Eating and drinking in the Lot is not so much gastronomy, it is more a way of life. Simple pleasures like early-morning mushrooming results in gastronomic treats at meal times.
The food used to revolve around the polyculture practised by the small propriétaires, less so today. But fruits are still bottled, geese are still stuffed, pigs are fattened, påtés are tinned, ducks are turned into hunks of confit, and yellow chickens, dotted with oil and butter and legs akimbo, are forced into ovens to emerge an hour or so later, tasting simply sensational. It is a day-in, day-out, year-long occupation. Tout es bou per sa sason ‘To everything there is a season’ takes on new meaning. ©Helen Martin

Helen Martin writes more about the Lot in her blog at http://lotbook.blogspot.com/

To read more about Food and Wine in the Lot see………
From Helen Martin’s Book Lot: Travels Through a Limestone Landscape in SouthWest France
CHAPTER SIX: Food and drink

You arrange to meet at half-past five in the morning. Bleary-eyed, you rise and throw open the shutters to the day. The sky is white-blue and a thin summer mist, like half-whipped egg white, swirls over the valley beneath you, smothering the familiar landmarks. Only the pigeonniers can pierce it. It looks like a gigantic plate of îles flottantes.
As the mist lifts you see smoke rise from the cottage chimney. Across the fields you can hear the children shouting and then the slow rumble of the car. You pile in on top of the chatter and drive to the farm.
Everyone is up already, so we leave the children and plunge down the meadows behind the farm buildings towards the woods. Our feet are wet. The grass is soaked with dew. Through the woods we go, heads down. ‘Attention vipères!’ says Reine, but we do not see any snakes.
We are mushrooming and our eyes are skinned for the little yellow girolles with wavy up-turned caps and big bold ceps.
The floor of the wood is soft with the mould of centuries. It rained yesterday and our feet sink into a bed of moss and leaves.
For two hours we walk thus, abreast, eyes down, following the forest’s invisible paths, mushroom paths, etched across Reine’s mind in an almost subliminal way. Every year since childhood she has followed the same tracks.
We don’t find many- enough girolles for breakfast, and only one cep; it is too early in the year for ceps. We leave the woods and wade back through the grass, heading towards the children’s cries. The sun is up, the light is limpid. We enter the dark warmth of the cottage and sit at an old table in front of the fire.
Madame, Reine’s mother, examines our finds and sets tiny cups of thick black coffee in front of us. The talk is relaxed and convivial.
“Did you go to such and such a spot? What! There were none under the fallen chestnut? My God! Do you remember the ones we found here the year before last?’
It could be any day, any year, any century. We divide the spoils, sink a drop of eau de vie and I make my way home. It is only half-past ten. The day has begun well.

Eating and drinking in the Lot is not so much gastronomy, it is more a way of life. Simple pleasures like early-morning mushrooming results in gastronomic treats at meal times.
The food used to revolve around the polyculture practised by the small propriétaires, less so today. But fruits are still bottled, geese are still stuffed, pigs are fattened, påtés are tinned, ducks are turned into hunks of confit, and yellow chickens, dotted with oil and butter and legs akimbo, are forced into ovens to emerge an hour or so later, tasting simply sensational. It is a day-in, day-out, year-long occupation. Tout es bou per sa sason ‘To everything there is a season’ takes on new meaning.
If you want to know about eating and drinking in the Lot, you should read Pierre Benoit’s novel Le Déjeuner de Sousceyrac, a piece of writing in which is immortalised what was a rather dreary looking hotel in the slightly unprepossessing town of Sousceyrac, For a long time and in spite of its dreariness it had a Michelin star.* Today, it has to be said, the hotel has been renovated and the town cleaned up too.
In the days of the fictional book, Mme Prunet surprised her uninitiated guests with the offer of a simple chicken. It was just that she forgot to mention that it would be preceded by foie gras of duck and little freshwater crayfish straight from one of the many Ségala streams. Maybe she was being a touch mean, she wondered after the crayfish. Should she send the youngster to the épicerie for sardines? Then there was the trout and the dish of stuffed ceps, followed by jugged hare, then, at last the chicken, ending with a sumptuous omelette au rhum……

