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Marie Antoinette Estate and Queen’s Hamlet, Versailles – A Visitor’s Guide

Marie Antoinette Estate and Queen's Hamlet at Versailles

Marie Antoinette is the only queen who imposed her personal tastes on Versailles and the Trianon Estate, which her husband Louis XVI gave to her in 1774. She escaped the rigours of court etiquette in her private Petite Trianon and its surrounding gardens, theatre and in her own fairytale hamlet, where no one could enter without her personal invitation.

Wishing for a simpler life away from the pomp and political turmoil of the times she escaped to the Trianon Estate, which while only a thirty minute or so walk away from the palace, was worlds away in terms of appearance and ambiance. This Estate is truly my favourite area of Versailles and is always much less populated by the massive crowds that visit Chateau Versailles. Sometimes you have the paths around the gardens almost to yourself, and it doesn't take much imagination to understand why the young queen loved her Estate so much.

Josselin – 5 Top Things to See and Do

Josselin is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France and is classified as a Petite Cité de Caractère (small town of character). The town is absolutely charming with a huge stone walled château, half timbered buildings, pretty river with boats to hire and great cafes and boutiques to explore. Josselin welcomes thousands of visitors every year and it’s easy to see why.

Exploring Josselin on a warm summer’s day with friends is one of my happy memories and in this post I’ll share what I think are the top 5 things to do and see in Josselin and why this town qualifies as a Petite Cité de Caractère of Brittany. I loved Château de Josselin, the Musée de Poupées (museum of dolls), walking along the river and eating lunch in the town square.

Marche Saint-Ouen (les Puces), Paris – The Largest Antique Market in the World

Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen or Les Puces, Paris

Antiques and vintage your thing? Then you’ll love Marché aux Puces de Saint-Ouen, or Les Puces de Saint-Ouen. This huge market, which the Parisians simply call Les Puces is the collection of a numerous smaller markets made of many stallholders. If you hear the market referred to as les Puces de Clignancourt by the locals, that's because they are referring to the Métro stop and périphérique entrance/exit here. The first time I went I really only scratched the surface of what was available, but my subsequent visits have made up for that and I have spent many happy hours finding items for my French house.

Fête des Voisins or Neighbours Day

Fête des Voisins or Neighbour’s Day - A French Tradition

How well do you know your neighbours? Maybe not as well as you would like? Possibly you leave early each morning and don't return till later in the dark? Then let's take a leaf out of the traditional celebration calendar of the French and celebrate Fête des Voisins. This annual festival is a great chance to spend time with your neighbours and get to really know the people that live around you.

Fête des Voisins, literally means neighbour’s day and is celebrated on the last Friday of May each year. The idea was created in France and is now observed around the world.

Essential Elements of French Country Cottage Style Decorating

Decorating your home in a French country cottage style is very popular and while there are essential elements to achieving this style there is also plenty of scope to customise and personalise your home in the look of a French country cottage style.

French Country Cottage Style Decorating is Easy

Before we look at the essential elements of this style, let’s consider what the mountain chalets of Alsace, country homes of Normandy, coastal apartments of Cote d’Azur and family chateaux throughout France all have in common?

Well, they’re all someone’s home where they live, love, entertain and maybe work from, just the same as your home and mine. We fill our homes with the necessary, the precious and the sentimental to create our very own living space. Creating a home, even if following a particular style, should always be about what feels you with joy and works for your family’s needs. (Read more about my home in France)

Julie Child in Paris – Following in the Footsteps of America’s French Chef

Julia Child in Paris

Want to follow in the footsteps of the famous American French Chef Julia Child? Well, when you spend a lot of time in Paris you will undoubtably visit many of the places that Julia also frequented during her life in Paris.

Julia Child has been described as America's French chef and is famous for her cooking, her books and as host of her acclaimed television show, The French Chef. Let's go find Julia Child's Paris together.

“A party without cake is just a meeting.” - Julia Child

The Day I Became A True French Villager

What makes you a feel like a local or a real citizen of your town, village or suburb? For me I felt like a tourist in our second home in France, rather than a real homeowner and local, for nearly five years and it was the smallest event that suddenly made me feel like I belonged.

The Day I Became A True French Villager

Being an expat can fill your daily life with wonder and amazement and also consternation as you try and figure out how everything works around you in your foreign environment or new country.

For some people fitting in seamlessly and appearing to have always belonged to their new life looks easy and for others it takes time and the inevitable faux pas and awkward moments before a sense of belonging is enjoyed. The aha moment of belonging caught me unaware and it was the simplest of things that caused it.

Best Small Group Tours of Brittany

"There aren’t many guided tours of Brittany, so when one comes along that’s absolutely brilliantly put together, run by a most charming host and takes in the very best of Brittany and just over the border Normandy – we’re excited!"

Best Small Group Tour of Brittany

That's what Janine Marsh of The Good Life France had to say about my Brittany Tours, calling them the best guided tour of Brittany, and I agree that Brittany is best explored in small groups where you are guided to the most charming towns, picture perfect beaches and best natural wonders along the French northwest coast. [Photo above is of Tregestal, Brittany where we take a coastal walk among the boulders]

« Previous Page

Marie Antoinette Estate and Queen’s Hamlet, Versailles – A Visitor’s Guide

Marie Antoinette Estate and Queen's Hamlet at Versailles

Josselin – 5 Top Things to See and Do

Marche Saint-Ouen (les Puces), Paris – The Largest Antique Market in the World

Fête des Voisins or Neighbours Day

Fête des Voisins or Neighbour’s Day - A French Tradition

Essential Elements of French Country Cottage Style Decorating

French Country Cottage Style Decorating is Easy

Julie Child in Paris – Following in the Footsteps of America’s French Chef

Julia Child in Paris

The Day I Became A True French Villager

The Day I Became A True French Villager

Best Small Group Tours of Brittany

Best Small Group Tour of Brittany

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