Latest updates on France, French Wine, Food, Travel, Holidays and Events
FrenchDuck UK - Latest
The Telegraph(1 March 2008) offers a list of “50 Spring Breaks” which includes the idea of staying in a modern, well-equipped treehouse in southern Normandy
In the heart of the Parc Naturel Régional du Perche, in southern Normandy, Perché dans le Perche is a treehouse with two bedrooms, a shower, internet access and panoramic views of the countryside.
Situated in the Orne (61 Normandie) not far from Le Mans (72 Sarthe, Pays de la Loire), the Regional Park covers an area of southern Normandie and is a great area for rambling, horse riding and exploring the gentle unspoilt countryside - see www.le-perche.org. For more info on the treehouse see www.perchedansleperche.com
Also included in the Telegraph’s list is www.campbiche.com in deepest South West France on the edge of “le Quercy Blanc” near the quiet but delightful bastide village of Lauzerte (82 Tarn et Garonne), not far from Cahors, Agen and Montauban. I’m not sure if a glass of wine fits with a health cure, but you have the vineyards of Cahors, Buzet and Fronton and Coteaux du Quercy within easy reach. Then there’s duck, goose, foie gras…..
Stressed? Feeling fat? Try the new boot camp à la francaise: Camp Biche (020 7617 7253, www.campbiche.com), in Lauzerte, Tarn-et-Garonne. Eight hours of exercise – hiking, workouts, Pilates – by day, good food by night. About £2,300 per person a week.
In the Guardian 01 March 08 the Auberge des Liards in the Auvergne (Egliseneuve des Liards, 63 Puy-de-Dome, Auvergne) is one of 10 eco-friendly places to stay (as is the NormandyTree House above)
The property - part of a smallholding - is on the slopes of Puy de Liards, an extinct volcano on the outskirts of the village of Égliseneuve des Liards. The owners, Dutch couple Astrid Ursem and Walter Verhoeve, have created the guesthouse from two ruined farm buildings. The main house has two guest rooms, and a nearby building contains two “ecological” rooms constructed with natural and traditional materials. Insulation is provided by a mix of hemp, chalk, loam and hay - as well as soil collected from molehills, which they use to insulate the floor. The rooms are simply decorated, with natural colours and wooden furniture. Guests are provided with eco-friendly soap, there are low-energy lights and household cleaning products are biodegradable.
| March 9, 2008 | to | March 16, 2008 |
The start of the cycling season in France is marked by the somewhat mis-named Paris-Nice race which runs from 9th - 16th March 2008. Mis-named because although it does indeed finish in Nice it does not start anywhere near Paris. This year is pushes off from Amilly (45 Loiret, Centre) about 75 miles south of Paris near Montargis.
It is also known as the “Race to the Sun” and extends over 1200 km in the week.
After a time trial (prologue) on Sunday 9 March, the route heads south through Nevers (58 Nievre, Burgundy) via Sancerre, then across to Beaujolais (Belleville, 69 Rhone, Rhone-Alpes) and Fleurie and on to Saint Etienne (42 Loire, Rhone-Alpes).
After a transfer down to Montelimar (26 Drome, Rhone-Alpes) the race then heads for the Alps via Mont Ventoux, Althen-les-Paluds (84 Vaucluse, Provence) and onto the Mediterranean coast via Sisteron to Cannes and Nice where the race finishes on 16 March on the Promenade des Anglais.
Even if you are not a cycling fan, the race and its paraphernalia is quite a spectacle and will pass through some glorious countryside.
For more info on the route see www.letour.fr
BBC2’s final of MasterChef 2008 (Thursday 28 Feb 2008) takes the finalists to work in some of France’s best restaurants.
The other challenges for the 3 finalists have included cooking at the London Hilton for a group of Professional Chefs with 17 Michelin stars between them, and cooking for the Army in the heat and humidity of Belize with very basic army equipment. Working in a French Michelin-starred restaurant will be the final challenge!
The restaurants and chefs chosen are recognised as amongst the best in the world, with exacting standards and extraordinary quality food:-
Interesting that 2 of these top restaurants are not in Paris but deep in the French countryside - very provincial and some distance from major centres of population - the French will travel long distances for a good meal!
