LOCRONAN, is a prime example of a Breton town that has remained frozen in its ancient form by more recent economic decline. From 1469 through to the seventeenth century, it was a successful centre for woven linen, supplying sails to the French, English and Spanish navies.
As a result, the rich medieval houses of the town centre have never been superseded or surrounded by modern development.
Film directors love its authenticity, even if Roman Polanski, filming Tess, deemed it necessary to change all the porches, put new windows on the Renaissance houses, and bury the main square in mud to make it all look a bit more English.