National parks are a great source of pride among the French, with millions visiting them every year for their holidays. This makes them ideal locations for anyone thinking about setting up a gite or holiday rental business, or, of course, for anyone who just loves to be out in nature. So what is a national […]
One of the many things we associate with France, along with wine, has to be cheese. With no fewer than 650,000 dairy farms throughout France, and a whopping 20 kg of cheese consumed per capita, per year, the French really do take their cheese seriously. As President Charles de Gaulle famously said in 1962, ‘How […]
Burgundy, or Bourgogne, is one of France’s great historic regions, famous for its religious heritage, canals and, of course, its wines. It is situated in central-eastern France on the main lines of communication between Paris and Lyon, and is bordered by the Loire river to the west, the Franche-Comté and Champagne areas to the east, […]
Normandy, a region of northern France divided into 5 departments, Calvados, Eure, Manche, Orne and Seine Maritime, has long been a favourite with the British mainly due to its proximity to the UK and its long and interesting history, not always amicable! Normandy gets its name from the Vikings (the Northman /Norseman ). Its area […]
Lower Normandy, or Basse Normandie, covers almost 18,000 km² of land and has a population of around 1.5 million. It has three departments: Manche, Calvados and Orne, and in fact lies west of Upper Normandy, bordering Brittany to the south-west and the Loire to the south. Normandy’s economy is heavily based on agriculture, including livestock, […]