If you are interested in French cuisine, have a read of Michael Booth’s entertaining book Sacre Cordon Bleu
Booth shares with us the secrets of his training at Le Cordon Bleu and of French cooking itself, explaining how to make the perfect sauce; the secret of great stocks; how to win a fight with a lobster; and how to avoid maiming yourself while cleaning your knives. He explores how France rose to culinary pre-eminence and asks if Paris still deserves its reputation as the culinary capital of the world. Following both traumas and unexpected triumphs at school, Booth embarks on the ultimate chef’s challenge, he goes to work at the Michelin-starred Paris restaurant of the most famous chef in France, Joel Robuchon.
You’ll learn a lot about the French and their approach to food.
The beautiful and elegant Viaduc de Millau designed by Norman Foster is a breathtaking sight in the middle of an otherwise little-known region of France. The stunning photograph above comes from the Independent and Mercedes magazine Poise - available with the Independent (22 Sep 07) and available as an online ezine.
Michelin has also published a new Green guide (only in French at the moment) on the A75 Autoroute (la Meridienne) which runs down from Clermont Ferrand (63 Puy-de-Dome, Auvergne) to Pezenas (34 Herault, Languedoc) across the Tarn Gorge at Millau (12 Aveyron, Midi-Pyrenees).The whole area is ripe for exploring. So the guide has 12 suggested itineraries including one which focusses on the vineyards of the Languedoc and Auvergne - other attractions include the vulcanic landscapes of the Auverge, thermal spas, Templar castles…….
New Michelin Green Guide - France (in English)
Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne (19 Correze, Limousin) claims to be at the heart of “Strawberry Country” and hence celebrates its Fete de la Fraise every Spring - this year it takes place on Sunday 13 May 2007 (Fete de la Fraise). As usual there will be a competition for the best fruit, a massive strawberry tarte, producer’s stalls, music and a parade - and now in its 19th year the pattern is well-established.
There is a website for the festival at www.fetedelafraise-beaulieu.fr which tells you more about strawberries than you may feel you need to know )e.g. the prime variety of Strawberry here is the “garriguette”), but the festival itself looks most enticing, bringing a real taste of Spring.
Beaulieu (literally “beautiful place”) is a pretty village high up the Dordogne valley - above Sarlat and the classical heart of the Dordogne (see map) The departement of the Correze is less-crowded than the rest of the Dordogne, and more unspoilt deepest France which is worth exploring..
FOR MORE INFO on Beaulieu - see www.beaulieu-sur-dordogne.fr
FOR MORE INFO on the Correze - see www.vacances-en-correze.net
For 5 weeks this Autumn France hosts the Rugby World Cup Tournament, starting with the initial match on 7 September 2007 in Paris and ending with the Final on the Stade de France in Paris on 20 October.Teams from across the World will be competing, and they may be a little surprised to find that some of the early round matches are being played in Cardiff and Edinburgh!!
However, the majority of matches are to be played in France including Lens (Nord Pas-de-Calais), Nantes (Brittany/Loire), Bordeaux (Aquitaine), Toulouse (Midi-Pyrenees), Montpellier (Languedoc- Roussillon), Marseille (Provence) St Etienne and Lyon (Central France) and of course Paris.
So be warned that roads and hotels are likely to be busier than normal in the Autumn, especially in Paris (throughout) and in the host towns and cities near match days.
As always with such events it is worth planning ahead and booking tickets, travel and hotel arrangements as early as possible.
Rugby Union (Rugby à 15) is very popular in certain pockets of France - particularly the South West. On the A61 Autouroute between Toulouse and Castelnaudry there is a motorway service area (aire) that is worth visiting - and its not often we would recommend such a place. At Port Lauragais there is the Ovalie - a rugby museum, as local teams such as Toulouse, Agen and Castres are amongst the elite European teams.
The “aire” also has a museum and display on the adjacent Canal du Midi which has a marina mooring on the site. So well worth a break in your journey see map
See our web calender for the dates and locations of the World Cup matches this Autumn
LINKS:-
www.rugbyworldcup.com for news, details of teams, fixtures etc
Rail Europe has some attractive offers when tickets go on sale in May - e.. London to Lyon from £99 return - and that is city centre to city centre.
RECOMMENDED READING:-
Le Guide Vert: Midi-Pyrenees
France on the T.G.V.: How to Use the World’s Fastest Train to Get the Most Out of France
Grand Tour De France: A Rugby Supporter’s Guide to the World Cup - France 2007
The Beef Festival (Carnaval du Boeuf Villé) at Montlucon (03 Allier, Auvergne) takes place 21-25 March 2007 - another example of the way in which the French celebrate and revere their food and agriculture. It is interesting to note that all the candidates for the forthcoming French Presidential elections have been consipicuously shmoozing the farmers at the Annual Agricultural Show (SIAL = Salon International de l’Agroalimentaire) in Paris - even Jacques Chirac posing with a goat!!
