For more detailed descriptions of what to see around this beautiful part of France visit: www.uk.leroannais.com

www.purefrancenow.com

Sponsored and supported by several key businesses from the Roannais region, including Purefrancenow, the evening reception to launch this remarkable display of contemporary art was a resounding success. Not only were the many guests amazed at the presentation, but there was also some keen interest from a number of serious art buyers.

Frédéric Diart: Painter Extraordinaire

‘If The Black’ Exhibition

The Pure Art Gallery

www.purefrancenow.com

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This area is called Le Roannais in the département of the Loire.

Yes, of course, many tourists and business travellers from the UK and other parts of Europe visit, or drive through the region down the famous route N7 every year.

This is exactly what they often do – drive straight through or around it without stopping and taking a ‘breath’ but they are missing a lot.

It is not, however, an isolated part of France, like many areas can be in this huge country.

The Roannais is a delightful region with beautiful countryside, forests, lakes, mountains, with the river la Loire meandering through it.

At the central hub of several more well-known regions, the Roannais is within easy access of some famous cities, towns, and villages.

Roanne is the main township with, for example, France’s second city of Lyon just over an hour’s drive or train journey away.

Vichy, with its famous spring waters, is also nearby, and Saint Etienne on the edge of the stunning, volcanic region of the Puy-de-Dôme.

Located on the banks of the river la Loire, with the lower slopes of Auvergne, Beaujolais and Bourgogne (Burgundy) forming the backdrop, the Roannais region offers French lifestyle at its very best.

It is renowned for its food, which includes the famous three-star restaurant, Maison Troisgros (a fantastic gastronomic experience if you’ve got the chance. And the money, of course).

There are also many other local, family-run restaurants which are simply sublime, and for quality, service and surroundings certainly do not break the bank.

Vineyards decorate the surrounding hillsides, with Côte Roannaise wine, made from Gamay grapes, being the local tipple. Also, the popular vineyards and succulent wines of the Beaujolais are just 45 minutes away.

There is much to see and do, from a large number of heritage sites, medieval villages, including some buildings dating from the 13th century and some Roman churches from the 10th century.

Medieval castles and renaissance country houses abound, Château de la Roche being, probably, the most romantic.

Set on a rocky outcrop in the middle of the Loire, this classic fairytale castle is stunning. Every year in August there is an incredible son et lumiere show including dramatic firework displays celebrating its medieval history.

Roanne is surrounded by the uplands known as the Monts de la Madeleine, Monts du Beaujolais and Monts du Lyonnais.

They provide breathtaking panoramic views of the Roanne Valley, and are easily accessible for hill-walking, mountain-biking, and, of course, skiing and snow-boarding during the winter months.

Due to its location near the Loire, the Roannais area is also popular for river cruising through the Loire gorges. Water sports, such as sailing, canoeing and rowing are also available.

There is plenty to do for families and children all year round. It is certainly a great place for either a holiday home, or more permanent residency.

This is a region which is developing and is becoming much more easily accessible due to new links to France’s ever-growing auto-route network.

Lyon, in particular, continues to expand, and the Roannais is becoming easier to commute between.

Most villages and townships within 25 kilometres of Lyon have seen massive increases in property prices during the last 10 years.

The Roannais is less than 70 kilometres away, and is such a prize of a place for country living but with all amenities such as shops, entertainment, schools and colleges for people wanting to live ‘the life’ whilst working and earning in the city.

There is even the possibility of a direct TGV link into Roanne in the near future. Even now, access to the TGV to Paris and Marseille, for example, is simple with easy connections to Lyon.

The ski resorts of the Alps are around three hour’s drive away, and the popular southern regions and French Riviera are within easy reach.

There are several convenient airports such as Lyon (St.Exupery), Saint Etienne, Grenoble, Chambery and Geneva.

Property opportunities abound, and with all the rapid, ongoing regional development it seems, therefore, to be a particularly good time to invest.

Such opportunities include remarkable, ancient châteaux, farmhouses, barns, and medieval village town houses either in the mountains, hillsides, or amongst the forests and rich farmland.

Prices are good. There are absolute bargains and renovation opportunities to be had.

You can pick up a large château for less than €550,000, a sizeable farmhouse for less than €150,000, or small barn or cottage, ripe for renovation, for less than €50,000.

Prices, of course, like most regions throughout France, vary a lot, and the willingness of the Roannais locals to negotiate is well known.

In the last 10 years property prices have increased throughout the Roannais region, and in the next five years, or so, property prices, despite the current economic malaise, are certainly expected to move upward further. An investment ahead of the game is well worth consideration.

It is, of course, impossible to depict the Roannais in its full glory, and define the myriad of opportunities available in this short article. You must visit, and see for yourself. It’s the only way.

If you want to know more about property opportunities in the Roannais and our ‘Property Finding Services’ please contact Brian Franklin direct at: info@purefrancenow.com or visit our dedicated website: www.purefrancenow.com

Also visit www.thisfrenchlife.com for more information about all things French, and a unique property renovation project in the Roannais at: Discovering the Roannais in the Rhône-Alpes – follow a series of editorials about a ‘Grand Design’ project by Brian and Lucy Franklin.

