Couple takes on abandoned holiday village in Brittany with plans for revival

An incredible site of 22 hectares, standing on a promontory that descends towards the Rance valley, in Brittany. In the middle of the clearings, 40 lodgings and 30 rooms with green roofs blend into nature, being able to accommodate up to 250 people. The whole converges towards a large building bordered by a swimming pool, which houses a dining room and lounges.

A site open to all winds

welcome to Ker Al Lann holiday village. Or rather what’s left of it. Created in the 1970s by the municipality of Guitté, south of Dinan (Cotes-d’Armor)the site was intended to accommodate summer visitors, works councils or even senior citizens’ clubs, who came from all over France to recharge their batteries in the middle of nature.

Sold by the municipality, which could not take care of it, the village had several operators. The latest, l’association Escapiaclosed at the start of 2021, struck down by a blank year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic. She abandoned the facilities almost overnight, leaving a large amount of equipment behind.

We would have thought we were in Walking Dead, as if the owners had fled in disaster, leaving all their belongings behind.

A looted and squatted site

Since then, the kitchens, furniture, dishes and even the electrical networks have been looted. The bay windows and shutters of several chalets were smashed. Of the tags covered the walls and squatters spent a few nights there.

In short, it is a spectacle of desolation that have discovered Julia et Brian, a Franco-American couple who bought the site this fall from the Quimper commercial court (Finistère), following the liquidation of the company that operated the village.

In front of the scale of the construction site waiting for them to put this exceptional space back on its feet, which is now very damaged, the couple displays a broad smile.

“It doesn’t scare us, it’s a real challenge,” exclaims Julia, who didn’t know much about Brittany before settling down with her husband and their 3-year-old son in this corner of still wild countryside of the country of Dinan.

From New York to Brittany

And drastic life change for this young mother, who grew up in Reims before flying to the ANDtats-Unis where she remained for 15 years. Navigating between Los Angeles and New Yorkwhere she set up showrooms to welcome fashion designers, she led the life of a perfect American city dweller with her husband met there, before deciding to take this 180° turn.

“Brian grew up in the wilderness, in Ohio, and after the birth of our son, we no longer flourished in the city,” says Julia.

I wanted to return to France and my family stumbled upon this village to take over. We put together a file that ended up being accepted after long months of proceedings.

One million euros to invest

The amount of the redemption with the commercial court is confidential. “But it wasn’t very expensive considering the size of the estate,” says Julia. The couple will on the other hand bet big to restore the shine it deserves to this abandoned village.

We are going to launch a fundraiser in January, with the aim of investing around one million euros to revive this place and develop a profitable activity there.

The couple started with secure the site with the help of the town hall to avoid comings and goings and further damage. Stones and embankments have been laid to block the entrances. Surveillance cameras have been installed. “We need a little peace and quiet to start working,” laughs Julia and Brian, who will initially fix the management house to move into in spring.

A year of work

And landscaper will soon take action to restore order in this gigantic park left fallow for two years. A architect also passed to establish a project for the enhancement of the main building and many lodgings with very special construction, a kind of concrete blocks with roofs covered with plants that are lost in nature. At the very least, one year of work all directions are programmed to hope open the site to the public in 2024.

But to welcome who? “We are aiming for a very large clientele. Families who want to spend a quiet weekend, seminars, weddings, but also an international clientele who wants to discover Brittany differently, in a unique place less than an hour from Saint-Malo, the beaches and the Mont Saint-Michel,” enthuses Julia, who also wants to reopen the restaurant, install mobile homes on part of the land dedicated to camping, and build a thirty Ecolodges isolated in the forest.

Ten new jobs planned

Suffice to say that there is no shortage of projects in the minds of the new owners of Ker Al Lann, who ultimately hope hire ten people to maintain and operate the site.

Leaving New York for Brittany, Julia and Brian wanted to change their lives. By striving to revive this exceptional village that has become ghostly, they could not have dreamed of better. Even if the path chosen takes the form of a new bet on the future.

Follow all the news from your favorite cities and media by subscribing to Mon Actu.