Way back in the mists of time – well, about four years ago – I was part of  a group of holiday rental property owners who created a holiday rentals company and website called Your Holiday Matters.
The goal was simple – to try and ensure a quality holiday experience for those booking a holiday rental [...]

One of the big challenges of visiting places and writing about them for possible future visitors is striking a balance - should we be brutally honest if somewhere is, frankly, not all that lovely? What if it was raining when we visited, or we were tired and really it is a very nice place?
Likewise if someone writes [...]

Everyone tells me that discussion forums are nothing but trouble – forum members are rude to each other; spammers sign up just to tell of the delights of via*ra;  everyone thinks they know better than everyone else; and worst of all – there is no possibility of ever making a penny from a forum despite [...]

In Provence there are restrictions on access to substantial parts of the countryside during the summer months because of the fire risk, and nowhere more so than in the forested regions around Marseille.
The tourist offices in the region hand out leaflets offering good advice – such as ‘don’t park your car in long dry grass’, [...]

Around our property we have quite a lot of land, including about a hectare of woodland and another hectare of field that we are turning back to woodland – partly for the environment and partly because we like trees. One thing that we also briefly considered was planting a tree for each family that stay [...]

It was a fine sunny day last week and I was approaching Saint-Montan, a quaint medieval village, just before lunchtime. I had big plans to explore the little village and then find somewhere for eat. I was in good spirits.
The car park – about the size for 30 cars I suppose – was completely full [...]

Brittany travel bulletin!!
Here’s one to watch out for if you are in the Morbihan region of Brittany this summer – the 18th exhibition of ‘Art in the Chapels’. I’m a big fan of these large scale installation art events and might well try and get up there myself in September, weather and time permitting.
In their [...]

Fancy being able to look into the future? Well, at last the clever people at google have made it possible for us to see what is going to happen in the next few months.
Sounds improbable? Think again.
Any ‘buying decision’ goes through various stages before cash gets handed across the table, and all these stages can [...]

Ever heard of the label Grand Sites of France? I think not. It’s a classification for places in France that get gazillions of visitors each year, and are of great interest because of their natural beauty or historical importance.
The principle is that they have all shown an ability to cope with having 1000000000000 visitors a [...]

As a rule I keep this blog separate from travel bargains, special offers, and other travel deals I hear about, however tempting they sound, because that isn’t what you or other readers are here for.
But I just heard about a great prize draw competition from pv-holidays that I thought I would mention. They are offering [...]

In France there are 36,569 communes, a commune being an ‘administrative unit’ (like a local council). Mostly these date from the Revolution, when an inspired bureaucrat decided that every hamlet, village and town should have  its own little ‘management team’. How many of these comunes would be worth visiting on your travels? Unfortunately I have [...]

Definition: Glamping combines the words glamorous and camping and is the new art of camping in luxury and style.
Tales of glamping often start with a story about the horrors of ‘old-fashioned camping’. I’m not going to, because tales of  my  teenage days camping on the Gower Peninsula in Wales and getting drunk and sunburned don’t [...]

Mrs B suggested a few ideas for those who are trying to book their holiday in France but are concerned it will be too expensive next year. So here they are.
1) Shared swimming pools
For many people, a swimming pool is indispensable on holiday, even more so perhaps for those with children. Hours of entertainment, and [...]

(photo is copyright)
Let’s pay a special tribute to the 37,000 communes in France. The commune is the smallest administratve unit (like a local council) in France, and each has its own mayor (and usually at least one or more assistants).
The place in the photo is in a commune called Rochefourchat, and If you like a [...]

A while ago I grumbled about some of the issues involved in hiring a car, but there was another I wasn’t aware of. This problem emerged as I was on my way to return the car to the rental station, after a week of travelling the roads of Provence.
I had driven around all week with [...]