When did we see Hereford Town Centre closed for a weekend for celebrations of the Hereford cow; or Cheshire mounting a festival for the Cheshire Cheese, or Pontefract saluting its cakes?
This is yet another corner of France that can easily be missed - in the Auvergne, on the Canal du Berry (the narrowest canal in France, where most of the canal boats are not “narrowboats” as we know them), and just off the A71 autoroute north of Clermont-Ferrand.This is literally the heart of France geographically (see map)
Unfortunately you missed another gastronomic highlight - the competition for the best Paté au Pommes de Terre - a sort of potato cake with creme fraiche and herbs and sometime salt pork - a local speciality in the “Berry” region of central France. There is an annual competition - this years was on 3 March 2007.
For more on the Auvergne see the Auvergne Tourism site; for more on the Allier département and a recipe for te Paté de Pommes de Terre see www.allier-tourisme.com
11 March 2007 is the departure date for the Paris-Nice cycle race, an annual harbinger of Spring and Summer. It is the first of the major European cycle races, the teams having spent the winter racing in friendlier climes such as Australia and California, and for me it conjurs up images of hot summer days with roadside picnics somewhere in deepest rural France. That may still be a little optimistic for mid-March even in Provence, unless you get lucky with the sun and no Mistral wind.
800 miles in 8 days across France and the Alps the race is known as the “Course au soleil”(the race to the sun!) and is really just a “warm up” for the athletes, but for me the joy is in discovering hidden corners of France. Forget the autoroutes, the race mainly uses by-roads, and whilst the autoroutes and major N routes are undoubtedly faster, cross-country driving on Michelin yellow roads is always more interesting. It is easy to forget just how big France is, and non matter how many times you have been there will always be more to discover. That is why even if you are not a cycling fan, it can be fun tracing the route of the major races - so this year’s Paris-Nice will get you to places like Mende (48 Lozere, Languedoc-Roussillon) and Manosque (04 Alpes de Haut-Provence, Provence) - not often on the a more direct itinerary.
The lure of a trip from Paris to Nice is huge, as you really get to experience the diversity of France, from the classy metropolitan allure of Paris through to the exotic Mediterranean warmth of Nice, close to the Italian border - and everything in between. Think of Hemingway or Scott Fitzgerald embarking on a real adventure in the 1920s/30s - before autoroutes or the TGV - and forget route planning on the SatNav - take your Michelin red guide, determine not to rush, stay in small hotels (or better still in Chambres d’Hote), picnic on local food and wines, maybe get a little lost or follow a whim - and experience the real France.
For more on the Paris-Nice cycle race and route see www.letour.fr
Le Canard au Parapluie Rouge, or the “Duck with red umbrella” has a good start with a memorable name for a B&B - sounds a bit more exciting than the Hotel de la Gare (Station Hotel) which was its original name.
Situated south of Argenton-sur-Creuse (36 Indre, Centre -see map) just off the A20 autoroute about 200 miles south of Paris, this could make an ideal stop-over en route to or from the Dordogne, Lot and Toulouse - and tends to be one of those areas that many of us hurtle through (especially with the new A20 Autoroute “l’Occitaine”) on our way south or north.
Argenton-sur-Creuse is known as the Venice of the Berry (a former province of Central France) is a delightful spot on the River Creuse with medieval streets and chateau in the middle of an unspoilt area of France.The quiet and pretty small village of Celon is a few kilometres south.
“Le Canard au Parapluie Rouge is a lovely period country home situated on three and half acres of grounds and gardens. …. Now the property has been completely updated with all modern conveniences and offers several en-suite bedrooms. You will find the style of Le Canard a delightful mix of eclectic furnishings from around the world creating a very cozy & welcoming ambiance.”
For more info see www.lecanardbandb.com.
In the very heart of France, Brive-la-Gaillarde (19 Correze, Limousin) the modest town of Brive does its bit to keep up with the bigger cities such as Paris and Nice. In the summer they set up “Brive Plage” an articifical inland beach, and at Christmas they convert one of the town’s squares into an ice rink (patinoire). in Place du Civoire, whilst the Christmas Market takes over the Place General de Gaulle (16 - 31 December 2006.
