Good food and wine – integral to the lifestyle in France and part of the attraction of owning a home there. As a treat for foodies, expat Alexis Goldberg of FranceBuyingGuide.com finds some delightful homes located in regions famed for a food product

Article written by The Overseas Guides Company

Chances are, if you’re searching for a home in France, you enjoy quality food and wine, not to mention eating out at affordable prices.

After moving with my husband Rod to the Languedoc, where we live in a village south of Carcassonne, I’ve come to realise not only how regional French food is but how delicious the simple, rustic dishes are. It’s not all about sophisticated meals with expensive ingredients – fresh, local produce, reared or grown organically will do me any day.

Down our way, the diet is predominantly Mediterranean, with olive and fruit trees, and vines growing in abundance. One of the best known dishes from our part of France is Cassoulet, a type of casserole made with meat and beans – head to the coast and things of course get fishier! Here are some ideas for homes in foodie areas of the country.

Brittany – crêpes and oysters
We eat pancakes once a year in the UK, but in Brittany, lunching on a crêpe, often combined with the savoury version, a galette, is an everyday occurrence. With its long Atlantic coastline, the region is also famed for its shellfish, but in particular oysters. The little town of Cancale, near St. Malo on the Côtes-d’Armor, is known as the ‘oyster capital’, and not far from there you’ll find this charming, five-bedroom stone house near Plouaret. Click on the image for more information.

Marseille – fish
One of France’s most famous fish dishes, the stew called bouillabaisse, is eaten widely along the sunny Côtes-d’Azur, but is said to hail from the port city of Marseille. The fishermen there are said to have created it using fish they couldn’t sell in the restaurants, adding herbs and spices from the Provençal hills. We’ve found a characterful one-bedroom apartment in the centre of Marseille, close to the old port and with views of the opera building. For more information, click here. 

Limousin – beef
The Limousin breed of cattle is world-famous and despite finding them all over the world, their birthplace is still deemed to be where they taste the best. Enter a restaurant in the Limousin and the menu is likely to highlight a dish made with local beef. Unsurprisingly, the region is unspoiled countryside, made up of unspoiled meadows where cattle can graze naturally, with lots of water features – it’s also known as the ‘Lake District’ of France. Could you see yourself listening to the cow bells in this idyllic converted five-bedroom character home, complete with gite and a hectare of land with a pond? Click on the image for more information.

Bordeaux – wine
Granted, wine is produced throughout most of France, but arguably the name most associated with the drink of the gods is Bordeaux. Carpeted with vineyards, the landscape is dotted with majestic chateaux, where owners proudly uphold their world-class heritage of world-class wine production. To read about a beautiful four-bedroom character property, surrounded by some of the most prestigious vineyards of Bordeaux, click here.

Cahors – black truffles
Truffles are deemed one of the world’s most expensive foods, due to their unique, delicate taste and of course their rarity – they have a tendency to grow only in specific natural environments and just below the surface of the soil. Fortunately for residents of the Cahors area in the Lot, the conditions there are just right for black truffle, so you’ll see them on the menu in restaurants and at the markets. This four-bedroom 18th-Century stone house, full of character and with outbuildings, pool and land – perfect for a spot of truffle-hunting – is in the countryside 20 minutes from Cahors.

Perigord – foie gras
Not to everyone’s taste, foie gras is nevertheless one of the best known delicacies of French cuisine. Farms in Perigord in the Dordogne are said to be specialists in making the stuff, along with the Aquitaine regions in the south-west and Alsace. There are plenty of great value country homes to choose from around Perigord, including a pretty three-bedroom stone house, complete with annex and 16 acres of land – we found for less than €375,000. To read more, click here.

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