If having your own supermarket trolley ‘jeton’ (plastic token instead of using a coin) means you’re a local then I guess I’ve settled into French country life quite quickly. I arrived in Normandy on Wednesday and since then I’ve been busy at the WEG test event which you can read all about here and see Libby’s photos in the photo gallery but, putting eventing, horses and riders to one side, a highlight of the trip so far has been supermarket shopping. I love shopping in foreign places – not for clothes or jewellery but for food, wine and normal day to day things. I get entranced by things that would bore the knickers off me in my local supermarket at home but take on magical qualities when spotted elsewhere.
For those of you who hate travelling, you’d better switch off here. I love it – especially when things as gone as smoothly as they have here (well, so far at least; let’s hope I don’t live to regret that). My journey from London to Paris via started well with an executive taxi (chauffeur driven Mercedes) organised my friend Melissa who always does things in style. It’s only marginally more expensive than a standard black cab, meant I didn’t have cart my suitcase down the road to hail a cab and made sure I arrived at St Pancras station early enough for a latte at Le Pain Quotidienne – a great café/bakery to get you in the mood for France
Ready for a Chateau or two? This one is s few minutes from Le Pin
For those coming from London to Normandy the Eurostar is just one option – there are ferries from various places and of course flights and I’m going to do an article when I get back on all the options I looked at. The Eurostar is a really easy and comfortable way to get to Paris – fares start at about £65 one way and gets you to Paris in around two hours. You take your own luggage on board and can pretty much check in 30 minutes before the train leaves. Through the Eurostar website I’d booked my train from Paris to Caen on a normal SNCF train which again took about two hours and I had an hour between to get from Gare du Nord to Gare St Lazare which is easy – about €7 taxi fare
A little tip here for those needing internet while in France – there is both an Orange and SFR (two of the main telecoms providers in France) shop right next to the Gare St Lazare so pick up your internet dongle and French phone SIM here to save you getting charged exorbitant fees on data roaming. I’ll do another article on this too later but just remember to take your passport (you pretty much need a passport to buy a loaf of bread in France, or at least a baguette)
Arriving in Caen, the main rental car companies are bang opposite the station, so I picked up my car and trundled off to the farmhouse I’m staying at near Argentan. I’ve driven quite a bit overseas so don’t mind too much driving on the left hand side although it does need a bit of a brain gear shift for the first minutes – Caen is really easy to get around as it has a peripherique (ring road) which has exits everywhere you want to go and is quite easy to navigate with a tom-tom or your iPhone maps helping a bit. My biggest problem is in understanding the Google maps’ Australian pronunciation of French road names
My lovely little farm with my less lovely but easy to find, custard coloured car
My little farmhouse is fabulous. Owned by an English family who live in the main house, some of the outbuildings have been converted into little self-contained apartments. It’s great apart from one small problem that I can’t get wi-fi in my little house – only in the garden or the laundry which is located in one of the other outbuildings opposite. So when I upload this to the website shortly you’ll be getting it beamed direct from a laundry. C’est la vie but let’s not complain as a laundry, wi-fi enabled or not, is a definite bonus when travelling. In fact Libby Law is coming round this evening for a steak and salad (no pommes frites) while she does her washing!
The farmhouse has many resident animals including a donkey, horses (which I was informed I’m allowed to pat – as you can imagine that thrilled me as I really don’t get much chance to be around horses), goat, peacock (which likes to sit on top of cars), hens with the sweetest chickens that I’m terrified of running over in the driveway, ducks and a an old dog who is great at joining you for a lunch with an expectant look on his face. The cockerel starts at about 5am but by now I’m immune
The main street in Argentan but just around the corner is this....
Argentan is a reasonably sized town west of Le Pin au Haras (where the eventing will take place) and it takes about 20 minutes easy drive to get there. Despite not being huge, it seems there’s a gothic church round every corner but there’s also the standard shopping area, bars and restaurants (although be warned – in August many are closed). The Forest of Petite Gouffern is between the two so you have to skirt around it and there are lovely villages either side of Le Pin au Haras. Basically, it’s very rural, very pretty and easy to get around, although no doubt next year it will be somewhat busier. I wouldn’t recommend being here without a car but I would recommend trying to get out here for a few days for the eventing and staying in the area even if you are in Caen for the rest of the time
Libby and I have today and tomorrow free before the 3* event here called Le Grand Complet starts on Wednesday. I adore the French approach to eventing; the media are invited to examine the cross country course at 11am on Wednesday with course designer Pierre le Goupil which will be followed by ‘un cocktail’. Let’s hope there’s champagne at the press conferences again this year too! I was reminded yesterday that there is no such thing as ‘French champagne’, there is only Champagne, so eat your heart out Aussie sparkling wine
Tomorrow we’ll head into Caen, a very beautiful and historic city, famous as the home of William the Conqueror (yes, the one that shot Harold through the eye and took over jolly England, bringing not only Norman words and culture to Britain but also cutlery). Plenty of history lessons coming up and photos of beautiful buildings as well as a bit of an overview of what to expect there next year at the heart of the WEG
Oh and for those of you learning equestrian French for next year, here’s a handy phrase (yes, that's please pick up your poo)