So what do you wash all this down with? What do Lenin, the Orthodox Church, the Tsars, Pope Jean XXII, Henri IV, Clément Marot, and the Romans all have in common? The answer is the wine of Cahors. The Orthodox Church adopted it as its communion wine; the Tsars used it at official functions; Pope Jean invited Quercy wine growers to cultivate his new vineyard at Chateauneuf (du Pape); Clément Marot called it ‘une liqueur de feu’; Caesar drank and exported it. It is thought that the slaves accompanying the Roman invaders brought wine-making skills to the area.
The English liked it enough to make the wine-growers of Bordeaux feel so threatened that they started to operate a protection racket of taxes and constraints against the Cahors growers during the Hundred Years War, François I planted Cahors vines at Fontainebleau.
A long history, therefore, but not always a proud one. Quality declined drastically in the fourteenth century, for example, and at subsequent times the wine was so poor it was only fit to be added to Bordeaux to give the latter depth. The region clawed its way back to prosperity in the nineteenth century (as much of the local architecture attests) only for phylloxera and war to drag it back down again. Cahors reached a milestone in 1971 when it was promoted to be an AOC wine and today the region produces 30 million bottles annually on about 4,000 hectares.
Traditionally a black wine full of tannin, Cahors is made from 70% Malbec, ( sometimes known Auxerrois or Cot grapes) combined with Merlot and/or Tannat, usually 15% of each, though the proportions are now being slightly modified to attract a wider market. Cahors is the only European stronghold of Malbec, a grape that has declined in popularity in Europe and which is very sensitive to frost. In recent years it has been grown very successfully in Argentina..
In spite of the tannin you can drink it young, when it is at its fruitiest, but also, sometimes, a bit harsh. Best to lay it down down - Malbec does need ageing to develop into a full-flavoured, robust, purple wine, with a long finish. It’s good with game and, as already mentioned, astonishingly good with the local cheese and duck.
But the tannin in the wine is a source of some discussion among the wine growers, some feeling that the essential nature of the wine is being altered to accommodate more modern palettes. Fingers are often pointed at incomers to the area, though there are some growers like Philippe Bernède of Clos La Coutale who are local and who successfully export less tannic, lighter wine, more adapted to contemporary taste.
The Jouffreau family take an opposite point of view. It is almost as if the wines are designed to be provocative and they pander to no one’s taste but their own. The wines they make, though, speak loudly of terroir and tannin as well as individuality and they are honest, earthy and often very, very good.
With your foie gras try a dessert wine by Jean Baldès who also makes the Clos Triguedina award winning wines- Triguedina meaning in Occitan “I am looking forward to dinner, me trigo de dina. One of his new offerings are the Vin de Lune ( white ‘moon’ wines) picked by hand in the dark, or very early in the morning when temperatures are cool. This is an apparent revival of a sixteenth century habit when the peasants used to creep into the manor and steal the grapes, which cool and fresh as they were, retained their fruitiness. Baldès also produces the 100% Malbec Prince Probus and recently started making the New Black Wine, based on a thirteenth century method of production when the black wine of Cahors was famous all over Europe.
The cradle of the Cahors wine is the area between Catus and Bagat, Soturac and Arcambal, but again disagreements arise on which is the best land, though tradition has it that wine produced higher up the coteaux of the river banks is best, albeit production on the steep slopes is also the most expensive. The wine grown along the river valley tends to be full-bodied and deeply fruity, that of the causse, lighter and elegant.
The growers’ aim is firmly set at quality now, the AOC appellation being hard-won and for this reason they try to stick together. But reclassification of the vineyards is now the big fault-line in the area, with some, like Alain-Dominique Perrin (see p 133) feeling that poorer land must be dumped in favour of zones de cru and others afraid that it is their land that will be dumped and that there will be little compensation.
Many of the château vineyards are visitable …and the Chateau de Haute Serre, high on the causse offers an interesting tour as well. Rows of vines are a heart-warming sight somehow and here in the Lot, as in some other places you will often see roses planted at the end of the rows, not to look pretty, although they do, but as an early warning system for mildew
At the end of the last century, the phylloxera parasite, all but wiped out the wines of the area. The propriétaires were advised to replant with American vines, which were resistant to the disease, but these were expensive and many of the small farmers could not afford such a venture. Moreover the wine produced was of poor quality. It was a devastating time. It is impossible to overstate the effect phylloxera had on the rural economy. Production fell dramatically, livelihoods were lost and it was in desperation that some turned to truffles.
The slow climb back, therefore has been all the more impressive, though there have been other blows along the way, such as the hard frosts of 1956 that killed the young vines, and things seem to be at another crossroads just now when harsh decisions will need to be made if the appellation is to go on improving. It boils down to quantity or quality.
The big cooperative, Côtes d’Olt (Olt is the old name for Lot) which incorporates about 250 growers, is at Parnac, where a modern plant is capable of bottling some 9,000 bottles per hour and produces 25% of the entire appellation.
You can buy direct from the cooperative at very reasonable prices, but it would be a pity not to buy direct from some of the vineyards. There is a list available of all AOC producers- livret du vin de Cahors
Names to look out for are Perrin’s Lagrezette; Bernède’s Clos La Coutale; Jean-Luc Baldès at Clos Triguedina; Georges Vigouroux at Haute Serre and Clos de Gamot, home of the late, great Jean Jouffreau. However there are many others.
And although Cahors is associated with red wine it now produces both white, rosé and even desert wines too. The white and rosé are sold as vin de pays however not Appellation Controlée.
The best years of recent times are said to be 1990, 1995 and 2000.
Lesser wine, if honest, is that produced by the Coteaux du Quercy and the Vins du Pays du Lot.
Not all that long ago it was a common sight to see portable stills, the Hell’s Cauldrons as they were known, being dragged round the communes by tractor, going from farm to farm as people distilled their year’s supply of eau de vie de prune, a strong colourless liquid smelling strongly of plums. Twenty litres was the maximum allowed, but at up to 50% alcohol.
In an effort to stamp out the practice and earn a bit of money, the government introduced a licensing system. Licenses were issued to the head of the household for life only. As the men die off, so the right to distil dies with them and soon the only eau de vie will be that available on supermarket shelves. Vieille Prune is available in pretty bottles all over the département, taking 10 kilograms of plums to make one bottle.
Another popular digestif is made from walnuts. Eaux de noix is a dark brown sticky drink, too sweet for me, although I quite enjoy its companion drink, vin de noix, an equally sweet aperitif. This is made from walnuts too though the fact that it is served on ice reduces the sweetness a bit. Noisette is a digestif made from hazel nuts and there is also now a new Valentré aperitif which combines Cahors wine, walnut and blackcurrant and is not as dire as it sounds. At Arcambal, Christophe Ratz is making Bière d’Olt, good for quaffing in the summer heat, but unlikely to make toomuch impact on the wine production of the area.
Of course wine in France is always associated with food and it is the simplest meals that are sometimes the most enjoyable. A glass of Cahors and a cabécou or Rocamadour and all seems right with the world
Oun y a pa et bi Lou rey pot Béni - Where there is bread and wine a king may come.