Purefrancenow Property Services

www.purefrancenow.com

Purefrancenow was asked to organise this wine-tasting event by Meeting Protocol Worldwide for one of their international clients during a major exhibition at the Lyon Congress Centre.

The wines chosen by our award winning sommelier were also specially selected for each course of the evening dinner at the Cour des Loges.

Beautiful surroundings, elegant atmosphere, superb food, top quality wines, and good company – an absolute recipe for success for any company wanting to treat and impress their clients at any time of the year.

Visit our recent pre-editorial on this event at:  Wine Tasting Event by Purefrancenow in Lyon

Purefrancenow specialises in the organisation and arrangement of tailor-made wine and gastronomic events in Lyon and the surrounding region, including the Roannais and the Beaujolais. We will organise unique events for both private and business occasions.

Provide the brief and Purefrancenow will provide a successful solution!

We will also arrange all accommodation and transportation according to your detailed requirements, and we are here to help with creative suggestions, including themes for any event. All fully detailed and very competitively costed in a ‘Purefrancenow Proposal’ document for your assessment and agreement.

Purefrancenow has an office base in the Rhône-Alpes region, near Lyon, so we are on the spot to service any event requirement. We have both English and French-speaking personnel on the ground to assist in all arrangements and project control throughout.

We also have reliable, ‘tried and tested’ event service companies within our ‘service’ portfolio who we use for different aspects of any event, such as transportation (eg coaches and limousines, even planes and helicopters!), variety of entertainment options, design and decoration, accommodation, venues, specialist catering and menu preparation, including, of course, the best French wine sommeliers/oenologists, and more!

Wine-tasting Event by Purefrancenow in Lyon

Sélection John Euvrard

If you wish to discuss an event idea with us, and would like us to provide an initial proposal, please contact us direct:  info@purefrancenow.com

www.purefrancenow.com

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It is sure to be an intriguing experience! Purefrancenow will definitely be their to cover the proceedings.

Frédéric Diart – Painter Extraordinaire!

Our Man from Dubai and Frédéric Diart

The Pure Art Gallery

www.purefrancenow.com

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Dale Thompson, good friend, and event management impresario in Dubai visited Frederick Diart’s remarkable studio during October.

Amazed by the scale, originality, creativity, and commitment which Diart demonstrates in his extraordinary art, Dale Thompson has now returned to Dubai on a mission in association with The Pure Art Gallery, to assess the potential for exhibition and art gallery opportunities in this vibrant metropolis in the Arabian desert.

The marvellous, and often bizarre, art creations of Frederick Diart. it is hoped will stimulate a positive reaction in Dubai’s international art world.

Frédéric Diart was born in 1966, and now has his home and studio near the Roannais in the Rhône-Alpes region.

He is a painter of extraordinary imagination, originality, and creativity.In his early years, between 1989 and 1991 he developed groups of paintings on paper, cardboard, sheets of lead or aluminium, and using industrial paints and watercolours. He also featured letters as motifs within the organized space of his canvasses.

Throughout the 1990’s he developed his style and approach, and experimented using small and medium formats and adopted vertical imaging rather than that of landscape.

He progressed after abandoning paints and industrial resins, using polyvinyl acetate, including increased application of solvents and paint strippers.

Systematic use of stencils and different alphabet sizes, and larger 2 metre- square productionsFrom the end of the 1990’s and into 2000 and the new millennium, he continues to create, using mixed pigments and abrasives. The effect is imagery of illegibility and liquidity.

He also experiments with fine unprepared fabrics and the reactions to different tensions. Incorporating organic glues (bone, sinew, skin), and for certain canvasses, cattle blood. Decay and mildew within the canvasses results in a natural organic retraction effect.

From 2003 to 2006 he also combines crumpled, undone, shapeless canvasses, which wind around a partial deposit of material. Still using solvents, colour is applied to the back of the canvas with the solvent penetrating the applied layers of the material on the canvas, bringing colour back to the surface.Frédérick Diart continues to be extremely prolific in the production of amazing artworks on a grand scale.

If you want to know more, or want to arrange a viewing of his works at first hand, let us know through our special Art section:

The Pure Art Gallery

Or e-mail Brian Franklin direct at:  info@purefrancenow.com

www.purefrancenow.com

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At last! The work is over, the spending has slowed down, and the results of all our efforts can be clearly seen and appreciated.

In some respects, there is an element of anti-climax about it all.

As we neared the final stages of completing the ‘Cuvage’ renovation we, of course, could see all the elements of both interior and exterior renovation and conversion becoming a reality, and all our design and previous project control decisions working together as a whole.

Le Cuvage had eventually become a sum greater than its parts.

It was wonderful to walk up to the building and enter its doors to reveal the magnificent interior, and be pretty pleased with all our efforts.

It was a delight to spend our first holiday break within its four walls – to test out the showers for the first time, to christen the kitchen, to wake up with the newness all around us, and the sound of the Roannais countryside surrounding us.

