France

CERTAINLY MANY OF HIS PLAYS TAKE PLACE ON BOTH SIDES OF THE CHANNEL.
Nick Hordern travels with Shakespeare as his guide in the ‘Next County’

Some words have the power to move mountains. Visiting the Sofitel in London St James's for Wellbeing, I was attending the French Tourist Office's Alps 2012 preview.

We'll always have Paris, so explore the fabulous sights outside the capital, says Frances Barnes.

The invitation was to follow an 18-hole round of golf by spending 2 days being cosseted in the nearby Alliance Pornic Resort Hotel & Thalassotherapy It was like scoring a hole in one!

Confidently, arms outstretched, I thrust myself away from the poolside into the water, expecting the rest of me to follow.  Seconds later legs and feet were flailing in the air at ear level and I was bobbing about near certain to collide with fellow bathers.  Yes, you guessed it.  I was in a thalasso pool - and no ordinary one at that.

Marking the 1100th anniversary of Normandy [911-2011], the Normandy Tourist Board invites Englishman Nick Hordern to "Trace his Norman Roots" only to discover Truth is stranger than Fiction

"Sarkozy orders holidays at home!" ran the Le Figaro headline, reporting the French President's current veto of vacations abroad for his political troops. "What hardship!" we thought.

Nick Hordern travels to Alsace to suss out France’s first and best Bio Spa Hotel

"Take it from me," asserted the novelist and Francophile, Nancy Mitford, "PURE HAPPINESS begins the moment you cross the Channel." A recent invitation to Picardy, northern France, offered a chance to put this theory to the test. Picardy is a true "Next County" territory - easy to reach via Euro-tunnel, utterly French and ticking all the right boxes for great architecture, sport, scenery and good food.

Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! September's the last month of this season (May-September) you can pitch your tent at the beautiful Chateau de Monfreville.