*Michelin star regained post-publication

©Copyright: Helen Martin
Lot: Travels Through a Limestone Landscape in SouthWest France

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The Independent’s Simon Calder narrates an interesting and informative Podcast which you can download and take with you to the cosmopolitan city of Nice, an easy option with many budget airlines flying in from numerous UK airports - or take the TGV from London!

Beginning in the Promenade des Anglais, Simon Calder explores the Matisse Museum and admires the beautiful views of the hills of Provence. He also samples the region’s cuisine, trying traditional corn pancakes and dining at the luxurious Aphrodite restaurant, before tasting some locally produced wine.

The local wine is called Bellet AOC.The vineyards lie within the city limits in the hills above the town. Seldom seen in the UK, the whites are made from Rolle and some Chardonnay with Folle Noir for the reds with some Grenache and Cinsault. Rosé comes from Braquet and Cinsault. Yapp Brothers stock the Bellet AC wines of Domaine de la Source - the rosé 2007 being “a dry and fruity rosé with aromas of wild roses. On the palate, red berry flavours precede a clean, dry finish.”, whilst the 2007 Blanc is described as “An esoteric dry white wine with subtle hints of Provençal pine. The wine displays aromas of pear and wild flowers when young and quince and toasted almonds when it reaches maturity. The dry but fruity palate has balanced acidity and good fruit characteristics, preceding an alluring dry finish.”

