We all know that France has an excellent train system, the TGV, that whistles passengers from city to city at high speed and in great comfort. What you may not realise is that not everywhere in France is on a TGV high speed train line and things don’t always run quite as smoothly as the [...]
What do you think of when people talk about art in France? The Louvre or the Orsay perhaps? Monet and the impressionists or the cave paintings at Lascaux?
Each summer week when people arrive in the gites we have a few things we try and remember to point out to them – where to park the car, how to use the pool alarm, where we have hidden the towels and so on. We also have a piece of paper which answers lots of [...]
I just managed to squeeze in a few days of exploring before the summer ended – just in time as it turned out, because after endless months of sunshine today has been a wee bit chilly. One of the great things about exploring France is that it is big enough that there is always something [...]
It’s always nice when our site visitors share their travel photos and comments with us, like the person a couple of days ago who reported that their holiday in Rochefort-en-Terre (Brittany) was ‘The best holiday of my life. More like a dream now.’
I’m much too busy watching the Tour de France to know much else that’s happening in the world so instead I’ll issue a plea for help while everyone is in a holiday mood. Although me and Mrs B spend as much time travelling around France enjoying ourselves and calling it work as possible it is [...]
July is upon us and it’s nearly time to start packing for the car for your annual fortnight in the sun (I’m assuming you are coming to France!) so our friends at Buggs Car Hire suggested we think about what people should bring with them to be sure their trip isn’t a complete disaster. If [...]
They tell me that more people than ever will be coming to France this summer so I thought a quick reminder of driving habits in France would be useful. Happily lots of drivers fall into one sterotype or another so it’s quite easy to know what to look out for…
I’ve spoken to a couple of large holiday type companies recently and they both told me that bookings for holidays in France are ‘slow’ this year, at least among the Brits. I’m pretty sure they said they same last year, but this year they are saying it in a more desperate way! So it’s time [...]
Each spring and autumn Mrs B and I try to get away (separately, because someone has to stay home and drive the children around). The purpose of these trips is either (1) to research interesting travel destinations in France for our website visitors or (2) because living and working together 24 hours a day all [...]
Even living here in south-west France we need to get away exploring from time to time – so we’ve just been on a family holiday…but where? From the pictures below you get 1 point for country, and three points for town! Hint: the pictures haven’t necessarily been chosen because they are most helpful or representative [...]
Someone told me about a very unusual ‘tourist attraction’ that has recently been opened in France – or perhaps I should say discovered – and the story is so interesting I thought I’d share it… The story begins in 1893, when a Frenchman called Louis Mantin inherited a fortune from his father. He promptly gave [...]
I’m always interested to see which places and regions in France people are planning to visit in France in the months to come, partly because it gives me at least a clue which areas we should be visiting ourselves – there’s no point us spending weeks exploring and writing about the Pyrenees if everyone else [...]
Because of having gites we can’t get away in the summer like ‘normal’ people, so we have to travel out of season. End of year school exams further complicate things, so this year we ended up taking our ‘family holiday’ in New York in February – and a good time was had by all, despite [...]
Paris – or more specifically Parisians – don’t always have the reputation as being the most welcoming people in the world and even most other areas of France consider that Parisians think themselves ‘superior’ to the rest of France. Since the city itself is so attractive it manages to attract millions of visitors despite the [...]