Cassoulet

Ingredients 500g salted pork belly

65g duck fat, or goose fat

1 head Garlic , broken into cloves, peeled and sliced

1 large onion, chopped

1kg dried white haricot beans, soaked overnight

1 large bouquet garni, made from leek, celery, thyme sprigs, bay leaves and parsley stalks

6 good-quality Toulouse sausages

4 legs duck confit, cut into 2 at the joint

Method :

1. Cut the piece of belly pork lengthways into 3 thick slices, then cut each piece across into two. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4.
2. Heat 50g of the duck fat in a 6-litre flameproof casserole dish. Add the garlic and onion and fry gently until soft but not browned. Add the beans and the pieces of salted belly pork cover with 1.75 litres water and push in the bouquet garni. Bring to the boil, skimming off any scum as it rises to the surface, then cover, transfer to the oven and bake for 1 hour or until the beans are just tender - this will depend on the age of your beans.
3. Heat the remaining duck fat in a frying pan and brown the sausages all over. Lift them onto a board and slice each one sharply on the diagonal into 3 pieces.
4. Remove the cassoulet from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 220C/gas 7. Add the sausages and the pieces of duck confit to the casserole and push them down well into the beans. Return the casserole to the oven and bake uncovered for a further 45 minutes or until the liquid has reduced and the cassoulet is covered in a dark golden crust. Serve straight from the pot at the table.

La Vie Francaise

To enjoy the true French lifestyle you have to experience a meal en famille. It seems that all French housewives are superb cooks. At any rate, our friends in Pereille d’en Haut in the Midi-Pyrénées region certainly come into that category.

Marcel and Pierette often invite us into their home for a meal. This usually takes about 5 hours! We start with an aperitif, sitting round a table in the kitchen so that Pierette can enjoy our company while she makes her finishing touches. Marcel always has a Ricard and we settle for vermouth.

We move into the dining room for the first course – usually something like homemade mushroom pate or salade de gesier (giblets). Marcel dispenses a light wine such as Sancerre. When the bottle is empty the first course is cleared away and we are brought a dish of vegetables, or maybe a green salad. Marcel produces another bottle of white wine.

When that is finished it is time for the main course. This is filet steak, cooked by Marcel on a barbecue outside. So he trots off to cook the steaks and returns bearing a plate of steaks cooked to perfection and deliciously pink inside, Pierette brings in a bowl of pommes de terre sauté and Marcel opens the red wine.

By the time this is finished we are all beginning to look a bit flushed. Marcel talks nineteen to the dozen in French and we are all struggling to understand. It seems to be about French politics. Pierette looks long suffering – she has obviously heard it all before.

Now comes the cheese course, a mouthwatering selection. But where are the biscuits? Richard is determined to stick to his English ways and wants biscuits but has to make do with a slice of baguette. The rest of us eat our cheese on its own, with a knife and fork. More wine is offered, but Pierette and I decline. The men broach another bottle of red.

We all sink back in our chairs, replete. But it’s not over yet - we still have to sample Pierette’s pièce de résistance, a special dessert of profiteroles accompanied by a sparkling wine. Richard and I stagger home 5 hours later – fortunately we only live at the end of the drive.

The Dordogne

When it comes to beautiful countryside, France has a lot to offer. If you drive to the Cote d’Azur following the excellent French Auto route you will get there more quickly, (and expensively!) but you will miss out on France’s many delights – not least French cooking. Drive more slowly; follow the Route Nationale instead; tarry along the way to sample the French way of life. Spend a few nights at small 2 star French hotels which often have a superb family-run restaurant worthy of 5 stars. Spend the money you would have spent on the road tolls on finding the real French experience. If you intend to buy property in France you will need to know what makes the French tick. Do try to learn the language – so important, even though many French speak perfect English.

If you stop in the Dordogne area you may well not bother to go any further. Many English have bought properties there and it has everything to recommend it – scenery, chateaux, history, vineyards, the list is long.

