This weekend is our last in Lille. On Monday, we leave this northern star and head for rural Dordogne – where we plan to open our cheese-and-wine bar and B&B…
No building work is allowed in central Belvès during the summer season. So time is very much against us as we wait for the folding doors that will replace the…
If the Sunshine Blogger Award is about bringing kindness and positivity into the lives of readers, count me in. That was my reaction when Joyce Hopewell of the Eyes in…
Even before I became aware of an etiquette to cutting cheese, I knew there was a right way and a wrong way. Anyone who would cut the ‘nose’ off a…
Despite these difficult times, preparations for our new business continue. This week, Damon has been reupholstering chairs for the bar. We’ve had to abandon our planned opening date of mid-June.…
Chaos is OK. Well, that’s what I’m telling myself, as our home in Lille fills with more and more things to take down to Belvès at some point… I’m finding…
The April issue of Living France magazine hits the shops today – and in it is an interview with me about Lille. I thought I’d use it as a chance…
Finally, I can share the name we’ve picked for our cheese-and-wine bar in Belvès: Planches & Plonk. It came to us in a flash of inspiration and it feels like…
There’s no turning back now. This week, we handed in our notices at work. With just four and a half months until we open, it’s all systems go! Both Damon…
Who says blind dates don’t work? Damon and I are in Carcassonne this weekend celebrating our 25th anniversary – and we first met on a blind date. A photograph of…
A queue that stretched along the street wasn’t what I expected when I turned up for my interview for a carte de séjour on Monday. I’d imagined my appointment was…
Spending last week painting the shutters on our future home was like giving a pig a makeover. The property may be without heating, lighting or plumbing but, hey, the shutters…
Now this is what I call a happy new year. 2020 is going to be big for us – this is the year we’ll open our cheese-and-wine bar. We’re down…
I enjoyed Christmas but it’s New Year I’m really looking forward to. That’s when we’ll be back with what writer Armistead Maupin calls our ‘logical family’. As opposed to our…
I reckon I’m word perfect on every Christmas song ever written. Why wouldn’t I be? They never change. What’s more, given that I work three days a week in London,…
I’m loving TV chef Rick Stein’s gastronomic tour de France – especially as my favourite restaurant proved one of his stopping points. I’m referring to the Vieux Logis in Trémolat.…
After months of what has seemed like little or no progress, things are starting to move ahead with the renovations. This week we’ve had photos from the builder-cum-project manager of…
Yesterday saw the launch of northern France’s first white wine, grown on a slag heap in Haillicourt. Rather aptly, its producers have branded it Charbonnay. It was only a matter…
I’ve now ticked a vital piece of work off my list of things to do before opening our cheese-and-wine bar: our wine list. And it’s all thanks to last weekend’s…
Selling alcohol in France is tougher than you might think. You need both a licence and a permit. Damon and I already own a licence, and now, after three days…
