Fields of flavour (award-winning article)
For National Geographic Traveller Food magazine, I was delighted to explore the Massif Central and show how its cheese-making traditions are so intrinsic to the region’s heritage, history and landscape. The article won the best European feature category in the Inspire Media Awards 2025 and remains one of my favourite-ever articles to research and write. […]
Eco-friendly Christmas in Strasbourg
Strasbourg is one of France’s most eco-friendly cities, but the efforts don’t stop with the arrival of the Christmas lights. The 2022 Marché de Noel in Strasbourg saw substantial efforts to make it as environmentally friendly as possible. Reporting for The Guardian, I interviewed key people in the city about those efforts and soaked up […]
Postcard from…Licques turkey festival
For the Financial Times, a ‘Postcard from the Licques turkey festival’. This pre-Christmas festival in the tiny town of Licques half an hour from Calais is a sight to behold. It starts in the main square where a giant cauldron of turkey broth was steaming over a blazing fire pit and was being ladled out to […]
Inside guide: Nîmes
Boasting some of Europe’s best preserved Roman monuments, the lively city of Nîmes hasn’t earned its nickname as the ‘French Rome’ for nothing. And with an enchanting old town, excellent restaurants and shopping, it easily rivals other, better-known destinations in the south of France – or indeed Italy – for a short break. It has […]
Rennes and Nantes
Wanderlust magazine has a neat little feature called Double Bill, where they cover two different destinations as a suggestion for a two-centre trip. And for those heading to west France, you can’t beat both Rennes and Nantes. Set in the north-west of France, the cities of Rennes and Nantes are fiercely proud of their Breton […]
New book… coming in 2024!
Lockdowns aren’t much fun, but they do concentrate your mind on what you want from your career and (to paraphrase The Spice Girls) what you really, really want. And I wanted to write about all the fascinating stories behind France’s regional foods, to tell readers where to find them, how eat them (or cook them) […]
Angers: the best summer city break
Ahhh, pre-pandemic travel – we didn’t know how good we had it, did we? That said, Angers is a great place for post-pandemic travel too. It’s really outdoorsy, excellent for exploring on bike and by boat, and there’s a fantastic riverside bar scene. They’re called ‘guinguettes’ and it was fun to explore so many for […]
The best autumn breaks in France
With travel picking up in autumn 2021, The Guardian asked me to select 20 ideas for autumn in France. It was a pleasure to tap into my many great experiences of autumn in France, as well as some of my favourite places to stay. Read them here While this was written for 2021, they’re not […]
Best affordable places to stay in France
It’s rare to be able to delve into your heart and pull out all your favourite places for one article, but this feature for The Guardian allowed me to do just that. And even though I’m lucky enough to have stayed in some pretty luxurious places, these easily rival them for comfort and friendliness of […]
Chestnut festival in Collobrières, Provence
The chestnut festival in Collobrières is one of the most enchanting festivals I’ve ever been to in France and so I was delighted to write about it for The Guardian in September 2021. Read the article here While chi-chi Saint-Tropez is just an hour away, much of the Var is laid-back, leafy and remote. Collobrières […]