The Dordogne is located in South-West France, most of it in the Aquitaine basin, with the north-east bordering the Massif Central. It is the third largest department in France. Main towns are Périgueux, Bergerac, Sarlat, Nontron, Terrason, Ribérac.

There are over 1000 chateaux and manor houses dispersed for the most part along the river valleys of the Dordogne, Vézère, Isle and Dronne, built between the 16th century and the French revolution. Bastides (fortified towns) on the other hand were built in the 13th and 14th centuries and are located in the south-west of the department bearing witness to the enmity between the King of England the the Comte de Toulouse. Bastides can easily be recognised by their geometrical street plan radiating from the market place. For example Monpazier, the oldest Bastide in Europe.

Perigord is the old name for the Dordogne. The area around Bergerac, the capital of the vine country, is often referred to as ‘purple Perigord’ because of the purple vines at the end of summer.

In the north of the department is ‘green Perigord’ where forest, meadows, streams and lakes make this a green and peaceful countryside. Main towns in this area are Nontron with its ramparts and old streets and Brantôme with a Benedictine abbey

Black Perigord is in the south-west of the department. This is Prehistory and Chateau country, set in sumptuous countryside and called black because of the chestnut coppices and everlasting leaves of the holm-oak forming a black cover in winter. Here you will find Sarlat, a town of history and art, Les Eyzies for Prehistory and Montignac for the famous caves of Lascaux.

In the centre of the department is ‘white Perigord’ where hills, plateaux and forests spread out around Perigueux and are irrigated by the Isle and the Auvézère rivers. White Perigord owes its name to the horizons of white rock. Ploughed soil is pale in colour, and areas of white chalk can be seen. Perigueux is the capital of the Dordogne. In the middle ages it was an important stage on the long road to St. James of Compostella. Pilgrims came to pray at Saint Front Cathedral, a magnificent example of Romanesque-Byzantine art.

France's Leaseback Scheme

An excellent long term investment with little risk involved?

About 35,000 Britons bought property in France last year but there is plenty of room for more.

The buy-to-let market is opening up for new build developments with the option of leaseback schemes and the chance to reclaim the 19.6% VAT.
The Leaseback System is a scheme unique to France which enables you to afford your dream home and to cover a lot or all of the mortgage repayments. You receive a guaranteed rental income, averaging between 3 to 6%, from a large holiday company, who will rent out your property for 9 years, sometimes more.

At the end of the agreed period, you get your property back, good as new, having received 9 years of rent, and with 9 years capital appreciation. The other main advantage of this scheme is that when you originally buy your property, you don't have to pay VAT, which represents a 19.6% saving.

Each apartment or villa bought this way allows the buyer certain weeks of the year for their personal use. This sounds like an excellent long term investment with little risk involved.

From sunshine to skiing, from countryside to culture, France has it all. To enjoy the good things of life is what France is all about. So where do we begin? We'll begin with the sunshine!

The Côte d’Azur – Azure Coast – is very aptly named. Anyone who has visited the area will vouch for this. To wake each morning to the dazzling blue of the Mediterranean is a truly heavenly experience. From Marseilles to Monaco, the French Riviera, once monopolised by the rich and famous now welcomes just about anyone. There are camp sites, palatial hotels, apartment blocks, or luxury villas.

Wander the streets of such colourful towns as Antibes with its narrow streets and squares within 17th century ramparts and its picturesque port full of sleek yachts. Or nearby, the more fashionable and sophisticated Cannes, host to the glitterati, where the elegant tree-lined boulevard curves gently past cafés, boutiques and glamorous hotels. Or St Tropez made famous by the hedonistic lifestyle of Brigitte Bardot or Nice for its famous market of exotic fruit and flowers.

Take a trip inland to the sleepy medieval villages of Provence, some perched perilously on hillsides of olive trees and vines as described so evocatively by Peter Mayle in his books. The scent of lavender, thyme and rosemary and the chirping of crickets are simple pleasures too good to be missed.