Sylvia Edwards Davis talks to James Linton to find out whether his renovation of La Chapelle was closer to heaven… or hell. James Linton helped finance a friend’s renovation, never expecting to suddenly find himself an owner. After that property…
A writer and European policy specialist moves with his family to France to refocus their work-life balance. He now runs gîtes and chambres d’hôtes in the Lot and had his first book published.
This is a classic recipe, extremely simple and perfect for supper on the day you manage to buy – or find – your first fresh truffle. Truffles have a pungent aroma that permeates the eggs beautifully.
Escaping the sun’s glare on the village square in Cazals, northeast of Cahors, I’m sipping a post-lunch coffee with Alice Loftie who, alongside husband Charles, is a FrenchEntrée Estate Agent Partner in this sleepy Lot village. On the walls, there are sun-kissed…
This recipe makes excellent use of that most underutilised of all vegetables, the good old pumpkin. Every year they’re grown in their thousands and used as Halloween lanterns. Don’t discard the flesh; try this delicious punpkin soup instead.
Preparing your pool for the winter is an essential task that will keep the pool and equipment in good condition ready for quickly re-opening the pool in the spring. Here is a guide to the procedure that should be followed…
A true story about poisonous wild mushrooms in France. Now a memory and a slight embarrassment, the experience of poisoning myself…
An Update from Val Walmsley,Property Finder in Vendée and Deux-Sèvres
My husband and I fell in love with this little lane near the house we were about to buy. I wish I had then had the help of someone living permanently in the area.
Get married in France? Isn’t that difficult, people will ask, mindful of French bureaucracy? Well, I got married here eight years ago, I have just organised my stepdaughter’s – much bigger – wedding so here’s how to do it!
Since I last wrote a few words about my exploits with La Troupe d’Acteurs du Quercy things have moved on. Well, they do don’t they? The sands of time and all that. From a personal point of view I have really enjoyed the opportunity to murder a few people…
The purpose of Chats du Quercy is to find permanent, safe homes for homeless cats and kittens with responsible and caring owners. We aim to provide quality, short term housing in a safe, disease-free and stimulating environment…
So what’s it really like running a Gîte business in France? Well, in short – it beats working for a living! So forget what you think it’s like and give 5 minutes to reading a real life account of setting up and running gîtes in France…
Image not found.Do you love the South of France?
Do you struggle a bit with the language and administration?
Need a helping hand to “sort things out”?
“Help in Quercy” are at your service.
My decision to teach French happened by accident really. I had a call from a friend who had artisans on site and both sides were having trouble understanding what was required. I was happy to help but after I’d gone I was flattered to find the builder thought I was French. When my friend understood this, he said ‘Why don’t you teach it? It would really help me and I can think of several other people who would really value it too’.
And that’s how it all started…
Get married in France? Isn’t that difficult, people will ask, mindful of French bureaucracy? Well, I got married myself here eight years ago, I have just organised my stepdaughter’s – much bigger – wedding and I have helped various friends with the paperwork in the intervening years. So here’s how to do it! I am writing this from the point of view of British nationals, though I believe it will equally apply to other nationalities…
My love affair with France began nearly 20 years ago, when I was 18 years old. I was drawn to France, why – I don’t know. I had never been to France, never experience the French culture or food; I just knew I wanted to be there someday. I used to dream and believe by the time I was 35, I would live 6 months in Australia and 6 months in France…
I started volunteering at the Figeac dog refuge not long ago. I hesitated before getting in contact with them as I was worried about the old ‘tugging at the heart strings’ syndrome. With two dogs and two cats already, I know my limits but was afraid that I would end up bringing another young scamp home…
Like a good many of us who plunge straight into moving lock, stock and barrel to France, never having had a holiday home here, we underestimated the challenge of living in a foreign country…
I spent the better part of this afternoon upside down with my head in our rainwater cistern battling the all predatory forces of heaven and earth. I think I’m winning.
Spring is the time for grand designs, and for years now, we have aspired but failed to keep up with the Jones’s, or more precisely, the Bousquets. But this year will be different…
The children of Touffailles primary school have really been enjoying their english lessons lately. Over the past four weeks they have been improving their English using ‘Anglais avec les chats’, a unique education programme initiated by the cat charity Les Amis Des Chats…
Anyone who’s spent a significant chunk of their lives in England and later moved abroad will, at some point, find themselves trying to explain Marmite to their new neighbours. Whether you wake up at 3 in the morning with an insatiable craving for a thick slice of hot buttered toast and Marmite or gag at the very thought…
Moving house, they say, is the third most stressful thing after death and divorce, I disagree, moving one’s beloved horses to a foreign country far eclipses merely moving some sticks of furniture and a load of boxes from one house to another.
We moved from Scotland to France in October 2003, we drove out two 4×4’s pulling heavily burdened trailers…
Les Chiens de Figeac is a charity association that has been helping homeless dogs in the Lot region for 20 years. When Nicci HALTON and her partner moved to France in 2002, they decided to get involved…
How many of us dream about moving to France, but somehow it all fails to materialize? Mike Burrows tells us about his dream come true running a Gite business and why it could be your turn next…
Mark and Fiona Vallance have been running their thriving Bed and Breakfast business in the Lot Valley for the last three years. We caught up with them recently as they were planning a new business venture and they gave us an update on their experiences of running a B&B in France…
Want to explore the “Treasures of France” from the comfort of your armchair?
