Bonjour tout le monde,
A very big welcome to all our new subscribers – I am delighted to meet you.
This week has been a bit of a whirlwind for me I can tell you. Even though I live in the middle-of-nowhere in rural France, life is quite fast paced thanks to The Good Life France but the last few days have been quite exceptional.
Just when I thought life couldn’t get much more exciting, I won an Award for The Good Life France! You know how I love to tell you about the places I visit, the people I meet, the hotels I stay in, the best places to take a holiday, enjoy a meal, buy a house etc etc – anything to do with France. One of my stories, about a cheese maker in the lovely Seven Valleys area of France, won the ABTOF (Association of British Tour Operators to France) Travel Writing Award for Best French Article Online 2014. You could have knocked me down with a feather when I heard my name being read out at a press lunch in London this week. If you missed my story about the cheese maker’s secret ingredient – passion, you can read it here: The Most Delicious French Goats Milk Cheese. Needless to say, my six cats, three dogs and thirty-seven chickens, ducks and geese are not remotely impressed.
This week has also seen the Christmas lights switched on in Paris and it was Beaujolais Nouveau Day on Thursday which for me is always the signal that Christmas is coming so expect loads of lovely Christmas articles next week.
On the website we have had some great stories this week from our wonderful team of writers and I hope you enjoy them.
Bon Weekend
Bisous from France
Janine
Editor
This Week’s Top Features
Making wine the old fashioned way: Inspired by this week’s release of 2014 Beaujolais Nouveau, a few thoughts about pressing grapes with your feet and a king whose toe dropped off in his sock!
The Fish Skin Artisan in Fanlac: In the pretty little village of Fanlac in the Dordogne, an artisan makes beautiful bags and belts from fish skin cured to a process invented by a largely forgotten Siberian tribe…
The magnificent stables and horse ballet at the Chateau de Versailles: Louis XIV had 600 horses and adored horse ballet. Today this wonderful expertise has been restored to the Chateau of Versailles and horses are pampered in the incredible stables…
Napoleon fans will love the plans to celebrate his arrival in Golfe-Juan on the Cote d’Azur almost 200 years ago – one for your March 2015 diaries!
Re-enactor fans will enjoy the experience that expat Author James Vance had this year in the lovely Limousin, reliving the past as a poilu and a cannonier in the French army.
We talk to expats Barbara and Robin who are selling their lovely house in Poitou-Charentes and find out more about the area.
In next week’s newsletter we’ve got lots of exciting news about some lovely gifts for Christmas so watch this space…
