FrenchDuck’s databank

With the 2007 Rugby World Cup kicking off in early September, it is worth knowing when and where the matches are to be held - if only so that you can avoid the additional heavy traffic for several hours around the match time. Particularly susceptible to congestion will be the Paris Peripherique and the A1 autoroute entry to the city - the Parc des Princes and Stade de France are both close to the autoroute and peripherique, and if match time is anywhere near the evening rush hour the traffic will be even more chaotic.
For more details on the Rugby World Cup CLICK HERE
For map click Read more on this + more info + photos/maps …….

Close to the Belgian border on the way to Luxembourg the town of Charleville-Mézières (08 Ardennes, Champagne-Ardenne) holds a Drum Festival (Tambours de Fete )where the town beats to the rhythm of worldwide percussions.

During three days drums echoes in the town, they are everywhere!!!
This festival is a time for festive and original events
apéri-drum is the friendly time of the festival. From 11am to 2pm on Saturday and Sunday, a giant apérif takes place on the place Ducale, in the centre of Charleville, traditional meals are also proposed by local associations.
Tempo City is the heart of the festival. A round stage located in the centre of the place Ducale, different carts and street performers.
After Beat is the night birds; a meeting point on Friday and Saturday nights from 11pm to 3am. Located under a big top in the yard of the St Remy church. 3 concerts are scheduled each evening.
Saturday from 10:30pm - Night parade
The Compagnie de la Dernière Minute and le Bagad Arduinn will play and walk in procession from the theatre to the After Beat big top. A colourful parade, fireworks, torches and drums.

For more info see www.tamboursdefete.com

The annual Salon des Vignerons Independants (independent winemakers) takes place in Lille Grand Palais - hundreds of producers from all over France offer tastings and sales at vineyard gate prices - sample, chat and learn and buy - just in time to stock up for Christmas PLUS Lille is a lively city with great restaurants and shopping - and a Vauban citadel!
See more about Independent Winemaker Wine Fairs.
For places to stay in Lille see Le Jardin d’Alix and more info on Lille

London - Lille by Eurostar in 100 minutes

Between St Emilion (33 Gironde, Aquitaine) and Bergerac (24 Dordogne, Aquitaine) there is a special garden centred on an old 18^th century farmhouse – combining both English and Italian themes –  the  Jardins du Sardy at Velines (24 Dordogne, Aquitaine).  JF reports: “We saw it advertised in the tourist office in St Emilion, and we found it well worth a visit. It’s close to the Dordogne with vineyards stretching down to the river.”

Velines is on the main Bergerac – St Emilion road (D936) a few kilometres west of Saint-Foy-la-Grande.

There is no website. but details can be found at the Bergerac Tourist Office. Gardens open daily from Easter to All Saints Day (November 1^st) from 10h to 18h

In the heart of the Cahors vineyards. home of the Malbec grape, in the département du Lot, Chateau de Rouffiac offers good wines and 4 stylish Bed & Breakfast (Chambres d’Hotes) in the midst of a 30hectare wine estate. The house and rooms are in rather grand style. Additionally they offer “Table d’Hotes” – so you can dine at the chateau too, although you can also explore the local eateries if you prefer.

The Chateau is at Duravel on the northern bank of the Lot river west of Puy l’Eveque. For more info see www.chateau-de-rouffiac.com

Agen (47 Lot-et-Garonne, Aquitaine) is home to the famous Agen Prune - the gently baked moist plums which are a key feature of SW France cuisine. The delicacy (although not that delicate) is protected as an Appellation Controllee.
Agen celebrates its Prune with a weekend festival every Autumn - taste and learn with music and dancing and the town in a festive mood. The local wine is Buzet AC - good Bordeaux style red, white and rose.
For recipe ideas try Jean Strang’s Goose Fat and Garlic: Country Recipes from Southwest France
For more info on the Grand Pruneau Show see www.grandpruneaushow.fr/

Nimes (30 Gard, Languedoc-Roussillon) celebrates the grape harvest with a 3–day festival centred around Bullfighting – Corridas, but you really do not have to get involved with the bulls to enjoy the atmosphere and other events.

For more info see www.frenchduck.com

Every first weekend in September, ever increasing numbers of people enjoy this great annual rendezvous of flea market fanaticism, bric a brac hunting, bargaining, and amateur salesmanship. The Braderie: a 48 hour festival of brocanteurs all around the city of Lille.
But be warned, this is a very popular event, so hotels are likely to be fully booked and car parking at a premium - many roads in the centre of the town will be closed.
For more info see www.mairie-lille.fr

The town of Villeneuve-sur-Lot (47 Lot-et-Garonne, Aquitaine) holds a 2–day festival to celebrate the local Prune (pruneau)  when the Prune is King! (Le Pruneau Roi) –  demonstrations of the history and transformation of the plum into prune, parades, music, clowns, and a cookery competition using prunes 23–24 Aug 07     

For more info see   Villeneuve-sur-Lot - Animations.

Nantes is best known for being the major city on the western extremities of the River Loire – but it is also built on a smaller river, the River Erdre which runs in from the north.

In September the city celebrates a 3–day “meeting on the Erdre” (Rendezvous de l’Erdre) – a very French mix of music (jazz in all its styles from New Orleans to bebop, blues to electric) – all intertwined with the City’s maritime flavour – yachts, boats, ships – lots of cultural events, demonstrations and displays – 80 free concerts across the city!

For more info see http://www.rendezvouserdre.com

Lille (59 Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais) is a big and vibrant northern French city which is well worth a visit – but it’s not somewhere I associate with peace and tranquility.

We go most years to the Independent Winemakers Fair held in the Lille Grand Palais every November (16–19 November in 2007) and stay in city centre hotels – all very convenient for the wine fair, shops, restaurants etc.

