French revolt over hotel
FRENCH REVOLT OVER HOTEL LES ROSBIFS
Before reading this article, please guess ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the following questions:
1.This is an article about a hotel which specialises in cooking steaks. Yes /No
2.The hotel is in Provence in south-western France, owned by a family from the UK. Yes /No
3. There is a protest campaign being led by some French people who think the quality of the steaks is poor. Yes /No
4.The local archbishop has also joined the campaign. Yes /No
5.There have been a number of law-cases involving the hotel. Yes /No
6.The hotel is old. Yes/ No
7.The people who bought the hotel invested a great deal of money in it. Yes /No
8.Local French people have been employed by the hotel-owner. Yes/ No
9.A French architect is a key player in the protest about the hotel. Yes /No
10.The campaigners have caused damage to the hotel. Yes /No
Now please read the following article, and find out if you were right!
FRENCH REVOLT OVER HOTEL LES ROSBIFS
1 Pursuing the French idyll has involved an extraordinary struggle for the Cummings family. Since arriving from Britain a year ago, they have been locked in bitter conflict with locals over the ancient abbey they have converted into a luxury hotel.
2 Nestling in a Burgundy valley, the setting of L’Abbaye de la Bussière, which opened for business on April 8 after extensive renovations, could hardly be more tranquil. Yet fierce passions have been stirred in this picturesque corner of France by suggestions that the British are "stealing" part of the national heritage.
3 "There are people who are trying to mess things up for us," said Clive Cummings, 36, who described the local resistance as "guerrilla warfare". "They are trying everything."
4 Starting a business in France is never straightforward. The battle over the property has made it that much harder for Cummings. After leaping through the usual bureaucratic hoops, Cummings, who runs La Bussière with his wife Tanith, has seen the hotel dragged into a series of lawsuits by Dominic Jouffroy, an architect who orchestrates a "Save La Bussière" campaign from his office in Dijon.
5 Jouffroy contends that the Archbishop of Dijon had no right to sell the former Cistercian abbey since it had been donated to the church almost a century ago by the family that owned it. He was revolted by the idea of a "spiritual" place being turned into a hotel but denied being motivated by anti-British sentiment. Some of his supporters feel differently.
6 From Brittany in the west to Provence in the south, there have been complaints of an "invasion" of British buyers forcing up property prices. The newcomers are praised for repopulating the empty French countryside and restoring houses nobody else wants but are resented in some parts for pricing first-time buyers out of the market.
7 "The English already own most of Dordogne. Have we gone back to the age of Eleanor of Aquitaine?" said Patrick Deborde, a local farmer, referring to the 12th-century period in which much of western France fell under English rule. "Why are we letting our cultural heritage fall into the hands of foreigners? Châteaux, vineyards and now abbeys — it’s shameful."
8 Another "save La Bussière" campaigner said on the group’s website that the goal should be to "drive les rosbifs from the Ouche valley".
9 The church has called for calm, saying there was nothing illegal about the sale. Any hope of overturning it was a "fantasy", said Roland Minnerath, the archbishop of Dijon, who used to live in the abbey. He added that the property had been a drain on resources and that the church had been lucky to find the Cummingses, who live in the abbey with their four children.
10 Cummings, whose family has invested £3.4m in the project, hired nine people previously employed by the archbishop at the abbey. The restoration also provided months of employment for local craftsmen who uncovered original friezes and exquisite stone carvings.
11 The Cummingses have won praise in the community as well for restoring the parkland and lake, from which they removed 250 tons of silt and rubbish.
12 None of this seemed to impress Jouffroy. Funded by donations, he has lodged numerous complaints and a separate case has been brought against the regional authority for authorising the sale. It means that Cummings’s intray is packed with thick envelopes: "All of them from lawyers," he chuckles.
13 One bone of contention is the glass lift Cummings wants to install in the abbey. Another battle is raging over the abbey’s old wine-press which, according to Jouffroy, needs protection as a national treasure.
14 Cummings believes his opponents are fighting the battle in cyberspace too: visitors looking for information about the abbey often find themselves being directed to another website advertising the "Save la Bussière" campaign. "We have our suspicions about that," said Cummings.
15 The enemy has also tried full-scale invasion. On Easter Sunday, 200 visitors gathered in the grounds of the abbey, which used to be open to the public, and held picnics in defiance of a sign saying: "Private, hotel guests only". There were so many cars that the electric-gate mechanism broke down.
16 "People seem to feel they have the right to wander in and walk around as they please," said Cummings. "I’ve seen a man come in here and graze his three horses."
17 He has decided that a charm offensive is the best response and, for the time being, at least, will not try to keep people out. Far from it. He is planning an "open day" when "every door will be unlocked for people to come and see that we are not destroying the place as some say". He is not sure, however, if he is ready, just yet, to invite Jouffroy round to tea.
Now complete the quiz for a second time and guess ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the same questions!