Bicycle Gourmet Christopher Strong has created a collection of DVDs recording his exploration of rural France – the people, the food and the wine.
In this article he recounts his visit to the estate of Nicholas JOLY – The Pope of biodynamic wine…
The recent dramatic shift in the GB pound to euro exchange rate has contributed to a slowing of the French property market. The shift in the rate from around 1.45 to 1.25 has effectively reduced the purchasing power of the pound by about 15%. In response to this shift we are seeing increasing numbers of properties with reductions in the asking price.
The medieval city of Cahors has a wide variaty of delightful eating place from the grand (and expensive) for that special occasion through to the simple Bistro that will provide a substantial lunch for under €10 per person. The listings are grouped by type of restaurant from Gastronomique to Pizzerias…
The Midi-Pyrenees is the largest region in France, and possibly the most diverse, stretching from the undulating charm of the Dordogne valley in the north to the snow-capped peaks of the Pyrenees in the south…
Glorious Aquitaine, fabled land of many rivers, once stretched from the Loire valley to the Pyrenees, that was many years ago when it was a rich, medieval dukedom, when Eleanor was its Duchess and her court attracted the greatest troubadours of the age…
Although it doesn’t seem possible, it is a year to the day since I posted the first of my garden meanderings and I would like to thank the folk out there who have read them…
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Welcome to another monthly update from The Celtic Herbalist. These monthly bulletins cover the development of the Celtic Herbalist’s gardens based on a four and a half acres farmstead on the Causses …
Image not found.The Celtic Herbalist’s gardens are developing on the four and a half acres around a farmstead upon one of the limestone plateaux (or causses) in the Midi, near Toulouse, in S.W. France.
Image not found.Welcome to an update of the work in progress at The Celtic Herbalist’s gardens which are developing on a four and a half acre site on the Causses (limestone plateaux), near Toulouse, in S.W. France.
The Gardens of the Grand Convent in Gramat, the medieval gardens at Chateau Colombier and the charming Garden of the Senses in Castelfranc…
This is a delicious accompaniment to roast goose, duck or turkey. Every ingredient can be sourced locally in the Quercy, and the famous Agen prunes can be found worldwide if you happen to be elsewhere…
We recently caught up with Nicole Killick at Books and Company in Gourdon and she told us about their popular and expanding reading groups and the Christmas social event in the shop which has the added bonus of a 5% discount on any books purchased.
Lot resident Tim Atkins shares some of his research and experiences of trying to decide the best and cheapest way to heat his French home. With tax credits of 50% now being offered on wood burning stoves, together with reduced TVA rates of 5.5% instead of the normal 19.6%, they could be an attractive option…
The recent currency exchange rate fluctuations have reduced the buying power of people moving from the UK to France. But French property is still outstanding value compared to the UK. Sell your detached four-bedroom house in Sussex for £425,000 and see what you could buy in the Lot and Quercy region of southwest France…
A new year and a new start – just what do you do in the garden in January? The answer is probably not a lot, certainly when it is wet underfoot. That’s the time for reviewing what went on last year, what worked and what didn’t…
Nearly the end of February already, so I hope that the kind folk who read my meanderings will take this entry for this month and for March! Yes, we can finally claim that we are gardening again – one of the reasons that I am late this month is that we have been gardening rather than writing about it….
Has summer finally arrived? September may be a bit late, but the sunshine is more than welcome. Peace is settling back on the Lot, the main bulk of the summer visitors have gone, and the traffic has become a bit saner. Time to look hard at the woodpile in readiness for chilly evenings to come…
With two new baby Alpacas (Crias), things seemed to be going well for Deborah and her smallholding. But then there was the mass breakout by the animals and the latest set back is a bad case of “fly-strike”…
Having first written an article for FrenchEntrée-LotandQuercy two years ago, Tessa Collier gives us an update on what’s has been happening recently – changes in the rental market, sheep farming and her talent for sculpture…
Image not found.If you own a property in the Lot or Correze then we may be able to help you. Our aim is to give our customers help and peace of mind with all their property care needs. House cleaning, garden care and landscaping, swimming pool maintenance, holiday changeovers, and key holding are just some of our services…
Image not found.Leslee Carsewell, originally from the East Coast of the US fell in love with France at an early age and dreamt of one day having a house there. Here she tells the story of her barn purchase and renovation.
When I first came to live in this glorious part of France I had a good long meeting with the local Maire. We talked about schools and children and local services – all the usual things – then got on to fêtes and food. Finally, as twelve o’ clock approached and his tummy began to signal its need for immediate sustenance…
The days are getting longer and the woods are full of catkins and lime-green hellebores. The breezes are softer and the sun warms your soul. Spring is in the air. The soups and casseroles of winter are banished for another eight months. Or are they? How can you construct a decent salad with the sort of half-ripe, totally flavourless tomatoes available at this time of year…
Image not found.Books and Company is an English bookshop in the charming town of Gourdon in the Lot. Hugues Teulat and his partner Nicole Killick offer a range of Greeting Cards and Stationery as well as a wide selection of Books, Maps and Guides. We interviewed them to find out more about their experience of running their own business over the last two years…
