Dunkirk is the Regional Capital of Culture 2013 and included in the packed programme of events to celebrate this outstanding award is a fabulous four day event which will see the town host a fleet of some of the world’s most beautiful and prestigious ships for a unique Dunkirk Ships stopover. Complete with masts and [...]
Every year in the seaside resort of Berck-sur-Mer on the Opal Coast of Pas de Calais a kite festival takes place – the Rencontres Internationales de Cerfs-Volants or International Kite Festival. No ordinary festival this – it attracts teams from around the world to the breezy beach at Berck-sur-Mer where exhibitions and demonstrations of extraordinary [...]
Among the delicious Basque specialties that can be enjoyed in Bayonne, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, south-west France, there are two that stand out from all the rest – ham and chocolate! Ham has been produced in this area since the middle ages. Legend has it that in the 14th Century, local man Gaston Phoebus shot a [...]
Each year on the second Sunday of May, the pretty town of Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne in the Limousin region hosts a very special feast open to everyone – the feast of the strawberry! For a whole day the strawberry is celebrated in grand style and attracts visitors from near and far. A market, artisans and craftsmen set [...]
The music, the colour and the solidarity of ‘Les Dunkerquois,’ merge and become one at carnival time. Their roots run deep to the 17th century ancestors who set sail to Iceland for six months to catch herring for their families. As a send-off, amateur musicians and poor townsfolk paraded through the streets and ‘les [...]
The main annal winter event on the Riviera is one of the largest carnivals (Carnaval in French) in the world, offering a programme of unforgettable entertainment lasting more than two weeks and proving that no one can put on a stylish party quite like the French. Carnival is the period of festivities that precedes Lent [...]
The beautiful bay of the Somme in Picardy is famed for it’s picturesque harbours, miles of salt marshes populated by sheep, the genteel towns and villages with their authentic and timeless shops, bars and restaurants and ancient and historic sites. The beautiful scenery can be enjoyed by bike, on foot, even by boat around [...]
Every year, the quiet town of Angoulême plays host to a huge comic strip festival – the Festival International de la Bande Desinée. At the end of January, this annual event that is quite unique in the world, pulls in around a quarter of a million enthusiastic visitors of all ages and from around the [...]
A fabulous and fun Mimosa Festival in France heralds the arrival of spring on the French Riviera. As the winter sun shines on the French Riviera in January, the sharp yellow blooms of the mimosa plants which proliferate here are radiant with colour, bright against the blue skies. Introduced to France from Captain Cook’s [...]
The famed Festival of lights (Fête des Lumières) is the biggest and best known event in Lyon, Rhône-Alpes region, France. This amazing festival dates back to 1850 when religious authorities launched a competition to design a statue to serve as a religious symbol for the town’s homage to the Virgin Mary. The origin for [...]
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The papers are currently full of news about proposals to mount wind turbines on the beaches of Normandy – including at least one of the D-Day landing beaches. Some newspapers are calling it an “invasion” – emotional words, and this is a very provocative subject. The proposal is to erect 75 of the huge [...]
The Good Life France talks to Roger St Pierre – an award-winning writer who has visited every one of France’s 94 metropolitan departments as a cyclist, journalist, author and Francophile… Roger, who The Good Life France is honoured to include amongst its very talented group of writers, tells me he taught himself French by [...]
Well, it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that the sheep across the road has gone to the great pasture in the sky. When I bought my house nine years ago it came with a sheep! The lady who owned the house before me had let the man across the road [...]
The allure of the good life in France and the charms of the beautiful town of Beziers ensnared British expat Mark Binmore who runs the highly successful Maison de l’Orb, a beautiful B&B. Mark told us that he lived in London since the early 1990s, worked as a pub landlord for several breweries, is the [...]
Expats in France Donna and Dave Faulkner fell in love with Deux-Sevres in the Poitou-Charentes region when they visited friends who lived there. When Dave was unexpectedly offered a job – they said goodbye to Britain and jumped head first into life in France in their new home which needed a bit of renovation as [...]
British expat Sue Aitken lives in south west France and runs Blackhen Education – a business that she set up after planning to move to Spain to be a teacher. She and her partner travelled through France on their way to jobs and a life in Spain but they fell in love with [...]
How two Brits met and changed their lives with a move to France… Chris was a veteran of 30 years in the Metropolitan police, running his own outdoor activity business specializing in mountain biking, walking and climbing, father to three grown-up children and mentor to many more. Charlotte was a classic single “Social Butterfly”, [...]
I was recently asked to write about expats in France, people who leave their homes in all areas of the world to go to France to live. I thought back over the years about the many expats I’ve met, interviewed (I am a journalist not just a crazy person going round firing questions at [...]
