Lunch in France is important. Ask a Frenchman or woman to miss lunch and you will be accused of blasphemy. The lunch tradition is as deep rooted as the fabled summer holiday that closes France down in August. Lunch hour in France is usually two hours of which lunch itself will take one.

The normal day to day French lunch purchased in a bar or bistro by the workers, will consist of at least four courses, and will often but not always, include a bottle of wine. You get all this and remarkable service for around 12 euros. The four courses consist of a starter, such as pate, a salad or charcuterie, a main course of meat or poultry with a vegetable and then a choice of cheese or a sweet. The wine comes in litre bottles and it will be a good vin de table. The French never seem to finish theirs and usually add a bit of water to it but there's no restriction on how much you drink and if you finish the bottle a new one quickly appears. In some of the more celebrated Routiere you may get up to six courses and wine for the same price.

These little eateries get reputations on their food and the better the reputation the more people they get. Lunch is what most of them exist on, drinks and coffees during the day are small bonuses. One little Routiere near me eventually had to build an extension for all his customers and if you don't get there before 12.30 you are lucky to find a space. In fact, he does so well he doesn't bother opening in the evening. So popular is he, that the centre of the village regularly got completely clogged up with lorries, vans and cars so the mayor built a car park nearby to accommodate the lunch time traffic. Lunch time choices are minimal if at all, you take what's on offer and that's it.

Then there are small family run restaurants which are more up market, quieter, more refined and don't get the workers in because they cost more. The food will be neater on the plate but there won't be as much and here the minimum price will be about 17 euros and wine will be extra. And, of course, there are quality restaurants where lunch is haut cuisine, costs 30 euros or more and the cheapest wine will be 25 euros. These places cater for the well off and often retired and lunch can last for a good 2 hours but will be an unforgettable experience.

If you want more? then follow the links above, in the images, where you can buy Fraser's published books.

Fraser Blake, 70, author of 'Dear Chips' and 'A Rant Too Far?' grew up in Africa, was at school in Scotland, and worked for the British South Africa Police in Southern Rhodesia. He has taught English in Saudi Arabia and sold and renovated hundreds of properties in Northern France.

In 1998 Fraser was selling houses in the Mayenne department of the Pays de la Loire region and so was the obvious choice, when Cle France was started, to be their first agent on the ground in France. In retirement he writes, blogs, cooks, drinks wine, and hosts to dinner unlimited numbers of ex-pats.

Always on hand with a viewpoint, Fraser is going to share his views on France, the French and the British, and other people who buy in France. Sometimes informative, sometimes funny, painfully true, outrageously opinionated but always entertaining so we hope it adds a slightly different dimension to the usual normality of searching through the fantastic properties for sale on the Cle France website.

Watch out for more rants and opinion next week or buy the book today for a rollicking good read.

The story of Sir Lancelot of the Round Table is well known to us all, but in general our history talks of his exploits with the English king Arthur and the beautiful Guinevere. He was, however, according to local history, French and born in the little village of Banvou. He spent his childhood and youth in the southern Orne and northern Mayenne areas and particularly in the Bagnoles-de-l'Orne area. It was here that he was knighted before he started on his exploits and the area is known locally as Pays de Lancelot du Lac. There is even a trail you can follow named after him.

The area is described as one full of fairies, miracles, abbeys, enchanted woods, knights, hermits and places of extraordinary beauty. You can certainly enjoy wonderful examples of French medieval art, and understand why many medieval poets got their inspiration from the area.

Starting at Bagnoles-de-l'Orne one can see the Hermitage d'Oritair, a monk whose exploits were well intertwined with the Arthurian legends. Then on through the forest d'Andaines, a massive and ancient forest still roamed by wild boar and herds of deer. Next to the Mont Charlamagne which dominates the region of Houlme. On to Banvou where Lancelot's father Ban de Banoic had his castle. At St Bomer le Forges you find the sarcophagus of Ban's great friend King Bandemagus.

At Domfront there's a Roman church still in existence and a charming old medieval centre of the town on top of a hill. Here too, you will find Eleanor of Aquitaine's castle as this was the the capital of the Plantagenets domain for a time.

