With wine, there must be food, and wherever you go in France it will be celebrated. In La Clusaz in the Haute-Savoie, August 14 is given over to a festival for the local Reblochon, a creamy cheese with a “good nose”.
Thousands of visitors who relish its stink are treated to a day of tastings, traditional crafts and a giant tartiflette (www.laclusaz.com).
A week later, on August 20 and 21, it’s Roscoff’s turn to show its pink onions, which have been growing in the region since the 17th century. Since the 1830s, the men of Roscoff with their berets, stripy jumpers, bicycles and strings of onions, crossed the Channel to sell onions door to door, becoming icons of France to the English, who called them “Onion Johnnies”.
The town of Roscoff has just opened a museum in their honour.
www.roscoff-tourisme.com. More at: wwww.franceguide.com.
Michelin giveaway
Learn a bit about wine and you’ll find it easy to make friends with the French this summer. The new Michelin Green Guide to the Wine Regions of France (Pounds 11.99; www.michelin.co.uk) offers routes into the heart of French culture. It covers tours through the 14 main wine regions of France from Champagne in the north-east to Languedoc Roussillon in the south and includes wine shopping and other activities for the whole family. We have five copies to give away to TES readers.
To enter our draw, email friday@tes.co.uk or send a postcard marked Michelin Guide offer to the address on page 3 by July 15.