Some Links:
Hi Hotel
Musée Matisse in Nice
Aphrodite Restaurant
Nice Official Tourist Office

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The Telegraph (11 April 08) recommends some places to eat authentic French cuisine in the UK - the above description is about a new eatery in London’s Park Lane called Bord’eaux (which translates as “waterside”)
A meal at a decent French restaurant in the UK might just provide a cheaper alternative to a trip to France this year, bearing in mind the disastrous Euro exchange rate (currently £1=€1.20 at the Post Office).

The Cafe du Port in Bordeaux is on the right bank of the river and overlooks the port area with impressive views of the sweeping curve of the Garonne and Napoleon’s stone bridge (Pont de Pierre). Fish is their speciality.

Another option in Bordeaux is la Tupina “authentic southwest” in rue porte de la Monnaie (see map) which was recommended by Rick Stein in his Rick Stein’s French Odyssey series series and Voted 2^nd Best Bistrot in the world by the New York Herald Tribune!

See our customised Google Map of Bordeaux

Other recommendations from the Telegraph article for eating French in the UK:-
The Great House, Market Place, Lavenham in Suffolk - an attractive small medieval village in the middlle of East Anglia- “A striking medieval English building houses a romantic room serving classic Gallic cuisine. Try the hearty pavé of beef in a rich red-wine sauce with beef marrow”

French Living in Nottingham, which also featured in our article on where to eat Cassoulet. This endearing rustic bistro is decked out with checked tablecloths and serves onglet à l’échalote, using a typically French cut of beef with a sauce of shallots and veal stock, sautéed potatoes and seasoned vegetables

Restaurant Bosquet in Kenilworth,Warwickshire which focuses on the gastronomy of SW France The chef Bernard Lignier’s south-western French roots add character to this little restaurant in a terrace. Much of the menu has modern touches, but the starter of quail with Puy lentils and foie gras could not be more classically French. Their wine list features a good selection of the wines of Southwest France - Madiran, Cahors and Jurancon.

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Come to the Table is Louise Luiggi’s autobiography with recipes – it’s a story of two passions; love and food.
This is a deliciously romantic love story. Stéphane Luiggi, a brooding and darkly handsome Corsican meets fragile, blonde English girl, Louise, in the pink-bricked city of Toulouse – La Ville Rose. The couple discovers not only a passion for each other but they also begin to nurture a passion for food as Stéphane patiently tutors Louise in France’s culinary secrets. Food becomes the unusual yet evocative means of expressing the emotions that run through their story, as Louise and Stéphane’s life-experiences mirror the way it is depicted.

The Independent (9 March 08) recommends a number of other good French eateries in the UK which specialise in the dish, notably the Le Cassoulet Restaurant in SouthWest London (Croydon):

Malcolm John, chef/patron of the newly opened Le Cassoulet, hopes that Croydon is also waiting for its chance to dress up, drink Minervois and eat foie gras, escargot and 28-day-aged Chateaubriand… I find it physically and mentally impossible to see cassoulet on a menu and not order it….. It comes to the table in its own little lidded pot, complete with regulation crusty top, and a good mix of tender white beans, smoky sausage, shreddy, fall-apart duck, wibbly-wobbly pork confit and even bits of confit duck gizzard for good measure…… In the spirit of symbiosis, I choose a wine from the special list from south-west France and get a 2004 Domaine Berthomieu Madiran (£29) that is chunky, tannic, hard-working.

Le Cassoulet 18 Selsdon Road South Croydon CR2 6PA Tel 020 8633 1818

Other Cassouleteries include Comptoir Gascon in London’s Smithfield ( 63 Charterhouse Street,LondonEC1M 6HJ Tel: 020-7608 0851) and La Garrigue in Edinburgh (31 Jeffrey Street, Edinburgh EH1 1DH T: 0131 557 3032)

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Star chef Philippe Bélissent is the rising star of French cuisine. Formerly sous-chef at the three-star Michelin restaurant, Ledoyen in Paris, the precociously talented Bélissent quickly made Le Restaurant the hottest table in town confirmed by rapturous reviews in the French press.

The Michelin Red guide to France is published in French and English on 6 March 2008 and not only features those top restautants with Michelin stars but also offers 510 listings for restaurants where you can eat well for a more reasonable price i.e €28 or less in the provinces and €35 in Paris. I’ve always found the red Guide invaluable for finding my way around towns (lot of town maps) and for finding somewhere good to eat - and so often in France you cannot always tell the quality of a place by its location or external appearance. There are 435 one-star restaurants in France, 68 with two-star and 26 with three stars.

