The new airport at Brive-la-Gaillarde opens for its first flight on Tuesday 15 June.  Airline City Jet will operate the service between Brive and London City Airport. Introductory rates from 59€ for a one way ticket. Why not take  this opportunity to explore this beautiful region with its many lakes, rivers, gentle rolling  hills, wooded mountains and well known for  its wealth of good value property.

The exciting Festival de Cannes started on Monday filling Cannes with glamorous people. If you are lucky you will spot your favourite star strolling along the Croisette. Why not book your flight and enjoy a few days away on the beautiful Cote d’Azur.

Breaking news: Air France is planning to launch a range of low-cost domestic flights linking French cities, taking on Easyjet and Ryanair as they are both already well-established in the French domestic flights market.

For the fourth year running, France comes first in the  annual Quality of Life Index,  scoring high marks across the board. Its health care and infrastrucure were highly rated but obviously its lifestyle and quality of life is France main appeal: good food and wine, lazy lunches, great fashion, superb architecture and varied landscapes offer something for everyone. Vive la France

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to a friend’s holiday home in the Pas de Calais in a village called Dompierre near to Hesdin. We left London at 2pm and drove to Folkestone to take the tunnel. By 6pm we were in the supermarket stocking up on delicious French cheeses, foie gras, bread, desserts and of course plenty of wine.

The house was delightful and immediately we arrived we called on our old girl guide skills and got a roaring fire going in the living room. The next day we explored the area and had a fabulous lunch in the village of Auxi le chateau in a restaurant called Canard Gourmand, which is, a small typically French family restaurant specialising in regional dishes. We ate well and washed down our lunch with a really delicious bottle of wine. After lunch we carried on to the town of Hesdin where we mooched about looking in shop windows and the delicious pastries. That evening we were back to the house with some veal chops and wild mushrooms we had bought – another delicious feast.

It was such a lovely break and really took no time to get there but got us away from the stress of London into the beautiful peaceful country life in France.

We managed to take hardly any luggage with us and filled the boot of the car with our supermarket purchases. The wines were excellent value and not one bottle was over €5.

I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and would highly recommend a visit to the area. . . . I shall most definitely be going again!

I spent a lovely weekend in Le Touquet. Went to the market there… Le Touquet market is wonderful with a very large variety of stalls: clothing, baskets, shoes are on offer but also beautiful vegetables, fruits, sea food, fish and cider… you will not go hungry nor thirsty for that matter. Not to be missed if you are in the area.

We went to a restaurant in Nice which we booked through Top Table, the offer was for a 3 course meal from a set menu which had three choices for each of the three courses, plus a half a bottle of wine per person, which was really good wine,  plus a kir royale and coffee or tea – so that there was absolutely nothing more to pay, service is included in France.   The restaurant was really cosy inside and there was an outside covered pavement terrace too.    The price for all this was only 25 Euros per person – so 50 euros in total for two for lunch or dinner.   All four of us thought the food was excellent and the service very friendly.  The restaurant is well situated in Nice near to the flower market.   I cant recommend it highly enough and we will go back, even without the special offer.

Although the exchange rate in the last few weeks has not been great for sterling, if you are looking to buy in France it is an extremely good time to buy.  Sterling is now slightly improving and over the minimum of 3 months that it will take you to look and find and complete on a purchase in France, it is more than likely that the exchange rate will have its ups and downs so that if you keep a careful watch on it you will be able to purchase your currency at the best rate during that time.   Currency companies offer a service so that you can ask them to keep you informed of the exchange rate and will advise as to when they think the rate is best, using their professional knowledge of the markets.   You can also buy forward, ie fix an exchange rate so that you know exactly now much you will have at some future date – it is really worth having a discussiong with us or direct to a currency company to know your options at this time as prices are still lower than last year in France and particularly at this time of year, coming up to Christmas, we always find vendors a little more negotiable on their properties as many of them would really like to sell before the New Year so that they can then get on with their lives.    As the market doesnt really pick up to any great extent until March, vendors at present are not that hopeful of selling quickly so that they often accept offers that they wouldnt have accepted earlier in the year rather than wait perhaps six months for a better market – so take the opportunity of going to have a look – flights and hotels are cheaper and at the very least you will have a lovely few days enjoying the area, the food and the better weather.

The weather throughout September in the Southen part of France has been amazing, sunny, warm and just like summer.  With flights at rock bottom prices and hotels offering lower rates it is an ideal time to visit the areas you are thinking of buying in to see what is available.  The  holiday rental season for properties is normally May to October,  6 months as well as Easter, Chrismas and the occasional weeks in February and November, so that if you would love to buy but dont have enough time to use the property, now could be the time to buy and then let the property when you cant use it.   The rentals will pay off your mortgage and expenses on the property depending on how long you dont need to use it.  In this way you can get other people to ‘buy ‘ your property for you, ie pay your mortgage, so that it might be all paid off by the time you are ready and able to use it for longer periods.  With prices lower than last year it is well worth making a trip to view so give us a call and we will arrange viewings for you with our agents with no obligation to buy.

The French property show last week was well attended and we at Latitudes found that people were really fed up of waiting to see what happens and had decided that they were ready to take things further and go and look in France to see what they can find for their budget – even if, in some cases they had reduced it.   Prices are bound to rise from here on in with France being least affected by recession and mortgages continuing to be available.   The exhibition provides potential buyers with all the information they need regarding how to buy, where to buy, the legal system, the French market, how to get work done etc – all the facts are provided by the many stand holders so that it makes a worthwhile visit.  For those who missed it, there will be another one coming up at Earls Court in January so hope to see you there to help and advise you.    However if you are not able to attend please dont hesitate to give us a call and we will be happy to give you all the information you require and do some research for you to find the ideal property if we dont already have some suitable properties to send to you.   Our service is free as we work in association with French agencies and share the standard commission which is included in the listed price, so that you pay exactly the same as you will do if you go direct to an agency in France.