In the same way that Munster has six counties, Brittany has four departments. The southern-most sheltered department of Morbihan is the most chic, followed by Ile et Vilaine, Finistere and Cotes d'Armor.

Darren Stock of west Cork bought a house in Brittany in 2004 with his wife Carol. He notes that Northern Brittany is "three or four degrees warmer than it is in Ireland in the summer", temperatures which suit the Stocks (and possibly a great many more Irish people).

They bought a holiday home in the charming medieval town of St Pol de Leon in Finistere.

It's very close to the ferry port of Roscoff and is a place that regularly gets overlooked by the thousands of tourists who drive past it as they continue on their longer journeys south.

Having bought it as a century-old ruin for just 55,000, they have been gradually transforming it into a habitable pied a terre, buying many of their materials locally. The kitchen was built in Bantry before being transported by ferry and reassembled in St Pol.

"We had been looking in the area and we really didn't expect to be able to afford something in the centre of the town." Their house stands on the main street in St Pol, within a short stroll of pubs, beach, croissants, crepes and camembert. Today, such a property will cost more like 85,000.

The Stocks also found the legalities in France very civilised. "Under French law, a seller must accept an offer of the asking price, " says Darren. "This means that all the uncertainties involved in the Irish system are avoided, which we were very pleased with. You sign a contract on the day you make the deal and your purchase is secure."

In the last five years property prices in Brittany have risen fast and, while growth has been slowing down for the last 12 months in the other departments, prices in the Cotes d'Armor are still playing catch-up, says Langueuxbased architect Eric Carlo of Carlo & KD Architecture.

"Cotes d'Armor is a department which is now experiencing the sort of growth rates that the other Breton departments have seen over the last five years." These growth rates have been about 10% per year up until last year but the flame of the boom hasn't died out yet in Britanny's northernmost department.

BC Partners is Brittany's largest company involved in the promotion of property in the region. It is part of the Celeos group, which was founded 10 years ago in northern Brittany and which works on a unique business model that involves itself in a wide range of services connected with the property business.

This includes public as well as private contracts, the design, construction and management of green spaces in town and every other aspect of the property chain, giving them a unique overview of the property sector in Brittany.

BC Partners' sales director Stephane Fribolle puts much of the success of the company and the healthy growth rates of the last five years down to the evolution of the Breton economy and the 'baby-boom' effect of native Bretons returning to their roots.

At the same time, Brittany has become ever-popular amongst French people drawn by its wild beauty and its value for money. All of this has placed a great demand for property on Brittany and the Celeos Group has been well-placed to take full advantage.

"Fifteen years ago, a much larger percentage of the population was working in sectors like agriculture and fishing. Now you're seeing a big take-off in the tertiary sector, with the resultant net migration into the region."

Sounds familiar? Not unlike the Irish experience of the last 15 years, although the growth rates are not quite as spectacular. And what about the Irish?

Has there been an increase in Irish investors in recent times? "Yes. Many of these who bought in the likes of Spain, have re-sold and are now investing in Brittany because the weather suits them better and they can use their property more often, " says Fribolle.

He also notes that the Breton region overall has been playing catch-up to a certain extent with the rest of France.

And, echoing what architect Eric Carlo says, growth rates have slowed down in Morbihan, while localized growth in areas such as Cotes d'Armor and northern Finistere have remained strong.

Collier Jackson Stops offers a number of properties in Finistere to the Irish market.

Many of them operate a leaseback scheme known as the Residence de Tourisme scheme. It works in a similar manner to our own Section 23 scheme, with guaranteed rental returns, a tie-up period of nine to 11 years with usage rights pre-arranged between the investor and the management company.

On the luxury end of the scale on offer is the Residence Ar Keinvor at Le Conquet.

Built on the spectacular site of a former hotel, it offers direct access to the splendid beach and panoramic views of the Atlantic from France's most westerly point.

The apartments here don't come cheap, however, with a 42sq m apartment starting at 350,000 and a ground-floor 120sq m duplex coming in at 942,000. The leaseback schemes . . . such as the Residence Greens de Benodet . . .

can offer a 4.3% net guaranteed return on stunning coastal locations.

Because there is still a strong housing need in Brittany, according to Fribolle of BC Partners, there will continue to be Residence de Tourisme tax-incentive schemes to attract investors.

But the real reason that it makes sense to invest in Brittany is not because of the schemes but because of the fact that the growth rates are strong and the base economic indicators show that they will remain strong for some time to come.