Dinard: The American Connection

Originally a village of fishermen known as Saint-Enogat, Dinard was transformed in the middle of the 19th century by English aristocrats who built fanciful but luxurious villas on hillsides overlooking the sea.

After visiting his English friend Lyona Faber in Dinard, the wealthy American banker James Coppinger was so smitten by the beauty of the emerging resort that he commissioned a grand brick residence for himself on the Pointe du Moulinet. Following the Civil War, the British colony was rapidly joined by more and more Americans, including Mrs. Hughes-Hallet, originally from Philadelphia, who became the acknowledged social doyenne of Dinard in its 1920s heyday. Follow in the footsteps of these grandees on the self-guided Circuit des Villas Malouines, a walking tour of their villas created by the Dinard Tourism Office.