On the way south over Mont Margantin is the ancient refuge of the last practising witches in France. Stop off at St Fraimbault-de-Lassay where it is held locally that Lancelot was buried. On to Carrouges where the châteaux was started in the 14th century by a local governor who was the personal secretary of Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou. He was the founder of the Plantagenet dynasty.

The châteaux was owned by the same family till 1937 and was so impregnable it's defences were never overrun (till the Germans invaded!). Now owned by the state it is beautifully maintained and contains most of the original furniture, mainly from the renaissance and restoration periods.

If you want more? then follow the links above, in the images, where you can buy Fraser's published books.

Fraser Blake, 70, author of 'Dear Chips' and 'A Rant Too Far?' grew up in Africa, was at school in Scotland, and worked for the British South Africa Police in Southern Rhodesia. He has taught English in Saudi Arabia and sold and renovated hundreds of properties in Northern France.

In 1998 Fraser was selling houses in the Mayenne department of the Pays de la Loire region and so was the obvious choice, when Cle France was started, to be their first agent on the ground in France. In retirement he writes, blogs, cooks, drinks wine, and hosts to dinner unlimited numbers of ex-pats.

Always on hand with a viewpoint, Fraser is going to share his views on France, the French and the British, and other people who buy in France. Sometimes informative, sometimes funny, painfully true, outrageously opinionated but always entertaining so we hope it adds a slightly different dimension to the usual normality of searching through the fantastic properties for sale on the Cle France website.

Watch out for more rants and opinion next week or buy the book today for a rollicking good read.

1. You have an urgent message from your friendly neighbour that your 'CAVE' might be damp.

2. Your evening class French teacher insists on some practical work at least once a month.

3. The cave needs restocking and it's bargain time at the supermarket [all the year round].

4.The grapevine over your front door is in desperate need of pruning.

5. The fruit in your garden needs picking, and the neighbours are away on holiday.

6. You've run out of coffee beans and the only one's you have ever liked are available only in the little epicerie in your local village.

7. As a keen photographer you want to catch all the wildlife on your little 5 acre plot at it's best in spring/summer/autumn or indeed winter [delete the inappropriate].

8. Your neighbour, the farmer, needs a bit of extra grazing and has asked you to mark off a couple of acres of your garden where you wouldn't mind his sheep feeding.

9. Your neighbour has just offered you a redundant barn next to your property for £200, and you feel obliged to go and have a look at it even though you don't really want it.

10. You're having the devil's own time trying to communicate with your French neighbour over

the telephone, so you'd better go out and see her for yourself.

11. Tesco's cheese counter was a great disappointment this week, so you really must nip over to

replenish your cheese stock.

12. AND FINALLY, this year you have decided to give French foods and drinks as Christmas gifts!

If you want more? then follow the links above, in the images, where you can buy Fraser's published books.

Fraser Blake, 70, author of 'Dear Chips' and 'A Rant Too Far?' grew up in Africa, was at school in Scotland, and worked for the British South Africa Police in Southern Rhodesia. He has taught English in Saudi Arabia and sold and renovated hundreds of properties in Northern France.

In 1998 Fraser was selling houses in the Mayenne department of the Pays de la Loire region and so was the obvious choice, when Cle France was started, to be their first agent on the ground in France. In retirement he writes, blogs, cooks, drinks wine, and hosts to dinner unlimited numbers of ex-pats.

Always on hand with a viewpoint, Fraser is going to share his views on France, the French and the British, and other people who buy in France. Sometimes informative, sometimes funny, painfully true, outrageously opinionated but always entertaining so we hope it adds a slightly different dimension to the usual normality of searching through the fantastic properties for sale on the Cle France website.

Watch out for more rants and opinion next week or buy the book today for a rollicking good read.

Ask any normal Frenchman around here (and I live right on the boarder of southern Normandy in Pays de Loire) if truffles can be found locally and you'll either be regarded as a sad deluded Anlgaise or a joke. The more polite will just give a great Gallic shrug whilst puffing the cheeks out like an aged trumpeter. In general, it should be admitted, the question will just result in guffaws.

However, the question is not as daft as it sounds. In theory wherever there are oak trees you should be able to find truffles. There is nothing to say that the elusive fungi can only be found in warmer climes of the south. In fact, like most fungi they can be found all over Europe. I once listened to an Englishman on the radio telling us how he found truffles as far north as Inverness in Scotland. He went on to explain that the Brits did not appreciate them and that he high tailed it to Paris whenever he had a couple of kilos where he could get a decent price for them.

