When looking for a packet of bread sauce in a supermarket called Leclerc in Bergerac I discovered a shelf dedicated to English produce. It was even flagged up with the Union Jack. Sadly no bread sauce but I bought a tin of Heinz baked beans for the princely sum of 1.5 euros, three times the price in England.
Other English fare on display included:
Oxo cubes; HP Brown sauce; Bisto gravy; Branson pickle; Bramley apple sauce; Cross and Blackwell salad cream; Tate & Lyle golden syrup; Scots porage oats; Ready Breck; PG Tips tea; Tikka Masala curry sauce; bottles of Tangle Foot Badger Beer brewed in Dorset.
Another supermarket chain called Leader Price, a branch of which can be found in Bergerac, does a very nice line in joints of frozen New Zealand lamb at half the cost of similar sized cuts of Gigot d’Agneau.
About 20 kilometres south west of Bergerac is the bastide town, Eymet, where half the population is British. It is the ideal place to look for British comfort food. L’Epicerie, otherwise known as “The English Shop”, in the Rue du Temple, stocks everything from Christmas plum puddings, three varieties of baked beans, Fray Bentos steak and kidney pies to Scottish oat cakes, Coleman’s English mustard and Oxford marmalade. I found exactly what I was looking for – a box of Darjeeling tea bags.
The shop is run by a South African called Michael Rice who has another similar outlet in Brantome, north of Perigeux, the prefecture of the Dordogne. His emporium was running short of stock because Michael is moving back to England to open a shop in Glastonbury, Somerset. A retired English couple have bought his business in Eymet. Michael was shutting up shop ,he said, because trying to expand his business in France had been fraught with bureaucracy and punitive social security charges.
Sunday, 28 February 2010
Thursday, 25 February 2010
The Russians are coming
Rumour has it that the private jet parked up at Bergerac airport belongs to Roman Abramovich. Christian Lacombe, the press officer for the airport, seems to think so. Rumours also abound that the beautifully manicured Chateau Thenac, south west of Bergerac in what is described as the Tuscany of France, is also owned by the Russian billionaire.
Not so! On further investigation it appears both the Chateau and the jet belong to another Russian Oligarch, Eugene Shvidler, a close friend and business partner of Abramovich. For a birthday present, Abramovich apparently bought his friend a flock of Highland sheep which he had shipped out from Scotland to Chateau Thenac.
The manager of the Chateau , a smart young Englishman, said that Abramovich and his Russian mates certainly visit to party and to sample the wine but that he couldn’t comment further. Chateau Thenac wine, incidentally, can only be purchased through Berry Brothers in London. An English chum told me an artist friend held an exhibition at the Salle de Fete in Thenac and someone from the chateau turned up at the private view - “vernisage” - insisted on buying all the paintings on show and had them taken over the road to the chateau that same night.
Now look here, we Brits own Aquitaine, not the French nor the Russkies. When our Henry 11 married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152 the English ruled the region from Bordeaux and we imported huge quantities of wine. We put Bordeaux wine on the map. For that matter, more recently, an old Etonian called Nick Ryman, who owned Chateau Jaubertie, put Bergerac wine on the map by improving the stuff and marketing it abroad.
There are 200,000 British passport holders registered living in France and a big slice of these reside in Aquitaine. At Eymet, 20 kilometres south west of Bergerac, half the town’s population is British. In another nearby bastide town called Issigeac, one Australian tourist was overheard saying she was horrified to have heard nothing but English voices.
In the summer months at least three daily Ryanair flights come in and out of Bergerac airport from Stansted and Bristol and there’s another daily Flybe flight from Southampton. The planes are usually full and the airport car park is packed with old bangers with British number plates.
You don’t get so many euros to the pound these days but most of us are staying put and continuing to enjoy the good life. We’ve taken back Aquitaine and we lovingly call the Dordogne department, “Dordogneshire”. We’re not about to let the Russkies do the same thing to the Dordogne as they have to Chelsea – sorry, “Chelski”!
Rumour has it that the private jet parked up at Bergerac airport belongs to Roman Abramovich. Christian Lacombe, the press officer for the airport, seems to think so. Rumours also abound that the beautifully manicured Chateau Thenac, south west of Bergerac in what is described as the Tuscany of France, is also owned by the Russian billionaire.
