I came across this from 6 years back and I think not much has changed from @UKfloatedaway (I’m sorry to have hijacked and mixed up the the original post by the way…perhaps to do in my head for the desire to have something English (sausages and bacon) where it can be had locally…I’ll, maybe not bacon..
Ahh, well.
The rural French in Brittany are a bit nervous because they think we are all beer-swilling wreckers who will do mad renovations and violate land boundaries while having noisy drunken parties. But when you speak to them a few times they go ‘Phew, these English are a bit mad but harmless!’.
It seems like in the 80s or some long ago time, there was a wave of naughty Brits, so people are a little bit reticent, but they are nice natured people, the rural Bretons, and very forgiving. What matters is the people, it seems, and if the Brits are nice and neighbourly, the French can be too. My neighbours are really nice, but there has been a history if Brits here in the impasse for decades; well-behaved Brits. The other English in the village are the same as me, they integrate but are happy to spend time with other English people.
Integrating is an interesting one, there are some Brits who have been here for decades who take advantage of the big English community and English-speaki…