Named “la Gaillarde” or the “brave” it is the main town of the Correze departement, probably best known in the UK as a destination for French Motorail - I’ve always fancied the idea of loading the car on the train at Calais and waking up next morning in central or southern France avoiding the hassle of the long journey. It tends to be an expensive option, but if you save the cost of fuel, autoroute tolls and a night’s hotel then it does not look so bad.
Brive is an ideal destination with easy access to the Dordogne, and not forgetting the gentle delights of the Corrèze itself - considered by many to be the most unspoilt region of France, relatively untouched by many of the worst excesses of modern France - and tourists.
To capture a flavour of the region read the novels of Claude Michelet - such as Firelight and Woodsmoke
For more on French Motorail see French Motorail
For more on Brive see www.brive-tourisme.com/
With autumn fast approaching we console ourselves by looking ahead to our main holiday in France in 2007. Yes, its the Rugby World Cup (in September) but we prefer peaceful rural France, probably in the SouthWest, Midi-Pyrenees - great landscapes, pretty villages, small markets, interesting wine and superb food.
But looking at how to get there is complicated, trying to calculate exchange rates, motorway tolls, the price of fuel, cross-channel ferry crossing and the route across France - and that assumes we dismiss the other options of budget flights (see www.frenchduck.co.uk/travel/flights.html), car hire or great train services.
Dover still dominates as a port of departure - with recently improved routes to Boulogne and Dunkerque but the cessation of the Hoverspeed services - and the western Channel has seen a loss of P&Os services to Le Havre and Cherbourg. There are other options including Dieppe and Le Havre (see www.frenchduck.co.uk/travel/ferry.html)
However even having got across the Channel the autoroute system in France continues to improve with fast new routes available which help you to avoid Paris and some of the other traditional pinch points on your journey south (see www.frenchduck.co.uk/travel/autoroutes.htm)
Whilst things can change over the next 8 months or so, a little research offers the following snapshot of some of the options.
Based on typical hypermarket fuel prices as at 1 October 2006 and a tourist exchange rate of £1=€1.405:-
Unleaded Petrol (sans plomb 95) is €1.17/litre (83p)
Unleaded Petrol (sans plomb 98) is €1.20/litre (85p)
Diesel (Gazole) is €0.999 (71p)
Autoroute options
Dunkerque - Paris toll (péage):£11.17; 293km(183miles) journey time 03h00
Boulogne-Paris via A16 and Amiens toll: £12.03; 254km (159m) time 02h37
Calais - Paris via A26/A1 toll:£13.17; 289km (180m), time 02h50
St Malo - Bordeaux tolls:£17.30; 539km (337m); time 05h12
Paris - Toulouse via A20 tolls: £20.78 678km (424m); time 06h20
St Malo - Toulouse - tolls £28.26; 772km (483m); time 07h21
Calais - Strasbourg - tolls £29.04; 622km (389m); time 05h28
Paris - Bordeaux tolls £33.74; 590km (369m); time 05h31
Calais - Avignon via Reims tolls £36.80; 988km (618m);time 08h49
Calais-Nice via Reims tolls £62.70; 1238k, (774m);time 11h02
For more on travelling in and to France CLICK HERE
The new A85 autoroute runs for 140 miles through the heart of the Loire Valley vineyards and joins the Centre vineyards and the A71 autoroute at Vierzon west to Angers where it connects with the A11 (on to Nantes) via Touraine (and Tours and the A10 autoroute), Cheverny, Bourgeuil, Saumur and Anjou. Eventually it is planned that the A85 will extend south and east from Vierzon and Bourges to Nevers and Chalon-sur-Saone!
Various sections of the route are finished but the whole stretch will not be completed until Summer 2008.
From the East at Vierzon, the motorway is complete to St Aignan. It is then a bit patchy westwards to Tours - using sections of the new autoroute or the old N79 road. The stretch from west of Langeais west to Angers is complete.
When complete this offers drivers from central, southwest and western France an improved choices of routes, and in conjunction with the new A28 allows you to avoid Paris completely in reaching the Channel ports - whether it be Caen, Le Havre, Dieppe, Boulogne, Calais or Dunkerque.
For more info see www.cofiroute.fr
I am still trying to find out the name of the new Autoroute - e.g. the A6 south to Provence is the “Autoroute du Soleil”, the A77 is the” Autoroute des Arbres” (trees).
