Over the summer, the house next to ours in Brittany is used for holiday lets. With each ‘new’ neighbour, we usually exchange ‘hellos’ when they arrive and then, if they ask, we give advice on local matters such as the names of good restaurants or the day of the local market; usually, however, that is…

Around five years ago we started to make arrangements to help me better see the fine details on our TV screen. Last week, the final part of those arrangements was completed when the ugly cardboard ‘box’ that had been used to support a new television ‘temporarily’, was finally replaced by a made-to-measure box made of…

This blog was inspired by, in fact is a continuation of, a tea-party chat in Tréguennec. I had been invited by Annie, a friend and neighbour, to meet four of her close friends  who share a particular interest- all read and discuss the French versions of my blogs! It is rare for me to spend…

This blog is about a surreal moment on the London-to-Paris Eurostar. Following a troubling observation coupled with some careful negotiation, it was me, not the train manager, who made one of the announcements over the train’s public address system. I don’t know how many of the 900 or so passengers heard what I said or…

This is the story of an ‘Australian’ family’s courageous experiment that worked - and worked wonderfully well. Ten months ago I wrote a blog about the arrival in Tréguennec of Tom (a consultant psychiatrist) and his partner Sian (a lawyer) who decided they would ‘drop’ everything in Australia and spend ten months in France with…

This blog is about two of my most constant companions; more precisely, it tells of my shoulder bags without which I rarely leave home. Those I now use are the fifth generation of a series that started almost thirty years ago. My first, then referred to as a  ‘man bag’ - a term I dislike…

This story began in the dining room of a country house near Antwerp. There, in 1566, the owner, Niclaes Jonghelinck, displayed his set of six, wonderfully detailed landscapes which, amongst other things also illustrated the ‘hard work of the peasants, the dignity of their labour and the central role of nature in their lives and…

This story started over thirty years ago. Jeff, the brother of one of Rohan’s oldest childhood friends - phoned us to ask a favour. We had a large house in London and he wanted to store some antique pottery with us. His story was complicated. He had just come over from Chile - he lives…

There is little that pleases my mind more than the discovery of something new. It could be a new idea, a new insight, a new solution, a new joke or, in keeping with more common traditions, something of beauty newly observed. And if, by chance, the discovery touches on my own endeavours or of those…

In France and England, and probably everywhere else, whichever china is used for everyday meals, tradition dictates that on special occasions the table is set with the household’s best set. Not only does such an arrangement tell guests that for them the meal is to be a special occasion with a menu to match, it…