But there is another option, which offers a bit of respite from the buzz of the city centre, but without losing ease of access.

The Jardin d’Alix (Alix’s garden) Chambres d’Hote (B&B) is in Tourcoing, part of the greater Lille conurbation, North East of Lille city centre. The stylish accommodation is set “amid a large garden with mature trees and rose bushes – a little piece of countryside close to the city.” The other bonus is that the property lies within 20 minutes reach of Lille’s historic centre, thanks to the tramway which leaves from just outside!

An added bonus means that you will also be near to the quite stunning Roubaix Piscine – the Museum of Art and Industry (Musée d’Art et d’Industrie de Roubaix) housed in an Art Deco swimming pool – a conversion undertaken by the same architect who transformed an old railway station into the fabulous Musée d’Orsay in Paris. It is worth visiting for the building itself, but the museum exhibits and paintings are seriously good – see http://www.roubaix-lapiscine.com

For more on the B&B see http://www.lejardindalix.com

Orleans (45 Loiret, Centre) celebrates Europe’s last wild river, the Loire, with a meeting of French and foreign traditional riverboats. Nautical demonstrations, water shows, magical evenings, dinner-dances, Loire crafts and products village, conferences, exhibitions. This is the Loire like you’ve never seen before !

For more info see www.festivaldeloire.com

The Third edition of Le Marché des Vins de Saumur (49 Maine-et-Loire) on the Loire.
More than 6,000 visitors are expected. Tastings, auctions and a tour of the town will be the highlights of this weekend. Traditionally famous for sparkling white wines made from the Chenin Blanc grape, in recent years the red Cabernet Franc of Saumur-Champigny AC have become very fashionable.

How this wine market operates is simple and fun: on the way in, you buy a wine glass for 3€, and you can then taste all the wines and meet the producers of the different appellations: White and Red Saumur, Saumur Champigny, Cabernet de Saumur, Coteaux de Saumur, Crémant de Loire and Saumur Brut.

For more info see www.marchedesvinsdesaumur.com

Vinsobres is one of the named Côtes du Rhône Villages – entitled to include the name of the village on the label – indicating a generally higher quality from vines grown on the hillsides on the edge of the southern Rhône Valley. This festival and ceremony marks the official start of grape picking (vendanges) and includes a tasting of the best vintages from Vinsobres wines.
For more info see http://www.vinsobres.fr/

The Ministry of Culture sponsors an annual open day on the third weekend of September when over 15,000 monuments and buildings throughout France which are normally closed to the public are opened.
Such has been the success of the event which has been held in France for over 20 years, that it is now Europe-wide.
This is a rare opportunity to get a glimpse of some of the hidden gems of civil, religious and military engineering, fine arts and crafts - for full details see www.journeesdupatrimoine.culture.fr/

Fougerolles (70 Saone, Rhone-Alpes) on the edge of the Vosges mountains southwest of Alsace holds its annual Foire aux Beignets de Cerises and Kirsch (Cherry eau-de-vie) tastings.
For more info see www.frenchduck.com

Locally produced Beef and Veal, capons (la poule noire de Barbezieux), snails, beans, chestnuts, goats cheese and truffles are just a few of the specialities available in the Charente departement.

The following list of market days in the Charente departement (16, Poitou-Charentes) is accurate to the best of our knowledge, but please check with the local tourist office before making a journey. Some markets may not operate every week and others will only run in the summer months.

Aigre - Thursday, Saturday, Sunday
Angouleme - every day
Aubeterre-sur-Dronne - Sunday
Barbezieux-St-Hilaire - Tuesday, Friday
Blanzac-Porcheresse - Saturday
Brossac - Saturday
Chabanais - Thursday
Chalais - Monday
Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure - Wednesday, Saturday
Chateauneuf-sur-Charente - Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
Cognac - every day
Confolens - Wednesday, Saturday
Hiersac - Sunday
Jarnac - Tuesday - Sunday
La Couronne - Tuesday pm, Saturday
La Rochefoucauld - Wednesday, Saturday
Mansle - Tuesday, Friday
Montbron - Tuesday, Friday, Saturday
Montemboeuf - Thursday
Montignac-Charente - Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday
Montmoreau - Wednesday, Saturday
Rouillac - Wednesday, Saturday
Ruelle - Thursday, Sunday
Ruffec - Wednesday, Friday, Saturday
Segonzac - Sunday
St-Claud - Friday
Villebois-Lavalette - Saturday

For more info see http://www.visitcharente.com

Between Montauban and Toulouse and Toulouse (82 Tarn et Garonne, Midi-Pyrenees) the town of Fronton celebrates a weekend of scents and flavours including the local wines from Fronton AC (previously known as the Côtes du Frontonnais). A feast for the senses (lots of colour, lots of music and lots of food and wine to delight the palate).

The wines of Fronton are distinctive in their use of the Negrette grape, which can produce good red and excellent rosé wines, such as those from Chateau Bellevue la Foret and Chateau Bouissel – well worth a little detour off the A20 or A62 autoroutes

High in the Pyrenees southwest of Toulouse, the town of Bagneres de Luchon celebrates its annual Flower Festival bringing more colour to this already attractive town surrounded by mountains.

For more info see www.luchon.com

Festival to celebrate the connection between windmills and bread (Fete du Four au Moulin) including a demonstration of milling the flour in the traditional manner (wind permitting!) - plus a Marché de Terroir (farmers market) - lots of different breads to try, music,dancing in this village also famous for its Pink Garlic (Ail Rose) festival earlier in the summer. Gaillac is the local wine.
For more info see http://ot.lautrec.free.fr