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Auvillars cobbled streets and Tuscanesque architecture

Buying Hostspots – Auvillar, Tarn-et-Garonne

Ready to make the move? The FrenchEntrée Property Services team reveal their top search areas – on and off the beaten track… AUVILLAR Tarn-et-Garonne Once upon a time, Auvillar, perched high on its rocky outcrop, was one of the key…

Aubuzine

Characteristics of Corrèze

Corrèze has a rich medieval past with evidence of these times to be found throughout Correze’s towns and villages.

Gers

Buying Hotspots – Marciac, Gers, Midi-Pyrénées

Ready to make the move? The FrenchEntrée Property Services team reveals its top search areas – on and off the beaten track MARCIAC Gers, Midi-Pyrénées Marciac is located in the south of the Gers département, an area encompassed by the…

Père Igor

Where to Buy in France Now: Sauzé-Vaussais

Ready to make the move? The FrenchEntrée Property team reveals its top search areas – on and off the beaten track. SAUZÉ-VAUSSAIS Deux-Sèvres, Nouvelle-Aquitaine You’ll find Sauzé-Vaussais (Sauzé to locals) out west, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine’s lush Deux-Sèvres département. Close to the…

cathedral statue

5 Must-see Essentials in Chartres

CATHÉDRALE NOTRE-DAME DE CHARTRES Superlatives abound in this first example of High Gothic architecture, located on the Compostelle route to Tours – 4,000 sculpted statues; 5,000 figures in the medieval stained glass; and the largest crypt in France (third largest…

limoges

Highlights of Haute Vienne

Haute Vienne derives its name from the river that runs though the department. As the river is also the main waterway through Vienne, the “Haute” was added as the department …

La salle de classe

Moving Teenagers to a French School – Beth’s Story

When Beth Ducat moved to France, she gave her two teenage daughters, Emma and Alex, the choice to stay in the UK or come to France with her. They chose the latter. Here, Beth tells how her daughters coped with their new French school…

luxury hotel-barge Alegria

Weighing Anchor: Running a Luxury Hotel-barge

We chat to Olivier Baudry, owner of luxury hotel-barge Alegria, who has been running cruises on the Canal du Midi for more than a decade.   FrenchEntrée: How long have you been offering luxury hotel-barge holidays on the Canal du…

Selling up – the legal process

As in other countries, people selling a house in France have certain obligations and duties. Here we examine the selling process in detail…

Me, You, and Les Enfants Come Too

Running a château offering family-friendly holiday experiences in France is far from child’s play, but it’s exactly what Jon Barnsley left a high-profile job at one of the UK’s biggest newspapers to do. Greg Cook finds out more.   How…

Duck with Turnips and Other Vegetables

  Chef Stéphane Reynaud treats us to another of his favourite dishes which would make up a perfectly hearty and tasty French supper for six   Serves 6 – Preparation time: 30 minutes Cooking time: 40 minutes Ingredients 1 wild…

Trish’s omelette

with cherry tomatoes, shiitake mushrooms and marigold petals   The word ‘omelette’ comes originally from the French word lamelle, meaning ‘thin strip’ because of its fl at shape, and gradually changed via alumette and then amelette. However, although omelettes are…

All About French Pithiviers

There are two main types of Pithiviers; the version here, where puff pastry encloses a filling of frangipane (almond cream), and another which has a base of sablé pastry and a filling of glacé fruit and frangipane, all coated in a smooth glaze.

illustration of the characters in Alice in wonderland sat around the table

Brexit: Through the Looking Glass

After a number of dramatic votes in parliament, we take a look at the way ahead for Brexit and the pound. Reading the recent news headlines has felt like being Alice in Wonderland, with a rapidly changing landscape and sometimes…

Mousse au chocolat marbrée de La Môle

  La Môle’s marbled chocolate mousse For me, only one chocolate mousse cuts the mustard, a homemade one inspired by our local restaurant, La Môle. This marbled mousse is a striking dessert to bring to the dinner table in a…

Annecy

Five Hotspots for Sun, Sea And… Ski

If you’re looking for a year-round investment – somewhere soaked in sunshine, but a stone’s throw from the pistes – consider these hotspots just outside the main resorts

French Entrée Mortgage Services

FrenchEntrée is a French property and lifestyle resource, curated by real people who have lived and worked in France. We have a network of multilingual lenders and brokers with whom we work to provide our clients with the best options to finance their plans.

