The Tour de France cycle race has given some friends of ours the incentive to pop over the Channel, although I don’t really think they needed an excuse. This is because they are enthusiasts and this year the British cyclist, Bradley Wiggins with the team Sky is favourite to win.
In a travel feature called ‘France for Less’, last Saturday’s Daily Mail gave top tips on budget France, including holiday rentals from French Connections. With a better exchange rate, lower petrol costs and our holiday homes from under £200 a week, now is a great time to rediscover France for less. That’s what the feature concluded – and naturally we agree!
A search on the site for a holiday home for four people in late July- early August brings up the choice of dozens of apartments, luxury chalets and cottages in various regions of France from just £176 for a week, many of them on holiday complexes with a pool and loads of fun things to keep the children happy.
If you head for Brittany, our featured region this month, a family of six could stay in the two-bedroom stone cottage apartment at Menhir-ty gîtes in Bogas near the gorgeous town of Josselin for just £380 for an August week and enjoy a shared swimming pool, barbecue, fishing lake and large garden.
Travel in larger groups often means a good price per person and for around £100 a head, eleven people could share adjacent character-filled gîtes at Poulmarvezen, also in Brittany, and enjoy four acres of rural tranquility with a swimming pool and a 25 mile drive to the coast.
There are more great ideas for discovering France for less, including short breaks and fantastic value ferries, flights and car hire in our guide to Budget Holidays in France
The airline that flies from the heart of London is launching its Earlybird Deals on autumn travel.
Flights to Amsterdam, Avignon, Brest, Brive, Deauville, Florence, Nantes, Paris-Orly, Pau and Toulon start from just £98 return and this includes all taxes and charges.
To take advantage of these great prices flights must be booked between 12th and 19th June 2012 and the break must be scheduled between 3rd September and 22nd October 2012.
This offer presents the perfect opportunity to extend your summer and take a lovely city break, cultural excursion or simply spend some relaxing time by the sea.
With CityJet there are no hidden costs or debit charges.
For more information and the full list of fares visit the CityJet website.
The 2012 Tour de France rolls into action on 30th June. We always love this dramatic cycling event, with its opportunity to see regions of France and their varied landscapes – but this year there’s a bigger buzz than ever in the UK as British star Bradley Wiggins and his Team Sky are going into the race as favourites. Could Britain win its first ever Tour de France? The team also includes sprinter Mark Cavendish, who we'll be seeing in the London Olympics Road Race.
Liège in Belgium is the starting point on Saturday 30th and this leads into a series of very accessible stages in Northern France, taking in Boulogne, Abbeville, Normandy’s cathedral city of Rouen and then down to Epernay in champagne country. The route then dives through eastern France and through the Alps, before going across to the Pyrenees, along the Mediterranean coast and returning through the centre of the country to the grand finale in Paris on Sunday 22nd July.
You can follow the race live on the ITV4 channel – but why not hop across and take in all the excitement for real? We’ve put together a comprehensive mini-guide to the Tour with links to accommodation in all the crucial areas, making it really easy for you to plan your getaway, even at the last minute. Stay in a B&B or your own holiday home, watch the race, get inspired, go cycling yourself at a gentler pace and take in some of the beauty of the French countryside and coast in early summer. Keen cyclist but can't make the Tour? Browse our selection of cycling holidays in France.
Imagine a hot sunny day in a secluded spot, surrounded by dramatic cliffs and gently rustling trees. You poise for a moment, then leap from a low rock into clear, sparkling water, rise to the surface, swim under a rushing waterfall and whoop with the sheer joy of being alive in such a beautiful world.
Are you in a scene from the Blue Lagoon? In some faraway Shangri-La? No - you are in France, making full use of Daniel Start's beautiful and practical new book, 'Wild Swimming France'. As Daniel points out, France has not only one of the most diverse and magnificent landscapes in Europe (aren't we always telling you that?) but also the cleanest rivers, lakes and waterfalls. Add to that reliably hot summers and, he says, you have the perfect recipe for reconnecting with nature on a low-cost, healthy, sustainable holiday.
This book builds on the success of Daniel's previous Wild Swimming books, which inspired two TV series, and is aimed at a wide audience of families, Francophiles who want to get off the beaten track and adventurers in search of the wild and spectacular. The information on places to swim is usefully arranged by both region - complete with maps - and by type, with categories such as canoeing and boating, waterside food and camping along with the different types of swim. For these, the headlines alone are enticing, including skinny-dipping, jumping, blue pools and canyons, arches and formations.
With all the practical, need to know stuff in place and available at a glance, the book then proceeds to wow with gorgeous colour photographs on every page. While those at the chapter openings are quite general, the images within the chapters illustrate specific locations - which themselves total no less than 400 - and are clearly captioned, giving the reader an idea of what to expect from almost every swimming spot listed.
No less than fourteen regions are included, with Jura and Normandy/The Loire being the furthest north and Corbieres and Roussillon among the furthest south, so there's plenty of potential for combining wild swimming adventures with your stay at a self-catering country gite or villa in France this summer.
Win your own copy of the Wild Swimming France book! We have two copies to give away, so enter our prize draw now.
Click here to enter via Facebook or Twitter!
There's still time to enter our latest competition where you could win a holiday for four at La Conciergerie, a luxury two-bedroom cottage close to the Gironde estuary in south west France.
La Conciergerie nestles in the grounds of Le Moulin des Agrilles, a romantic manor house near Lorignac, Here, Josette and Rod Cooke offer a relaxing cottage hideaway with use of all the outdoor facilities of the main house, which can be booked for house parties, celebrations and beautiful, informal country weddings organised by the hosts.
This September or October, you could enjoy strolling in the seven acres of beautiful grounds or splashing in the heated salt-water swimming pool. There is also a bar with pool table, an inviting barbecue area and facilities for table tennis and traditional French boules, so you would never be short of things to do.
The estate is surrounded by vines and open countryside and is close to local beaches. Visitors can explore the Gironde estuary, with its pretty ports and inviting restaurants, and savour wine and Cognac tasting.
We’ve teamed up with FrenchEntree magazine to offer you the chance to win this holiday (travel not included). Go to page 41 of the May/June issue for full details or enter online here.
Brittany is this month’s regional focus– and it’s an area particularly close to our hearts at French Connections. Most of us have enjoyed truly memorable holidays there and Izzy, the friendly voice of our owners’ helpline, is a native of la belle Bretagne.
The appeal of this westerly peninsula is a potent mix of peaceful, unspoilt countryside, a charming rocky coastline and a special factor that can only be described as soul. Like Cornwall, Brittany is Celtic country where ancient magic and myth abound, where you can sense the mystery and tradition. From the thousands of standing stones at Carnac to religious processions in local costume, from the Archangel Michael’s Mont St Michel to folk art and musical instruments, a visit to Brittany is a varied voyage of discovery.