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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:-

• Troisgros in Roanne (42 Loire, Rhone-Alpes)
• Michel Bras in Laguiole (12 Aveyron, Midi-Pyrenees) - (see the recipe for a Mischievious Cherry Dessert - malice des cerises)
• Restaurant Pierre Gagnaire (75 Paris, Ile de France)

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.

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Hence a certain dismay at another piece of French life under threat as the Guardian (10 Dec 07) reports that this tradition is under threat.

Eau-de-vie, the fiery homemade fruit brandy which has been a staple of French rural hospitality for centuries, could be under threat by a new law to be enforced on January 1.

In France, making homemade alcohol is a tightly regulated - and taxed - process. But nearly 300,000 fruit growers and their offspring, thanks to a law dating back to the 1920s, can make up to 10 litres of pure eau-de-vie, or 20 litres of 50% alcohol, tax-free.

I do somehow have my doubts that this ruling will be strictly adhered to in the backwaters of rural France, although you should never underestimate the French customs authorities (les douaniers) who are regarded with grudging respect in France - so the bottle may stay in the fridge in future!

Charles Bremner in the Times (10 Dec 07) reports that another romantic icon of France with echoes of the 1930s is also disappearing - the Wagon-Lits sleeping cars which ran overnight from Paris to the Riviera are no more! The advent of the TGV and the ticket prices have rendered this serene and elegant mode of travel obsolete - Le Train Bleu as it was known was gleaming, polished and luxurious - a far cry from today’s preference for speed and utility. It does seem to me that modern travel termini such as all airports and many railway stations (with the exception of the new St Pancras International in London) are designed to rob travellers of any sense of anticipation or excitement for the thrill of the journey and turn it into an ordeal to be endured.
Now you’ll have to eat at the Train Bleu Restaurant in Paris to get an impression of the stylish decor and style (see image above) or really blow the budget with a trip on the Orient Express from Paris to Venice!

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The chocolate expert is also on rue de la Monnaie near the musem l’Hospice Comtesse - his name is Benoit, and he is listed in all the gourmet guides..
A personal favourite is another fish restaurant, somewhat cheaper than l’Huitriere, but excellent food and service - l’Ecume des Mers, near the Grand Place - or if you are a fan of mussels and want something more bistro style - try Aux Moules in the rue de Bethune.

There is no shortage of places to stay in Lille to suit all pockets, but for a real sense of the place you could try the Jardin d’Alix, a B&B in the suburbs but on the tramway straight into the city centre.

Also until 20th January 2008 there is an exhibition of Chagall’s ceramics at the Roubaix Swimming Pool!

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Years ago, the best ducks always came from France. If you wanted that lovely rich, full-flavoured taste with minimum fat and skin, you had to buy a Barbary or a canard de Challans - or you had to use the breast (magret) or legs from a duck that had been reared for foie gras. These days, fortunately, we don’t have to go so far afield to find quality ducks. British farmers have come around to the fact that they too can produce quality ducks for the table. Poultry farmers, such as Reg Johnson in Goosnargh in Lancashire, are producing great free-range ducks and chickens that can match their French counterparts.

Personally I still think that the tradtional magret, the breast of a duck which has been bred for foie gras, still has the edge in terms of great gamey flavour and juiciness, and I would always prefer a breast or whole duck which has plenty of fat - the bonus being the oodles of duck fat which can be rescued by slow cooking, whilst the resultant duck dish itself does not have to be over-fatty. Duck fat is so great for roast potatoes!

Furthermore duck and goose fat are “good fats” being high in mono- and poly-unsaturated fats - good for the cardiovascular system and thought to be one of the elements of the French Paradox, whereby despite the relatively fatty diet, the inhabitants of rural France have lower levels of heart disease. For more info see the Goose Fat Information Service! where you can also find recipes, news and more information than you thought you might ever need about Goose Fat!

The article also points to the introduction of “ethical foie gras” - i.e duck or goose liver which is made by fattening the birds so that their livers become enlarged. Tradtional this is done through “gavage” which is a form of forced feeding. The ethical approach avoids forced-feeding and instead relies on the greedy bird’s habit of putting on weight prior to their natural winter migration to warmer climes - see the Telegraph (19 Feb 07). This is available at Club Gascon in London - the place to buy and dine on the best of South West France cuisine.

