They take arts and crafts seriously in France, and when master joiner Bruno Boulay arrived in Wantage nine years ago from his home town of Linas-Montlhry, near Paris, he was amazed at what he found.

"In France we don't have builders. We have people who are more specialist masons, electricians, plumbers, painters and decorators. You don't have the same person doing everything.

"A joiner in France will make everything that is fixed to the wall. A cabinet-maker will do all the free-standing furniture and a carpenter only does the roof.

"Manual jobs have been so devalued here. If you want a door, you go to B&Q. In France, a joiner is as famous as the baker in a small town. And the techniques are completely different.

"In Britain, for example, they always pin the mouldings, which means that when the wood shrinks you get a gap. In France, a door is always carved from the same piece of wood.

"Because the moulding is part of the structure there is no way the panel can shrink."

Mr Boulay left school at 14 to start training as a joiner at a special college.

"We did about 20 hours of joinery and the rest of the time we learnt maths, English, technical drawing and art," he said.

He came to Wantage at the age of 27 as part of a foreign exchange scheme run by the Compagnons de Devoir, a French craftsmen's guild dating back to the 16th century.

He is one of only a handful of people in Britain to have completed the stringent ten-year training programme. His link with the organisation is still strong, since he undertakes to find work and accommodation for young French people who want to do part of their training in England.

He added: "I came here to work for a company in Wantage making conservatories, and then decided to stay when I finished my training.

"I joined a French friend in Henley who was a cabinet-maker and then set up on my own when he moved to Surrey."

Mr Boulay found a home for his business, called Le Menuisier French for joiner in the unlikely surroundings of Grove Technology Park.

"It's only just around the corner from where I live, so it's very handy," he said.

When he started Le Menuisier five years ago, he was lucky enough to have as his first customer Trevor Gibbons, owner of the Mayther chain of greeting card shops, who commissioned him to design and hand-make bespoke furniture for his seven stores in Bath, Cheltenham, Marlborough, Henley, Wokingham, Marlow and Oxford.

The commission was so complex and large that Mr Boulay has been working on it for five years, designing, making and fitting card stands, cabinets, doors, specially-produced gift-wrapping tables and a fully-fitted office with oak desks, cupboards and windows.

Mr Gibbons was so impressed with the work at his shops that he has given him a new £150,000 contract to work on his homes and on Mayther Cards' new stores in central London.

Mr Boulay said: "My ethos has always been to bring wood to life. Every piece of work that I am commissioned to carry out is unique and tailored to the exact requirements of the client.

"There are very few people left in this trade with such a high level of training and the skill to source only the finest materials from around the world."

Despite the low status of crafts, Britain has one big advantage over France, he says, which has caused him to make his life here.

"In France the economy is terrible. If you set up your own business they help you in the beginning, but then as soon as you make money they take it away from you in taxes. The bureaucracy is enormous.

"The laws are very rigid and you haven't got any flexibility. The British system makes life so much easier for business and there is more wealth."

His dream is to meet another wealthy individual like Mr Gibbons.

He explained: "I would like a contract from someone who wants very fine panelling for a library, for example something quite classic. I don't really use my skills a lot of the time.

"Some of my work is very nice but it's very ordinary. I would like to do a spiral staircase or columns something very stylish."

So would he go back to France, where craftsmen are properly admired and have a high status in society?

"No way. I have a girlfriend here and I plan to stay," he said.

"Over the last five years I have found that there is a very real demand for what I do.

"This is evident in the commissions I am receiving from companies like Mayther Cards, which has been a delight to work on. Seeing the ideas come together from the design stages to the installation is very satisfying."

n Contact: 01235 760777 or bruno@menuisier.co.uk.