aspects de la vie française

This collection of 20 travel essays takes readers on a tour of France, often visiting off-the-beaten-track places, and always with the author's idiosyncratic take on things.

This is as much for the armchair traveller as for the active visitor who wants to avoid the well-trodden tourist trail and get closer to the uniqueness of this remarkable country. If they incite you to visit for yourself, so much the better.

The areas covered are Tarn, Toulouse and Hautes-Pyrénées in Midi-Pyrénées; Carnac, Morbihan and Finistère in Brittany; Aude and Hérault in Languedoc-Roussillon; Picardy; Cantal in the Auvergne; Charente Maritime in Poitou-Charentes; Pyrénées-Orientales; Vendée, Sarthe and Loire Atlantique in Pays de la Loire; Corrère and Haute Vienne in Limousin; Aube-en-Champagne; Vaucluse/Provence, and La Brenne (Centre).

There is no order to the places visited, just a random tour that reflects the author's approach to writing about France. Serendipity is often the best guide; it gets you into some awkward places, but provides experiences that would otherwise be missed.

All the essays were previously published in Living France magazine. That on Albi won the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild's Award for Excellence in the category for 'Words and Pictures'. The long feature on Aube-en-Champagne saw the author elected as a Chevalier de la Commanderie de Saulte-Buchon, which he now uses as a pathetic excuse to drink champagne at every opportunity.

The book is available from Amazon.

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