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, [...]
Bread, as everyone knows, plays a big part in the daily life of the French people – in fact 12 million people a day in France visit a bread shop. From baguettes to boules – the long thin sticks of light bread, to the round tasty balls of bread, bread in France is part [...]
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 [...]
Beziers in the region of Languedoc-Roussillon, in the south of France is a fabulous weekend destination with direct flights from several UK airports. Beziers airport is about 15km south east of the town with a shuttle bus service which connects with arrivals and runs to Beziers train and bus stations. The train journey from Paris [...]
The Association of the Most Beautiful Villages of France – L’Association des Plus Beaux Villages de France was started in 1982 in Collonges-la-Rouge, Corrèze. The aims of the group are, unsurprisingly, to discover, recognise and promote the most beautiful villages of France whose merits are within set guidelines. Members are a limited number, whose [...]
I have been fortunate to have lived in three departments in France during my nine years here after emigrating from Britain. The first was department 59 – the Nord (Nord-Pas de Calais); the second was department 11 – Aude (on the Mediterranean coast); the third is department 12 – the Aveyron, in the Midi-Pyrénées, South [...]
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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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 [...]
It’s good to know some things stay the same When my mother bought her holiday house in northern France 35 years ago, I had no idea how large a part this lovely country was going to play in my life. I was eleven at the time, and simply enjoyed the trips across the Channel [...]
As you might know by now, I cannot resist a French flea market and the one I went to on Sunday on my French countryside jaunt was particularly small and not great but on the last stall in the road there was a cage with a cockerel. The sign said “Cockerel Nagasaki €5.00”. The [...]