Not so! On further investigation it appears both the Chateau and the jet belong to another Russian Oligarch, Eugene Shvidler, a close friend and business partner of Abramovich. For a birthday present, Abramovich apparently bought his friend a flock of Highland sheep which he had shipped out from Scotland to Chateau Thenac.
The manager of the Chateau , a smart young Englishman, said that Abramovich and his Russian mates certainly visit to party and to sample the wine but that he couldn’t comment further. Chateau Thenac wine, incidentally, can only be purchased through Berry Brothers in London. An English chum told me an artist friend held an exhibition at the Salle de Fete in Thenac and someone from the chateau turned up at the private view - “vernisage” - insisted on buying all the paintings on show and had them taken over the road to the chateau that same night.
Now look here, we Brits own Aquitaine, not the French nor the Russkies. When our Henry 11 married Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152 the English ruled the region from Bordeaux and we imported huge quantities of wine. We put Bordeaux wine on the map. For that matter, more recently, an old Etonian called Nick Ryman, who owned Chateau Jaubertie, put Bergerac wine on the map by improving the stuff and marketing it abroad.
There are 200,000 British passport holders registered living in France and a big slice of these reside in Aquitaine. At Eymet, 20 kilometres south west of Bergerac, half the town’s population is British. In another nearby bastide town called Issigeac, one Australian tourist was overheard saying she was horrified to have heard nothing but English voices.
In the summer months at least three daily Ryanair flights come in and out of Bergerac airport from Stansted and Bristol and there’s another daily Flybe flight from Southampton. The planes are usually full and the airport car park is packed with old bangers with British number plates.
You don’t get so many euros to the pound these days but most of us are staying put and continuing to enjoy the good life. We’ve taken back Aquitaine and we lovingly call the Dordogne department, “Dordogneshire”. We’re not about to let the Russkies do the same thing to the Dordogne as they have to Chelsea – sorry, “Chelski”!
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Britain awaits murder trial
The fate of Andrew Ludlam, the prime suspect in the case of murdered fellow Britain, Peter Fuller in June 2009 has been the subject of a number of enquiries received by Letter from the Dordogne. One reader from the United States said he knew Andrew Ludlam and that he was surprised he would have been capable of such a deed.
Andrew Ludlam was arrested at Luton airport having fled from the scene of the crime - the house owned by Peter Fuller at Plaisance near Eymet - having driven off in one of Fuller's cars and having boarded a plane at Bordeaux airport. He is reported to have been found with as large sum of cash on his person when he was detained.
Ludlam was subsequently deported back to France from Britain in July last year and is now languishing in jail at Perigeux, the Prefecture of the Dordogne. He is accused of murdering Fuller with a blunt weapon after a heated agrument fuelled by alcohol. There is speculation as to whether the weapon used was a golf club or a cricket bat. Fuller, a retired executive in the oil business, had built an 18 hole golf course on land adjacent to his house.
According to the local regional daily newspaper, Sud Ouest, Ludlam remains incacerated in the same prison in Perigeux. Before a date can be given for his trial there apparently needs to be a revision of the case and the police will need to accompany Ludlam back to the scene of the crime.
Andrew Ludlam was arrested at Luton airport having fled from the scene of the crime - the house owned by Peter Fuller at Plaisance near Eymet - having driven off in one of Fuller's cars and having boarded a plane at Bordeaux airport. He is reported to have been found with as large sum of cash on his person when he was detained.
Ludlam was subsequently deported back to France from Britain in July last year and is now languishing in jail at Perigeux, the Prefecture of the Dordogne. He is accused of murdering Fuller with a blunt weapon after a heated agrument fuelled by alcohol. There is speculation as to whether the weapon used was a golf club or a cricket bat. Fuller, a retired executive in the oil business, had built an 18 hole golf course on land adjacent to his house.
According to the local regional daily newspaper, Sud Ouest, Ludlam remains incacerated in the same prison in Perigeux. Before a date can be given for his trial there apparently needs to be a revision of the case and the police will need to accompany Ludlam back to the scene of the crime.
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