Uproar on chic Côte d’Amour as Brittany resort fears privatisation of golden sands
by Kim Willsher from on (#2Q6AF)
Beach businesses in La Baule, celebrated by F Scott Fitzgerald, say 'absurd' rules threaten its future
In the chic French seaside town of La Baule, the tourist season has not yet started. The Cite d'Amour resort known for its long beach, Anglo-Norman villas and palatial hotels is preparing for the invasion of French and foreign holidaymakers that will swell the 16,000 local population almost a hundredfold.
In his 1922 collection of short stories, Tales of the Jazz Age, F Scott Fitzgerald described La Baule, on France's Atlantic coast in southern Brittany, as a haven of good taste and refinement. "At the Palace in La Baule we felt raucous amidst so much chic restraint. Children bronzed on the bare blue-white beach while the tide went out so far as to leave them crabs and starfish to dig for in the sands," he wrote.
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