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35 more of Peregrine's brilliant articles on France
You’ve been dithering about this year’s holiday. Understandably, what with the
financial world in meltdown and terrible uncertainty hanging over Cristiano
Ronaldo’s future. Now, though, it’s decision time. Do you stay in Britain or
not?
Let me do two things: (a) give you the long-range weather forecast. “We’re
certainly not expecting a particularly dry summer,” said a jolly Met Office
chap last week. “It is expected to be wetter than average.” And (b) suggest
France. For a start, it’s not far. It involves no long-haul flights, jabs
against disgusting diseases or being treated as terrorists by fat-bottomed
customs officers. It has everything in one country: beaches, sun, mountains,
forests, lakes, culture, wine, proper villages and the world’s best-looking
presidential wife.
And, despite the plunging pound, it remains affordable. Not cheap – some of
the prices below are a little eyewatering – but reasonable value for the
standards involved. Recently, I stayed in a decent three-star double room
for £55 a night and had a very acceptable five-course lunch, with ample
wine, for £30. The taxi back wasn’t overpriced, either. If I could remember
exactly how much after all the wine, I’d tell you.
Here’s our guide to what we reckon to be the key French regions for summer
2008. All prices are for high season.
GASCONY
“Wellbeing” is the word. Not (heaven help us) “wellness”, but real wellbeing,
the sort that comes from comely hills and rivers, long lunches, landscapes
defined by old-fashioned farming and the feeling that life has rolled on
unruffled since d’Artagnan was a lad.
If I ran things, this is how the whole world would be. In Gascony, life
relaxes down to ambling pace. Chaps drive tractors, ladies carry proper
baskets and all meet up under the arcades of the village square, itself
simply the continuation of country life by other means.
There’s tons here to see (Lavardens castle, Flaran Abbey’s art collection,
Auch cathedral’s extraordinary choir stalls) and do (biking, boating,
hiking, horsing), but they can wait. Today, there is a sunny terrace to sit
on, foie gras to eat, wine and armagnac to drink, and weighty matters to
discuss. Notably rugby. Or jazz. Though bucolic, Gascony is anything but
backward. In remotest Marciac, it hosts one of France’s finest jazz
festivals – first two weeks in August, this year featuring Diane Krall and
Bill Evans, among many others.
Earlier (July 10-14), country music hoes down in Mirande and Latino/Afro/Cuban
rhythms seize Vic-Fezensac (July 24-27). The region’s most interesting
museum, at Béraut, is devoted to international art naïf.
Almost reasons enough to stir from the terrace, I’d say.
To stay: should you want a masterful take on Gascony, how about your own big,
finely restored maison de maître, with landscaped gardens, a
lake, 10-acre woods, a pool, a bar and an on-site gym? It’s in
Ladevèze-Rivière, near Plaisance, west of Auch, and sleeps eight. A week
costs £1,995 with the regional specialist Gascony Secret (0844 800 1637, www.gascony-secret.com
), which also offers the even bigger and grander Château Robert at St-Sever,
south of Mont-de-Marsan. Eighteen of you may stay there as if the French
revolution had never happened, from £6,995 per week.
Noble overtones, too, at the Hotel Lous Grits, in Marsolan, between Lectoure
and Condom (00 33-5 62 28 37 10, www.hotel-lousgrits.com
; doubes from £183). It’s small, certainly, but with considerably more
feminine elegance than is usually encountered in country villages.
Great article. I have lived here for six years and you capture the region superbly. It was good to see a positive mention for foie gras. I also love Chez Simone but many don't. Bernard Bach is a great guy as well as an excellent chef. You should add Pain, Adour et Fantaisie at Grenade-sur-l'Adour.
Dick Pyle, Barran, France
I live in Condom and I have to say that if you are leaving England only to get away from the rain don't choose Gascony.
We have had the wettest year for decades, the rivers are all full and fields are waterlogged.
It should be a good year for wine though, provided we get some sun later.
frank o'file, Condom, Gascony, France