Perfect Crème Caramel

I have been making this recipe for over 20 years and it always produces a beautifully high crème caramel with a deep mahogany gloss that sits in a puddle of caramel sauce.

Lamb Navarin

From Philippe Mouchel A beautiful winter stew from Normandy combining lamb, turnips (navets), carrots and potatoes. Philippe uses lamb shoulder and ribs cut into large pieces, but the dish also works well with lamb necks. He likes to serve it…

Bellac

Property Hotspot – Bellac, Haute-Vienne

Where did the town of Bellac get its name?
The official tourism website posits several possibilities, but we find ourselves favouring the idea that it’s simply an amalgamation of ‘Belle’ and ‘lac’… in short, ‘beautiful lake’. Even if that doesn’t entirely make sense (the only body of water here is the Vincou river). Still, you get the gist.

Arles-sur-Tech

Property Hotspot – Arles-sur-Tech

If remote is your house-hunting watchword, consider the hillside village of Arles-sur-Tech. Burrowed in the lush Vallespire valley and bordered by the Canigou massif, most of this 2,882-hectare territory is densely forested, with a population of just over 2,700.

Renovation Case Study – Cabin Fever…

When Bob and Diane Kirkwood renovated a dilapidated lakeside ‘bunker’ near their home in Dordogne, they had no idea they’d be creating an off-grid, eco-friendly holiday experience that would win awards, they tell Greg Cook

Norman Invasion – Property Guide to Normandy

Thousands of Britons have discovered the charms of Normandy’s coastline, countryside and cuisine. Some buy holiday or rental properties here, while others settle permanently. Dominic Bliss finds out what the big attraction is…

The Accidental Olive Farmers

You fall in love with a property in the South of France, it has olive trees and you buy it. What do you do? You make olive oil, of course! Patrice Bertrand finds out more

Lifestyle Business Endeavours – The Snack and Shop

It took just one visit to Pas-de-Calais for Katharine Tasker to fall in love with this charming corner of France. Two years later, she’d swapped London’s traffic jams for gâteaux, tartes and wide open spaces. Janine Marsh finds out how she did it…

Steak à la Nina

I once worked as a waitress at a restaurant called Le Relais de Venise, or L’Entrecôte, and I was immediately drawn
to its menu, ‘The Formula’: a simple walnut salad with mustard dressing followed by steak and chips smothered in
a sauce with 26 different ingredients.

Chocolate Meringue Tart

This is a play on the classic fondant pudding – soft and melting inside – combined with Italian meringue. Sometimes I embed nuggets of chocolate salted caramel into the chocolate filling before baking. With or without them it is a serious hit of rich sweetness: you have been warned!

Home Comforts in the Dordogne

Thanks to the British love of the Dordogne, there’s a corner of southwest France that is forever England. But with its bastide towns, rolling green hills, verdant valleys, and food to die for, it couldn’t be more typically French, so don’t be put off when you hear it referred to as “Dordogneshire”!

Statues in a ski village looking at the alps

Buying Tips – Five Leaseback Property Hotspots

Leaseback properties can be a fruitful long-term investment, but they can’t be found just anywhere. From the dizzy heights of the Alps to the glittering French Riviera, these are the spots to comb

Barrage de Montbel

Chalabre Property

Why buying property in and around Chalabre, with nearby lakes, castles and stunning views of the Pyrenees, makes for a great investment!

Chenonceau castle, built over the Cher river , Loire Valley,France, view from the river, on gradient blue cloudy sky background.

Loire Valley Property for Sale: A Town-by-town Guide

Your essential guide to facilities in towns to be found north of the Loire and east of Angers. You can find details on bars, restaurants, chemists, banks, supermarkets, broadband, English-language cinema, distance to the ports and much more.

Taste of the terroir – Lozère

This most sparsely populated department of Languedoc-Roussillon is rugged and mountainous but crossed by many rivers and densely forested in places, all of which lends the local gastronomy a truly unique flavour.

Champagne chiboust

Justin North began his career in his native New Zealand before travelling to England to work with renowned chef Raymond Blanc. This recipe is an excerpt of his beautifully illustrated book French Lessons which is a guide to mastering French cooking