A British family was forced to flee their Portuguese life after locals allegedly terrorised them, even "killing" their pets.
Lynn and Richard Appleby-Brisco have spoken about how what was supposed to be their dream new life become a nightmare.
The couple hailing from Biggleswade in Bedfordshire moved to Portugal’s Guardia district in 2016 along with their two young daughters in search of a “more affordable” lifestyle.
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Daughters Emily and Yvie, now 12 and 10, were put in the local school, and the family learnt the language as they tended to their small farm on the village edge.
Their move, which was documented on Channel 4’s Wildest Dreams, has come to an end after claims a group of Portuguese villagers waged a war against the family and saw their Estrela mountain cross retriever Cu killed after being attacked.
The family also claim a villager admitted to stealing their cat Ponyo and kitten Bubbles in January, and that their goats were poisoned before threatening the Appleby-Briscos saying: “We've taken your pets and you're next”.
Speaking to The Sun, Lynn said: “I just couldn't take it anymore, and it was my absolute lowest point. I was scared to be in the house on my own so I would hang around the biggest local town all day to feel safe.
“It was so bad that when I would go down to the farm I would carry a knife with me, and I consider myself a pacifist.”
Lynn believes their episode on Our Wildest Life, which aired in 2018, somehow turned villagers against them. The Appleby-Briscos were spat at, called “English pigs”, and a rumour started that Lynn was a devil-worshipping prostitute.
Lynn and her daughters are now living in a one-bed flat, while Richard tries to sell the farm and drive their belongings back.
Lynn said: “Initially our lives were great, we wanted to integrate locally so didn't mix as much with the expats, put our girls in the village school, bought a little farm on the edge of the village, started to learn the language better, did everything we thought right.
“Little did we know there was a storm of resentment in the village towards us, we had done nothing wrong so why would we even question it.”
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