To do this what you do need, of course, is a means to locate them. This is really where the trouble starts. Listen to your southern French expert and he'll assure you the only way is to have a traditional pig. This puts most northern compatriots out of the picture as they would not be seen dead walking around with a pig on a lead. To the northerners a pig represents jambon, saucisson, charcuterie and rillets. Walking a pig on a lead round here would get you put away.

Hence, no one round here even tries and the elusive truffle remains the domain of the crafty southern French. If only a metal detector type of machine could sniff them out, but then, I suppose, we'd all be at it. However, dogs can be trained to sniff them out and I have a friend whose dog did just that all on his own.

The fist time it happened he had no idea what the animal was bringing him and he threw it thinking the dog was playing a game. The dog brought it back and this happened a few times till he thought it was odd shape and nothing like the normal stick, and brought it home. As it happened I was visiting there at the time and quickly identified it as a truffle.

He didn't really believe me and took it to an expert for confirmation. I put this in as proof that dogs can sniff them out but there is a problem. In general they need training and few people have the patience or the nous because it takes time and you have to have a nice fresh truffle.

So the favourite of gourmets round the world, weighing in at up to 1000€ a kilo, will remain the highly prized luxury it is, whilst kilos go to waste all around us.

Fraser Blake, 70, author of 'Dear Chips' and 'A Rant Too Far?' grew up in Africa, was at school in Scotland, and worked for the British South Africa Police in Southern Rhodesia. He has taught English in Saudi Arabia and sold and renovated hundreds of properties in Northern France.

In 1998 Fraser was selling houses in the Mayenne department of the Pays de la Loire region and so was the obvious choice, when Cle France was started, to be their first agent on the ground in France. In retirement he writes, blogs, cooks, drinks wine, and hosts to dinner unlimited numbers of ex-pats.

Always on hand with a viewpoint, Fraser is going to share his views on France, the French and the British, and other people who buy in France. Sometimes informative, sometimes funny, painfully true, outrageously opinionated but always entertaining so we hope it adds a slightly different dimension to the usual normality of searching through the fantastic properties for sale on the Cle France website.

If you want more? then follow the links above where you can buy Fraser's published books.

One of the great traits of the French is their total lack of awe for authority.

If the government says it is going to do something with which the majority disagrees, then the people react. This usually means bringing the country to a juddering halt but they do get listened to and the government of the day knows it has a fight on its hands. Nine times out of ten it is the government that gives way to the overwhelming popular clamour.

The last time this happened in Britain was the tanker driver’s protest a few years ago that nearly brought the country to a standstill. The government was in a flat spin and promised to respond to their grievances in order to get them back to work.

When all had quietened down they brought in legislation banning such a re-occurrence and the great British public, having been almost in a state of euphoria at the driver’s cheek at rattling the government, sat back and did nothing.

This is probably why France does not have intrusive cameras on every street corner, nor a ‘jobsworth’ around every bend telling people what they can and cannot do, and why the numbing culture of political correctness now exists on a widespread basis in the UK today.

In short, France is not the ‘nanny state’ that Britain has become and visitors to France experience and enjoy an almost tangible difference the minute they arrive in the country. 

Fraser Blake, 70, author of 'Dear Chips' and 'A Rant Too Far?' grew up in Africa, was at school in Scotland, and worked for the British South Africa Police in Southern Rhodesia. He has taught English in Saudi Arabia and sold and renovated hundreds of properties in Northern France.

In 1998 Fraser was selling houses in the Mayenne department of the Pays de la Loire region and so was the obvious choice, when Cle France was started, to be their first agent on the ground in France. In retirement he writes, blogs, cooks, drinks wine, and hosts to dinner unlimited numbers of ex-pats.

Always on hand with a viewpoint, Fraser is going to share his views on France, the French and the British, and other people who buy in France. Sometimes informative, sometimes funny, painfully true, outrageously opinionated but always entertaining so we hope it adds a slightly different dimension to the usual normality of searching through the fantastic properties for sale on the Cle France website.

If you want more? then follow the links above where you can buy Fraser's published books.