Enjoy some French whimsy

Some think of Slava Polunin as a modern-day Mad Hatter. Others see him as an avant-garde performance artist, or even the world’s supreme clown. So what is a man who grew up in the Soviet Union, doing here on the Marne River in France?

Influenced by master-mime Charlie Chaplin as a child, he graduated from the Leningrad Institute for Soviet Culture and became a clown in the early 80s. His first gig was with a mime parade in St. Petersburg, where he joined more than 800 mime artists from the Soviet Union. This sort of public entertainment was unheard of at that time of strict Communist control of all artistic events. Although it parodied Communist restrictions on artistic events, there were no specific rules about mimes.

It also helped that he was able to make the Soviet leader's wife laugh!

His clowning antics took him far from circuses - to Broadway where he won the Lawrence Olivier Award in 1998 for his highly successful tour, Snowshow.

Now happily living in France, Slava has turned his love of fun into something that the public may also enjoy. Since 2010, Slava and his family and colleagues may be found at his Dali-meets-Disney wonderland.

Visit, and you will be entranced by five kaleidoscopic gardens, book trees, walls to walk through, flower beds to sleep in, a giant egg house for…chickens, a river that flows backwards, galaxies and giants living in trees, keys to nowhere, fairy tale bedrooms, a gypsy caravan paradise, a capsized ship café, floating singing moons, horses with pink wings and a temple brought from Korea by Buddhist monks. And more....

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Hike the Pyrenées

Pyrenées Tours' founder, Patrick Arrieula, was born in south-west France in a little village at the foot of the French Pyrenées in the Béarn region near the Spanish and Basque borders.

Since 1996 he and his wife Robbie have escorted unique tours in the Pyrenees Atlantic region of south-west France during spring and autumn, sharing their passion for this beautiful part of France. All tours are based in the country, giving you the rare opportunity to meet the locals, taste the regional produce, admire the beautiful landscapes, and experience the culture.

The walking tours are suitable for all those who enjoy walking as well as good dining. The two different itineraries are suitable for two types of walkers. One, for the more energetic with longer walks and the other combining shorter walks with slow food and cultural activities.

The hotels have been chosen for their comfort, charm and good table. During the tours, participants have the choice of joining daily activities or relaxing in the village for the day.  A coach will ensure a comfortable journey along the French country roads.

Contact Pyrenees Tours for more information.

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Take a barge

If there is a recipe for relaxation, barging on a French canal would have to provide the major ingredient. To sit on the deck watching the fields and forests of France scrolling slowly past – walking pace only – provides a magic remedy for even the most stressed mind and body. Recently we were able to put this theory to the test and became as thoroughly hooked as many others have before us.

A major plus, is the absence of any sort of responsibility. While you sit, coffee in hand on the upper deck, ducking for low bridges, or slowly rising and falling in the bathtub-sized locks, below you a fine meal is appearing in the tiny galley at the rear of the boat.

Not only is there a skipper and chef on board, but other staff are on hand to make sure nothing is left  for you to do. Our barge, Rosa, is just one of many tourist barges that ply the canals of France. Carrying a maximum of eight passengers in four en suite cabins, this is the vessel that TV chef Rick Stein used for his documentary about crossing France by barge, as he whipped up dishes at various stops along the way.

To enjoy barging best, though, you need to forget the usual measures of travel. Distance becomes irrelevant. In six days our barge travelled under a hundred kilometres along the Midi Canal and part of the Tarn River.

Built between 1667 and 1694 to link the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea for commerce, this canal was declared a UNESCO historical site in 1996. It is 240 kilometres long (360 kilometres counting four lateral canals) and averages just 18 metres wide. It connects the Étang de Thau on the Mediterranean coast to Toulouse on the Garonne river, which flows into the Atlantic. It not only links two seas but has 328 structures including locks, lifts, aqueducts, spillways, bridges, and tunnels.

