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From The Sunday Times

September 7, 2008

The French version of a boot camp

Fine food, fine wines and only the slightest bit of accidental exercise at a fitness retreat near Toulouse

A woman liftiung weights while a man lifts bottles of wine

Ian Belcher

It’s a banquet fit for a king - or, rather, a petit Monsieur le Président and his slinky supermodel wife. I’ve polished off the foie gras, devoured a fillet of pork and tucked into an elegy-inducing organic salmon wonton.

A rich Château Lamartine 2002 has lubricated a trilogy of fine cheeses, and I’m about to plunge into a heavenly fluff of strawberry gateau. It would be a memorable meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant, but, given my location, it’s frankly astonishing.

I’m at France’s latest fitness boot camp. That’s right, a fitness boot camp. Occupying an 11th-century mansion in Lauzerte, a hilltop cluster of sun-bleached streets an hour north of Toulouse, Camp Biche gives the traditional formula of rigorous exercise and calorie deprivation a five-star French polish.

Instead of getting barked commands from a granite-jawed sergeantmajor type, we’re politely exhorted to work on our abdominals, posture and aerobic stamina through exercise classes and heartbreakingly scenic hikes. Our closest brush with military discipline involves food: random grazing is out, regular gourmet meals are in. Oh, all right, if we have to.

“I’m simply giving guests a taste of the local lifestyle,” says Libby Pratt, who runs Camp Biche and is a trim, toned example of its philosophy.

“The French - the skinniest people in the western world - eat three times a day and regard it as uncouth to snack between meals or when standing. They are hungry when they sit down at the table, take smaller portions and are more active. It’s not a complex equation.

“Diets don’t work long-term. You have to exercise. Why cut out food? Along with sex, it’s one of the pleasures in life. This week shows you don’t need to suffer to get fit. It can be fun.”

Camp Biche’s track record sounds pretty tasty. Men usually lose half a stone, Libby claims, while women drop about four pounds. “But forget weight loss,” she stresses.

“The proof of the pudding is how your clothes feel. If I get two inches off your waist and an inch and a half off each thigh, that’s something in a week.”

It certainly is, particularly if you get to scoff top-notch Gallic cuisine along the way. Hell, this may just be the holy grail of fitness holidays.

It’s why, before you can say lentil velouté with dried canard, I find myself in the mansion’s beamed studio for 7am “abdominals” - the week’s first workout. I’m in for a shock. We manage a startling 350 stomach crunches and core-tightening exercises. Isn’t that what supermodels do?

A generous breakfast of homemade sheep’s yoghurt, granola, fruit and abdominal spasms, then it’s time for the first hike. Two guides shepherd three guests - Camp Biche takes a maximum of five people - so we can walk the 10 miles from Montcuq to Lauzerte at our own pace.