Welcome to France For Families’ 17th newsletter. Our last issue in the summer bemoaned the somewhat erratic weather patterns prevalent over much of the UK. We hope you managed to find some sun and enjoy a summer break – in France of course!! A pleasant September/October (in SE England at least) has helped delay the inevitable move towards Autumn. However, maybe you are now thinking of some forward holiday planning – perhaps a day trip, a weekend in Paris, or even skiing at Christmas. Wherever you head you will find lots of useful advice within the France For Families pages.
I’m
sure that you, like us, are bemoaning the switching on of the Christmas
lights in local towns and villages! But it’s not too early to start
thinking about a day trip (or longer) to a French market with the
earliest ones starting in just under 3 weeks time! Each year Christmas
markets seem to become more and more popular, particularly as they are
relatively easy to get to. Whether you take your own car on the
ferry or travel on
Eurotunnel, go on
Eurostar or even
fly the markets are very do-able for a weekend, even those in the
south of the country, and offer a truly magical element to Christmas.
Pictured here is the small Christmas market in the old town at Boulogne
– we had an enchanting day trip there and enjoyed the side stalls, the
musical entertainment and especially the ice carvings!
Here is a list (which is not exhaustive) of the main Christmas markets:
Lille
– 21st Nov – 24th Dec.
Strasbourg
– 24th Nov – 31st Dec.
Colmar
– 24th Nov – 31st Dec (5 main markets including
one for children).
Rheims
– 23rd Nov – 27th Dec.
Aix-en-Provence
– throughout Dec with 50 stalls along the famous Cours Mirabeau.
Lyon
– 1st – 25th Dec.
Toulouse
– 9th – 29th Dec.
Also don’t forget that Amiens, St Quentin, Arras, and Rouen (all in northern France) have markets throughout December.
Reviewing your advertising plans for the next season?
France For Families can help get you more visibility. We offer free links from our gite maps (see an example of our Brittany section here), as well as featured gite adverts with links to your website for as little as £20 per annum. If you need maximum exposure to kick start bookings then we can offer advertising space on our home page, as well as advertising for B and Bs, websites, travel companies etc..
Why use France For Families? Well the facts speak for themselves: Searches with Google almost always return France For Families gite pages in the top few places in their rankings. In 2006 we had more than 35,000 visitors to our gite’s pages, with 505,000 unique visits to the site in total in the year. In 2007 we’ve already received over 550,000 unique site visits by the end of October. And many of our advertisers find that we provide the highest rates of enquiry from any gite portal they advertise with. Feedback from advertisers includes comments such as:
- Just thought you would like to know you are now firmly in our no 1 spot for referrals. 19 click throughs today from 10 IP addresses. Next is our own site from the search engines then....
- Since May this year we advertise on your site. We have a good number of visits on our website thanks to France for Families. 2007 was so far a good year and we already received quite some bookings for 2008.
- We’re already fully booked for July/August and have a number of bookings for June/September.
Want to know more? Please contact us on enquiries@france4families.com for further information.
For
many years the number of villages within
Les Plus Beaux Villages
scheme remained static at 149, but recently there have been 2 additions,
namely La Roque-sur-Cèze in the Gard region and Saint Amand-de-Coly in
the Dordogne.
La Roque-sur-Cèze (pictured left) is an incredibly pretty village perché’ situated as it is high above the Cèze river. It remains totally unspoilt. A wander around (quite steep climbs in places) reveals little squares and hidden alleyways and a couple of cafés to quench your thirst in. Car parking is kept away from the village and gives easy access on foot to either the village itself or the very impressive Cascades du Sautadet along the river.
Saint Amand-de Coly cannot be missed – quite literally! This tiny village nestled among lush, green rolling hills is totally dominated by its fortified12th-13th century abbey church. There is not much else to see in a village that remains locked in a time warp of buildings built in Sarlat stone and topped with tiles in the typical lauze style of the region.
Don’t forget that it pays to book your 2008 crossing to France as early as possible so as to get the best deals. Eurotunnel for example operates like a low cost airline – the earlier you book the better the price. At the moment the cheapest return fare is a non cancellable ticket for £98.
Eurostar starts its new service from St. Pancras International Station in London on 14th November 2007. This will replace all Eurostar services from Waterloo. The new line through to the Channel Tunnel will cut the length of Eurostar journeys to France. London to Paris will be 2 hours 15 mins (instead of 2 hours 35 mins) and London to Lille will be 1 hour 20 mins (instead of 1 hour 40 mins).
Advance notice: a new airport called Brive-Souillac is due to open in 2008, which could greatly benefit holidaymakers and home owners in the Dordogne/Limousin/Corrèze areas. More details will be posted as they become available.
Vélib – a new bike service in Paris
A new bike hire scheme has been started in Paris which tourists to the capital may find useful as an alternative way of seeing the city. It is pretty ambitious and is in fact the largest scheme of its kind within Europe. The concept is straightforward - around Paris (and growing all the time) are hundreds of bike stations or in local jargon – Vélib stations. The word comes from vélo (bike) and liberté (freedom). The idea is that you ‘hire’ a bike from one station and then either return it to the same point or any other station around the city. You have 30 minutes free use every time you hire a bike, but any minutes over and above this are chargeable. Similar schemes in other cities failed because bikes got stolen, lost or were never returned. Here in Paris the scheme has been well thought out so to use the system you need a bank card from which a deposit of €150 is taken and if the bike is not returned then you will be billed accordingly. There is a €1 daily charge for all users and rates after the first 30 free mins are €1 for 1 hour, €3 for 90 mins and €7 for 2 hours.
The France Show
Those among you who have followed the France For Families’ newsletters over the years will note that the annual event held at Olympia every January and known as ‘Vive La France’ has been renamed ‘The France Show’. The aim of the show remains unchanged – simply visit if you love all things French and would like a great day out seeing what France has to offer the discerning visitor. The dates for your diary are 18th - 20th January 2008.
On behalf of us here at France For Families – take care!