The Independent article has some interesting recipes which can all be made from one whole duck (French or British) without wasting a morcel:-

1. Szechuan peppered duck breast
2. Slow-cooked leg of duck with Bramley apple mash and cider sauce
3. Duck and quince salad
4. Duck and cep broth

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We are in a tourist area and our little town relies on this summer trade to boost the local economy. The mayor is pro British and for integration so it becomes a win win situation for everyone if he can boast a cricket pitch in the town. I’m sure other communes in France could adopt the same route for the same reasons, which could help the sport to develop.
The Mayor will open our pitch officially next Sunday with a fundraising meal and match. So all in all I’m hopeful we will be going from strength to strength!

In many ways Cricket and Boules (or Petanque) are not so dissimilar - they are very sociable games which benefit from being played on hot, lazy afternoons at a gentle pace.
For more info on French cricket - see www.cricketeurope.net

Now this could be taken to indicate how much the Brits have infiltrated parts of the southwest - but also how well they have integrated. Certainly the Sunday markets at nearby Cazals and at Montcuq are very popular with the English tourists and expats - there’s even stall selling English second-hand books! Certainly the incomers have tended to push up property prices, but equally they do support the local economy - few young French people want to stay in the countryside - few jobs and few opportunities.

The other factor which is impressive is the existence in most French villages of municipal tennis courts, football pitches etc, which are recognised as an important community asset. The village hall, often next to the Mairie, is heavily used for local functions - for although the French enjoy the privacy of their own homes, they do come together for local events and celebrations, sometimes for no obvious reason!

Catus has a number of nearby attractions - the Lac Vert (Green Lake) is an oasis of quiet tranquility (except in mid-summer, when it is a popular day out for the children); at St Medard Catus is one my favourite restaurants - Le Gindreau - a little extravagance, but we enjoyed several memorable and lengthy lunches on the terrace in the middle of the countryside. Le Gindreau was converted into a restaurant from a former school, which was also the case at Les Arques few miles further north) where the La Récréation Restaurant was created.

This was the subject of the book by Michael Sanders From Here, You Can’t See Paris which provides a fascinating perspective on this part of rural France.and the role that food and wine plays in the local way of life.

The restaurant has a good reputation - but somehow I was expecting something less grand - with tables in the courtyard in summer they can seat 130 people! However, we cannot report on the food - due I suspect to the 35 hour week, the restaurant is closed for 2 whole days midweek even in summer!!

Michael Sanders’ two books (the other about winemaker families in Cahors) do offer a great insight into life in the rural southwest - and whilst they may not be racy reading, they are well-written and describe the locals and their way of life with great affection.

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A recent trip to the Baie de la Somme just west of Abbeville (80 Somme, Picardie) seems to offer the most extraordinary range of choice for your mussels - beyond the usual Moules Marinieres and Moules a la Creme.

The Hotel Les Pilotes at St Valery-sur-Somme offers an extraordinary selection of more than 40 different recipes - from Moules Anadalousie (from Andalucia); Moules au Champagne (in Champagne);Mussels in Ginger and Moules Lucifer to name but a few.

Personally I go for the Mariniere - poached in a light broth, which you eat messily with the fingers, dunking the french bread in the juices and served with a crisp dry white such as a Picpoul de Pinet from the Languedoc.

St Valery-sur-Somme is a pretty little port on the southern side of the Bay, more tidal riverside than seaside. On first acquaintance the view can seem just a muddy expanse when the tide is out, but it is a haven for birds and can afford some wonderful vistas and sunsets. There is a long broad boardwalk along the riverside for some gentle excercise, people- and bird- watching.

For the seaside you need to head a little further east to Cayeux-sur-Mer on the Opal coast - but whilst it has a spectacular shingle beach, the town lacks the charm of St Valery-sur-Somme. One option is to take the le Chemin de Fer de la Baie de la Somme steam train which runs round the Bay,from Cayeux to Le Crotoy on the northern banks of the Bay via St Valery-sur-Somme.

The Hotel Les Pilotes offers great views from some bedrooms and from the Restaurant where you can sample from the 40+ mussel dishes (and other seafood). It is a Logis de France, and is comfortable enough for a short stay,but neither the hotel nor restaurant could be regarded as “special” except for those views.

