As spring turns to summer and warmer weather, gardens are in full bloom and if you’re looking for a Chelsea Flower Show moment in France – you won’t be disappointed with a visit to some of the most beautiful gardens in France. For a Chelsea Flower Show style visit – the International Garden Festival [...]
Chelsea Flower Show week – the premier garden show and event in the UK and one of the best in the world. The British are known to be a nation of gardeners but did you know that the French are just as enthusiastic and obsessive about their gardens?! The equivalent of the Chelsea Flower [...]
If you’re looking for a chance to visit France on a limited budget and you don’t mind mucking in, then becoming a volunteer in France through Workaway may be just what you’re looking for. Workaway brings hosts together with volunteers in an extensive range of different countries and is the brain child of David Milward. [...]
Historic connections abound along the Loire – Roger St. Pierre visits Angers in the Marne-et-Loire department, a culturally rich and historic town, proud of its Plantagenet history which joined French and English interests in the Middle Ages… After the working week’s pressures and bustle, it was a perfect way to spend a Sunday morning – [...]
Roger St. Pierre reveals one of the Celtic province’s star ingredients as news of the benefits of seaweed as a health food is spreading. It wraps your trendy sushi; the Welsh call it laverbread and traditionally eat it for breakfast with cockles and bacon; it puts the wobble in your childhood jellies; it’s used [...]
2013 is the 400th anniversary of the birth of the greatest of all French gardeners – André Le Nôtre. André Le Nôtre, 12 March 1613 – 15 September 1700, revolutionized the art of gardening in France. Born into a family of gardeners, he followed closely in the footsteps of his grandfather and his father, Jean, [...]
They knew their onions – by Roger st Pierre Berets worn at a jaunty angle, Gaulloise cigarettes hanging from their lips, bicycles smothered in plaited strings of onions – each of which weighed between one and two kilogrammes – French onion sellers were once a familiar sight on the streets of Britain, plying their [...]
The best way to see Paris is to roam with a map finding fabulous places, amazing buildings, gorgeous squares and awesome shops and markets… and more. There are some wonderful places to stop and replenish your energy but for many, nothing beats a picnic in Paris. With blue skies above, emerald green grass beckoning [...]
When we asked our Paris expert friends for their top tips to where to wander and have a picnic in Paris we got some terrific feedback, so much so we thought we just have to share it with everyone. Not just the best walks in Paris but other means of getting around and places [...]
July 14th is Bastille Day in France and the whole country will be celebrating in style. Traditionally there are fireworks, parties, games of petanque and much eating and drinking throughout the day and night while in Paris there will be military parades and pomp and splendour. Bastille Day commemorates the storming of the Bastille – [...]
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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 [...]