The Independent has another of its series “24 Hours In: Paris” which follows in the footsteps of artists and writers who had made the city their own. Also in the Independent Chalres Darwent writes “A picture of Paris”
They say the French capital shuts in August. Yet it’s just the time to visit the world’s best city for seeing art.
Meanwhile over in the Observer, there are some good ideas for avoiding plane travel (or rather the airports) in these days of heightened security with some good deals available on both ferries and Eurostar.
The Telegraph has some recommendations on where to stay in the fashionable 8th Arondissement in Paris (close to the Champs Elysees)
In the Times, Jane Shilling is beguiled by the beauty of the Camargue and its horse-riding ritual, the abrivado, whilst Alistair Sawday picks his top ten secret stopovers to break your journey - and enjoy a taste of rural French hospitality iwith a series of off the autoroute journeys through France - see http://travel.timesonline.co.uk
“France is too captivating to observe only from the motorway“. His itineraries include Peronne (80 Somme, Picardie), Arras (62 Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais) Bourges (18 Cher, Centre) with its magnificent medieval centre and flying buttress Gothic cathedral; Beaune(21 Côte d’Or, Burgundy); Aumont-Aubrac (48 Lozere, Languedoc) and Collioure (66 Pyrenees Orientales (Languedoc) - a delightful little harbour and resort close to the Spanish border; Orange(84 Vaucluse, Provence); Menton(06 Alpes-Martimes, Provence)
It has always struck me as strange that a lot of British History has been brought to life for me when travelling through France. Much of England’s history between 1154 and 1453 was bound up with events in the Southwest France and the Dordogne, including Henry II’s ownership and subsequent loss of Aquitaine and his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine. Not to mention the English claim to Calais and innumerable battles on French territory over the centuries.
Another thread of our history is manifested in the Route de Richard, Coeur du Lion, better known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard I. Much of his reign was spent on the Crusades to the Holy Land, however the “Route” is not connected with the Crusades, but more with a less consequential tussle with Philip of France, which ultimately led to his death in the Limousin.
The route runs through pleasant and little-visited countryside in an area bounded by Angouleme(16 Charente, Poitou-Charentes), Limoges (87 Haut Vienne, Poitou-Charentes) and Perigueux(24 Dordogne, Aquitaine) and focuses on 15 medieval castles most of which are open to the public, Many of them are impressive structures with rounded turrets and moats, the most impressive being Chateau de Jumilhac le Grand (24 Dordogne, Aquitaine). The most poignant is probably the Chateau de Chalus-Chabrol where Richard met an untimely death.
The castles on the route are:-
Chateau de Rochebrune
Chateau de Rocheouart
Chateau de Brie
Chateau de Montbron
Chateau de Chalus-Chabrol
Chateau des Cars
Chateau de Lastours
Chateau de Neron
le Chalard
Chateau de Jumilhac-le-Grand
Cite de Saint Yreix-le-Perche (how do you pronounce that!?)
Chateau de Coussac-Bonneval
Cite de Segur
Chateau d’Arnac-Pompadour
The route is well sgn-posted throughout its 180km length, and provides a good way of passing a few days wandering through the gentle countryside of the Limousin, off the main north-south traffic routes - and get some history. Regrettably, wine is not one of the highlights of the region - you need to go north, south or west of the region for decent wines. But it is a rich fruit and chestnut producing area - so your trip can be healthy and abstemious as well!
For more info see www.visitorama.com
Throughout the summer the town of Bourges(18 Cher, Centre) is all lit up in the evenings! This great little town with its magnificent Gothic Cathedral (the best flying buttresses I have seen) and medieval town centre is a convenient stop on the trip south (now just off the A71 autoroute south towards Clermont Ferrand and also convenient for the new A20 autoroute south to Limoges, Cahors & Toulouse). The town will be illuminated on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights in June, July and September - and every night in August.
But this is not just a matter of floodlighting the buildings - there is a lamplit circuit through the heart of the Old Town “Guided by the blue halo of the lamplights, the visitor threads his way around the luminescent jewel of the Cathedral and through the winding streets, stopping here and there to admire details bathed in a soft glow of light : the elegant carving of a porch, a gargoyle learing from a doorway, or a timber-framed house silhouetted against the night sky.”
Furthermore in Friday 30 June, Saturday 29 June and Friday 18 July there is also a wine fair in the town - an opportunity to taste the wines of the region, especially the Sauvignon Blancs from Menetou-Salon, Sancerre, Quincy and Reuilly,
For more info see www.bourgestourisme.com
