The lucky winner of our latest competition will be hopping across to Brittany for a spring or autumn week next year. The destination is Le Pressoir, one of four exquisite and beautifully appointed thatched cottages at La Garenne in Languidic, Morbihan. These 200 year old ‘chocolate box’ cottages are among the most beautiful in Brittany.
This tranquil retreat just oozes traditional charm alongside all modern comforts. The cottages are set in a peaceful wooded valley sloping down to the gently meandering River Blavet. There’s a gate from the garden to the towpath beside the river, so visitors can wander along the water's edge, stopping at bars, cafés and restaurants every few kilometres as they go.
Leading online travel resource Travelbite has posted a major feature on a stay at The Farmhouse, a luxurious French Connections holiday rental property. Under the title, Pyrénées Atlantiques: A land of contrasts, the website’s manager Sarah Gibbons explains that she chose this rural idyll to be close to both the Pyrénées Mountains and the beaches of Biarritz.
‘From the very first glimpse of the pretty stone-built property complete with classic blue shutters, I knew I was going to enjoy my stay’ writes Sarah. ‘The owners had lovingly renovated it to the highest standard without losing the charm that comes with staying in such an old property…. I could see how cosy it would be in winter with its wood burning stove and homely interiors – an ideal winter refuge from which to explore the nearby ski centres of the Pyrénées.’
Read more: Travelbite online magazine features a stay at our Béarnaise farmhouse
The first bottles from this year’s wine harvest are starting to be sold in France now, so it’s a grand time to take a wine tasting trip. The weather has been challenging this year so quantity will be down - but quality is high and prices for exports may rise, making the best buys to be had direct from the French vineyards.
Of course, France has a passion for making the finest wine, which is born out of the natural environment in which grapes are grown and the culture and traditions of its producers. France is a perfectly successful mix of both factors and the ultimate destination for wine tasting.
In this blog, a trip to Dinard in Brittany and a delicious recipe for Mussel soup.
Our October featured region is the Drôme in the gloriously scenic Rhône-Alps just north of Provence. Many visitors prefer the southern Drôme to Provence, enjoying its laid back atmosphere, pretty villages, mountain scenery and sense of history, and it’s in the south that most of our holiday lets can be found.
This is a land of rivers - the Drôme, Aigues and Rhône all run through the department. They make for some breathtaking scenery and every view is enhanced by the dramatic backdrop of the Alps, ever changing with the seasons. There’s plenty of potential here for year-round holidays when you can enjoy sightseeing, exploring history and countryside, hiking, cycling, golf and gastronomy, as well as a growing interest in ecotourism and organic food.
Actually it's not the Doo, it is only called the Doo, it is really the Doubs and it is a River.
It is a rather special river because it goes alongside and feeds one of the most attractive canals in France which joins the Rhine and the Saône rivers, and so it gives water-borne traffic the possibility to travel from Switzerland and Germany to the Mediterranean. However at the beautiful town of Dole the river and the canal part company and the river continues through almost deserted countryside until it joins the Saône at the picturesque town of Verdun-sur-Le-Doubs.
It is pouring down with rain as I write this month's blog. We Brits do tend to talk a great deal about the weather and I think it is fair to say that we have had a pretty miserable summer one way or another. So I tell myself it is time for a trip to France.