than 30 minutes from a major town; if you like a laidback way of life with good seafood restaurants at reasonable prices, then yes, Brittany is a good place to be – whether you want to move here, or just have a holiday home. They say that if you buy a holiday home here, you’ll end up relocating permanently!


What are the most desirable locations in Brittany? Prices anywhere are relative to the employment centres, i.e. the big towns and cities. All of Brittany’s major towns, except Rennes, are along the coast. If you add to that the attraction of having a house near the sea, it results in prices varying hugely over a short distance. So, where you can find a liveable three- bedroom house for €150,000 in central Brittany, you will need to add a zero for a coastal village only 45 minutes away!


Are there any less-well-known places people might miss? Due to the peninsular shape of Brittany and the reasons


mentioned earlier, I would say there aren’t any hidden spots as such. Saying that, if you are looking for a coastal property without too many tourists, then I would search south of Quimperlé, between Lorient and Concarneau. And if I was looking inland, I would definitely look around Pontivy as it is a reasonably priced area with all the necessary shops.


What kinds of properties will buyers find? The typical Breton home is what we call a longère or literally a longhouse. These are principally built of locally quarried granite with slate roofs. I often imagine that a family built a cottage, then got some animals, so added a barn in line with the house, then the family grew so they extended on the other end of the house; then more animals so another barn, and so on. Some longères resemble a terrace of houses they are so long!


What could people buy for a budget of: Under €100,000: You can find small ‘liveable’ cottages in central Brittany for this price;


€79,000: Quirky and charming two-bedroom home with a cottage-garden and terrace at the rear. On the edge of a village, it would be perfect as a holiday house or permanent home


52 FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: May/June 2024


€230,000: Three-bedroom 17th-century house on just under half an acre with a detached one- bedroom gîte, plus a barn, just 5km outside the friendly village of Lescouët-Gouarec


€249,900: A four-bedroom renovated stone mill with open- plan living, veranda and a stone outbuilding, set on 2,000m2


of


land less than 1km from historic town Guémené-sur-Scorff


© SHUTTERSTOCK


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