The architect of this amazing project, Pierre-Paul Riquet, was a tax collector from Béziers. King Louis XIV (who, incidentally, is said to have kept a team of forty wigmakers and had a collection of a thousand wigs) was keen on his idea, but not everyone believed it to be a sensible plan, even though it would mean that cargo did not have to sail the long way around the Iberian peninsula any more.

Riquet was so passionate about it that if funds for the next step in the construction were slow arriving, he would use his own money in the meantime. How many contractors today would do that?

Way ahead of his time Riquet was conscious of the environmental impact of such a venture, and made sure the canal’s banks were lined with trees. Sadly he did not live to see it all completed.

But even the most bucolic sights and gentle movement along the canal might not be enough for some passengers so, after lunch, tours are usually organised to nearby towns - a medieval monastery, perhaps, or a market, a foie gras producer or winery, for example.

It's the perfect balance, really. Dipping into village life, tasting wine, picking up souvenirs, then escaping again to the barge.

By then it's time for a pre-dinner drink, more time on the deck in the sunset, or to catch up with a book in a quiet corner. It's the perfect formula, really. Far from the pace of normal life, ultra-slow barging provides the perfect antidote to stress.

See for yourself.

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Relax in a quiet village

So much of Azé’s attraction is that it is almost unknown. Guidebooks mention it as notable only for some ancient caverns – marking the map site préhistorique. Tour buses are almost never seen there in this part of southern Burgundy. 

This small village is simply on the way to other places, rarely a destination itself. It is just not a tourist destination. Which is precisely how many people like it.

Buried deep in the Mâconnaise wine-growing area, it comes under the Appellation Mâcon Contrôlée, doing its own thing, in its own right, and well-respected for it.

Red beaujolais grapes are popular too for winemaking.

On the edge of town, take the road along the bottom of the vineyards. From here the rows of vines run ruler-straight up the hill. Now, close to harvest the leaves are brilliant green and tiny questing tendrils wave above them like fragile antennae.

The Mâconnaise style of architecture is very attractive. These stone houses are usually two-storey and built with a gallery-style veranda on the upper floor. As in  many parts of France, the railings are hung with bright red and pink flowering geraniums.

Almost certainly late in an afternoon, you'll find men (and sometimes women) playing a game of petanque on a gravelled space on the roadside or under trees. While the pace may seem leisurely, sometimes the games are hard-fought!

Brancion, with its medieval monastery high above the same patchworked plain that stretches across to Mont St Vincent is worth a visit too.

The ancient abbey overlooks a tiny sleepy village, typical of so many in the Saone-et-Loire region.

Inside the shadowy abbey, there murals survive, and if you are lucky you might be able to enjoy harp music as you pause to enjoy them. Nearby, gardens are laid out with vegetables and herbs as they must have been a thousand years ago.

The village is car-free with cobbled streets and just a couple of B&B's and a restaurant and cafe - and the abbey.

There are a dozen or more villages within a few kilometres of Azé, and this small one at Clessé serves a four-course regional menu every day for about the price of a main course in most other places.

The sixteenth-century Chateau Besseuill has recently been restored with luxury accommodation and an excellent restaurant.

The set-price menu included dishes such as this stunning dessert.

People come to this region to sample Mâconnaise and Beaujolais wines and taste Chardonnay at a cave (wine cellar)in the nearby village of the same name, where that grape was first planted over a millennium ago. 

Cluny is the most important, and largest, city in the area. Established as a major religious centre, its abbey draws thousands of visitors annually. This mural is the drawcard for a delicious chocolatier in the old town.

The city is still an academic centre, and these lads have custom-decorated their gowns which they proudly wear to class.

Old Cluny shows its age with cobbled streets and low archways over narrow lanes. Some doors have fifteenth-century dates inscribed over them.

Perhaps the only downside (although some would say it's a plus!) is that many small villages in France - and it is said there are around 30,000 of them in the country – are only accessibly by car or bike, or on foot.

Car hire in France is easy and now  quite affordable. This car from Driveaway made it possible to see all these places.

Pictures and words: ©Sally Hammond

Video: ©Gordon Hammond