For more on St Valery-sur-Somme and the Baie de la Somme see www.saint-valery-sur-somme.fr” and www.somme-tourisme.com

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We based the tour on the small town of St Remy de Provence (13 Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence), about 15 miles south of Avignon. I like Avignon, but St Remy offers a more intimate experience in a delightful small Provencal town (great market on Wednesdays), strong connections to Van Gogh and to bull-running through the streets!!

There are a number of reasonable hotels and a good selection of restaurants within walking distance. Although there are more stylish and pricey hotels around St Remy, we chose to be within walking distance of the town and the itinerary usually means that the hotel is essentially just for washing and sleeping rather than indulgence. Choose a different restaurant every night!

Two hotels in the town which are reasonable for a few nights are the Logis de France AUBERGE DE LA REINE JEANNE on boulevard Mirabeau – with courtyard restaurant – and the Hotel du Cheval Blanc in avenue Fauconnet – no restaurant and a little basic, but clean, comfortable and cheery.

St Remy is ideally positioned for this wine tour - a few miles south lies Les Baux de Provence, to the west is the Camargue and Costieres de Nimes AC, to the east lies Cavaillon (for its melons) and north of there you access the best of the southern Rhône - Côtes du Rhône, Vacqueyras, Gigondas, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Lirac, Tavel, Beaumes-de-Venise to name but a few.

Getting there is easy - just about 15 minutes from the futuristic Avignon TGV station (under 150 minutes from Paris on some services) - about 50 minutes from Marseilles Airport at Marignane, 30 minutes from Nimes, about 1.5 hours from Montpellier and only 2.5 hours from Nice

CONTACT DETAILS-
Auberge de la Reinne Jeanne12, boulevard Mirabeau, 13210 Saint Remy-de-Provence; T: 04.90.92.15.33; F:04.90.92.49.65
L’Hôtel du Cheval Blanc 6 avenue Fauconnet, 13210 Saint Rémy de Provence T: 04 90 92 09 28; F: 04 90 92 69 05

More on the wine tour of the southern Rhône:-
A southern Rhone wine tour - Tour 1 - Les Baux de Provence
A southern Rhone wine tour -Tour 2 - Vacqueyras, Gigondas, Beaumes-de-Venise, Cairanne and the Côtes du Rhône
A southern Rhone wine tour - Tour 3 - Lirac, Tavel and Chateauneuf-du-Pape

For more info see St Remy Tourist Office
For TGV timetables and tickets see Rail Europe

RECOMMENDED READING:-
Rhone Renaissance by Hugh Johnson on the exciting developments in Rhone wines.
Rhone (Touring Wine Country) by Hubert Duijker
Markets of Provence
Provence Green Guide (Michelin Green Guides)

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Lille ticks all the French boxes - arty culture, handsome looks, stylish shopping, fabulous food - but without the country’s icy hauteur. Friendly and welcoming, it has a metropolitan buzz but a small, do-able scale. Unfairly dismissed as industrial, Lille has a charming old town, France’s second most important art collection, frothy Flemish architecture and gutsy cuisine.

For us one of the highlights of the year is a visit to the Lille Wine Fair (Salon des Vins) hosted by the French Independent Winemakers association (www.vigneron-independant.com )which is being held this year between 16-19 November 2007 in the Lille Grand Palais .A great chance to taste and buy wines from all over France - a great pre-Christmas shopping weekend just an hour from the Channel coast. Explore the old Town, great shops and restaurants, Christmas market from late November, and the impressive Citadelle built by Vauban.

The article inevitably recommends L’Huitrière restaurant which is a superb but expensive fish restaurant in the Old Town - a little less stressful on the wallet is another good fish restaurant - L’Ecume de Mers (spume of the sea). Vauban’s Citadelle just outside the city centre is an impressive fortification built by France’s most prolific military architect - and provides an oasis of tranquility just 10 minutes walk away.

See dates for other Independent Winemaker Wine Fairs (Salons)

LINKS:
Lille Tourist Office
www.vigneron-independant.com
More on Lille Wine Fair

RECOMMENDED READING:-
Michelin Green Guide: Nord de la France
Paris Lille Brussels: The Bradt Guide to Eurostar Destinations (Bradt Travel Guide Paris-Lille-Brussels)
The Vauban Fortifications of France (Fortress)

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For more info see www.wine-food-languedoc.com

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