We live in a mountain village in The Var region and I know there are quite a lot of expats here (rather more than I'd have liked) but on the plus side, in the month and a half we've been here I have only heard English spoken once in the street (thank goodness) and that was at the chestnut festival. There are Brit shopkeepers in the village but they speak French (as it should be), my French isn't very good but it's already improving and I try to speak French when I use the shops. I have to say our locals are lovely and they do speak to us in English even though we'd prefer them not to; they like to practice their English so they try to speak English whilst we try to speak to them in French, it's a two way learning process and it seems to work, with a few giggles at mistakes on both sides.
I would think the locals wouldn't be too keen to direct you towards other Brits, in all honesty would you want to if the boot was on the other foot.
I wouldn't let it worry you unless you particularly want to be in the middle of an expat community, if there are others they'll emerge.