Agents have to work harder to find them these days, but they still exist," says Chris.Prices in Normandy and Brittany are roughly stable now but each region has seen a 30 per cent price rise over the past three years - despite budget airlines making southern France, Italy, Spain and even eastern Europe more accessible.Northern France has escaped the new developments and second-home resorts further south, but that may be about to change. We prefer the topography and geography of Brittany - the buildings look more French. With a Premiership game at the weekend, followed by the Champions' League next midweek, keeping his best players sharp was Benitez's intention here but these defeats are further dulling their edge.Crystal Palace (4-4-2): Speroni; Boyce, Hall, Hudson, Borrowdale; Reich (Togwell, 84), Watson, Soares, Hughes; Freedman (Black, 78), Morrison (Andrews, 74). The motorways are more or less free and relatively deserted," says Chris, whose main home is in Sussex.Brittany's homes are dear on the western coast, near Quimper and B?det where views and weather add 20 per cent to prices Dinard and St-Malo are elegant and expensive, too. "It was amazingly similar to the Danish artist Peter Severin Kroyer's picture of his wife titled Marie in the Garden. What I saw to my amazement was that it was signed Jack Hoggan, Vettriano's earlier attribution, without reference to Kroyer," he told the Daily Record newspaper.Vettriano, appointed an OBE for services to the visual arts two years ago, has never made any secret that in his early days he had taught himself how to paint by copying the works of other great artists.Five years ago the 53-year-old artist said he had copied several pieces during his early days.
Parisians rival British buyers in many areas, too, although French families avoid renovation projects so there is less competition for these properties.Hynes says a buyer wanting a Normandy renovation project should expect to pay £50,000 to £60,000 for a barn or farmhouse needing another £30,000 of work to bring it up to a good standard. She was so inspired by her cottage that she set up Normandy Homefinders, an agency to help buyers relocate or find a second home in the region.Normandy remains fantastically accessible - it contains the ports of Cherbourg, Caen and Le Havre, although cheap properties close to these towns have long been snapped up. It's a long drive from the ports and has a lot of British," says Hynes. The British get off the ferries, hit the motorways and miss the place Brittany is like another planet.
Their locations vis-?is the main ferry ports make them different, too."I have a three-and-a-half-hour journey door to door," says the Kent interior designer Louisa Hynes, who in 2003 bought a Victorian seaside holiday home in a Normandy hamlet between Dieppe and Le Havre."Like most of Normandy it's incredibly French - no English voices. Normandy is typified by steeply pitched roofs on half-timbered manor houses; in Brittany, classic older houses are a little denser and use more granite and slate. Britons liken them both to sunnier and less crowded versions of our own west country, with agricultural roots and strong culinary traditions, sandy beaches and rocky cliffs, and beautiful and historic inland areas with fewer cities than elsewhere in the country. But similarities between Normandy and Brittany end when it comes to property. Brittany or Normandy? If you would like to buy a holiday home that's just a short drive from the Channel ports, which region do you plump for? At first sight these two parts of northern France are similar. Sometimes items are marked 'as found' or a/f in the catalogue which could indicate some damage. It is not necessary to attend the sale, as a bid can be left beforehand with the auctioneer but, if your bid is successful, don't forget that there's a buyer's premium of between 15-20 per cent to pay on top of the hammer price and VAT to pay on this premium, too.Lyon and Turnbull, 0131 557 8844 www.lyonandturnbull Bonhams, Knowle, 01564 776151, www.bonhams Cheffins 01223 213343 www.cheffins.co.ukChristie's, South Kensington 020-7930 6074 www.christies Dreweatt Neate, Godalming 01483 423567 www.dfna .
