British family were branded 'English pigs' from locals who hounded them out of ... trends now

A British family have revealed for the first time the extent of the hostility they faced from locals who hounded them out of their dream home in Portugal - leaving them tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket.

Lynn Appleby-Brisco told how her move to the country's Guarda district in 2016 for a more affordable, off-grid lifestyle with her husband and daughters turned sour as she claims  her new neighbours accused her of selling sex for five Euros, branded them 'English pigs' - and killed their pets.

Following what she described as a vicious six-year hate campaign, Lynn could finally face no more - and she and the children fled Portugal and returned to the UK last month while Richard stayed behind to try to sell their farmhouse and land in the hope of recouping some of the £40,000 they had spent purchasing it.

But last week, Richard also returned to the UK to rejoin his family after failing to sell the property claiming that prospective buyers had been deliberately put off by the terrifying attitude of 'hostile locals.'

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Lynn wept as she said: 'We have completely abandoned our house and land and our dream is dead. We put it on the market and just wanted to break even but sadly, nobody is even interested in buying it.'

Lynn added: 'Even the estate agent was shocked by how terrible the locals have been to potential buyers. He said he's never experienced anything like this. So, we've had to cut our losses and get on with our lives in the UK but it's left us facing very serious financial problems.'

Recalling the 'hell' the family faced in Portugal, Lynn revealed that problems first arose with locals after they appeared on Channel 4's Our Wildest Dreams Programme.

She said: 'That was our first stumbling block because a lot of locals complained that we should have asked permission from the village president, even though officially we didn't need to. Things just went from bad to worse after that.

'Before that we were living our dream life and actually getting on quite well with the locals. Things were good for about two years.'

She added: 'We lived off the land and the farm, it was giving us everything that we needed. We grew 75 different varieties of fruit and vegetables. We even had our own water source and lots of animals such as goats, pigs, chickens, ducks and geese. It was the life that we always wanted.

'We had so much that I was making meals once a month for the locals and gave them away for free. When we slaughtered an animal, we had so much left over that we would advertise it on social media to give away for free for those in need.'

Soon after the Channel 4 programme aired, Lynn revealed that the 'hate campaign' started which continued until she fled the property in January this year.

She said: 'I was accused of selling sex to local men for five Euros, they called us 'English pigs' and said that I was a whore and that we were devil worshippers.

'At first, I thought it would blow over, but it just continued. It got worse and worse and eventually, even our children were targeted. They could not walk to the local playground without being abused or having things thrown at them.

'Even the teacher in their school told the other kids not

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