Do people of France feel their country is being overrun with British property buyers?

I think that most people have a tolerance of freedom of movement provided that the people moving into (in this case) France take an interest in learning the French language and take on some of the French customs/celebrations and intergrate within the country/French people.

It must be very annoying to have British people moving into a French village who do not attempt to speak the French language or integrate within society. Many areas of, say Spain, have British who continue to eat egg and chips, speak only English and build English communities that only enjoy Spain for the weather.

I would imagine that scenario would be the most frustrating to any country taking in British (or anyone else).

But on the whole I like communities that welcome different origins and when both parties makle the effort ideally a melting pot occurs.

And what about all the influx we're having?

I feel britain is being over run by other nationalities. But then that's freedom of movement for you.

Certainly in a few hundred years everybody will have mixed backgrounds so who cares?

It seems fair to me. The French do very little to stop illegal immigrants crossing over the Channel to England so the English go the other way.

Twas ever thus!

'There was never a king of England born who was not also king of France!'


Shakespeare Henry V

They let the immigrants here so we go there fair exchange

We are pleased to welcome you in France !

I've spoken to a number of French people and although they are not estatic about "l'invasion", they do recognize that foreign home-owners are revitalising rural areas by giving work to bakers, cafes and the various workmen who fix up houses.

have a question: do the british people like their country ? if they go away .... I think not ...

the pound to euro conversion is in the brits favor so i'm not surprised by british property buyers. i'm more surprised the brits are not buying up american properties since the pound has twice the value of the dollar.

french people have run to britain in times of revolution to save their heads & british have long invaded france as conquorers & tourists.

brittany used to be owned by great britain, so many french descendents remain in england. just a matter of perspective....

I live with a guy who deals as a property purchaser/seller for the English here in France: He is inundated with English people wanting to buy property and has people flying over every other week to look at various properties. When he asks them why they are moving, its always the same. Yuo can actually afford to buy a good size hom, with land for a good price down here as the exchange rate also is taken into fact.
The French on the other hand DONT like this as the english come in and buy something old and renovate it until it doesnt look aything like it used to. Or they build their own property which doesnt fit in any way into the ladnscape. I have seen some horrendous sights of properties built here by the english. Currently there is a dispute of an english guy wanting to build a house but its going to be three stories and block his neighbours view of the mountains, adn he doesnt see they problem even though they said a 2storey is no problem.

The other thign is taht a lot of english people have moved here and intergrate only with other english, as the langauge is a little bit of an issue. I am in my 20's so i have met alot of people my age through french courses so i have mixed with the other cultures, but we speak french. Whereas i have met some english families here for nearly 15years and they bearly speak French! no joke! The kids are brought up here bi-lingual no problem but the parents are not as some just dont bother as they have their mates and their local english pub!

@ Avondraw : you can say the contrary, "there was never a king of France born who was not also king of england "

where i live in the dordogne the majority of local people find it amusing that the brits are willing and do live in half demolished old farm houses whilst renovating them.most seem fairly pleased that the houses are being saved and are astute enough to realise that we all contribute to the local taxes and spend our money locally.roy the thicko