Our first family occupation took place at Easter 2006, after myself and my good friend, Dale, had moved all furniture and houshold items into Le Cuvage during a very wintry and snowy February, a month or so before.

We had, typically, done a ‘white van’ trip from England, and had also ‘stripped’ our previous holiday home (‘The Stables’) located in the  original chateau grounds, and only a minutes walk away from our new residence.

We had prepared our interior furnishings pretty well, and would of course add to these over time. To be fair, we needed to ‘live’ in the place for a while to get a good ‘feel’ of how everything worked, and how the layout suited us.

Generally, it was all that we we wanted from our French ‘Dream House’, and more!

Yes, of course, there are always improvements and changes that one realises could be made – a wall here, access here, electric points repositioned, additional or less lighting, extra storage, But generally, we were very happy with the two dwellings we had created out of this huge wine-making barn.

Having previously owned a holiday home in the same enclave for 12 years, we were, of course, very familiar with our surroundings, and the region.

Whenever we arrived for a holiday  we immediately felt ‘at home’. So, although the newness of ‘Le Cuvage’ was a little strange, and we had to get to grips with a new home living experience, we did not have to contend with the need to discover  a new locality, and relate to new people, and find new friends. All this was already there!

There was no doubt that the attention to detail we had maintained, and the quality of internal and external installation and fixturing had all paid off.

We, of course, still had plenty to occupy us, and although internally it was really a matter of moving and positioning furniture to maximum effect, outside was a totally different matter.

I was keen to get into the garden, and commence the ‘tidying up’ work prior to the planting of trees and shrubbery.

Our new pool, too, and along with its surrounding area, required more attention to bring it to a decent holiday standard.

So, all-in-all, we still had more work cut out, but we were determined to enjoy it, and breathe in all that fresh French air!

Le Cuvage is definitely not a ‘holiday home’ in the normal sense of the term, and was never really intended to be such. It was designed for purpose – a ‘principal’ home ready for our eventual, and intended permanent commitment to living in France.

I hope that this ‘renovation diary’ has been of of interest to the many readers who are looking to for a property in France, whether for a holiday home or permanent residence.

Each person’s project, of course, is individual to themselves, but  seeing the results and hearing of the experience of others helps to see what can be achieved, and the potential benefits that the French way of life has to offer.

I also hope that the stage-by-stage images of our project, which have been featured in each issue during the last 7 months, have  demonstrated to varying extent what is possible with a renovation project like this.

In our view, France is a brilliant place to buy and develop a property, and there are still many opportunities and bargains to be had in many regions.

The French way of life is a great experience for couples, families, and, particularly children learning a new language, and discovering another culture.

‘Le Cuvage’ has been an incredible experience for us, and it is still continuing in so many different ways.

We look forward to many years of appreciating all it has to offer, both as a home, and as a place that gives us access to a beautiful part of France.

Take a look at the full series of articles featured during the last few months at  www.thisfrenchlife.com

The latest article can be seen at: Looking back and lessons learnt, of “Le Cuvage Project”

Brian and Lucy’s Roannais website:  www.purefrancenow.com

TOP TIPS – When buying and renovating in France

1. Spend plenty of time planning your electrics. You will rarelyl ever get it perfect (certainly before you start living and using your new place!). This includes positioning of all electrical sockets, radiators, and particularly lighting. Economy and coverage of light  is a delicate balance.

2. Plan all your rooms well, and try to avoid large areas of wasted, unuseable space. Make sure you maximise on bedrooms (you always need them when friends stay!).

3. Ensure your kitchen is a good size (the most important room in the house!). A good ‘Buanderie’ (storage/utility area) and you have plenty of other storage around the house (you’ll always need it!).

4. Externally, make sure you position your terrasse/patio areas in the best place for the sun, and access from the house. Ideally, if possible, ensure there is a covered area to get away from the heat of the day, and include a convenient barbeque space for all that outside entertaining!

5. If you are having a swimming pool, try and make sure it is as private and  as wind-protected as possible. Follow the French legal and security requirements for private and rental use.

www.purefrancenow.com

The gastronomic jewel of Roanne and the Roannais!

It is an opportunity and a pleasure for all the restaurants, producers, and suppliers to open their doors to the public.

To demonstrate their gastronomic talents and artistic presentation.

This highly successful festival harmonises the art of good food with the fun of theatre, music, and entertainment.  These festivities carry on throughout the month of October in the varied and various establishments in the Roannais.

A celebration of good food, wine, successful business partnerships, conviviality and friendship.

It brings the whole community together with one purpose, at least for one whole month!

If you happen to be in the Roannais region during this October, just try one or two of the local restaurants that are supporting this event, and have fun while you enjoy excellent regional cuisine!

Visit www.roannetableouverte.com or telephone for more information on 0033 (0) 477 23 20 57

The quality of gastronomy in the Roannais region is renowned for its excellence – experience it for yourselves this October, or visit the region for your holiday, or for your next business or club event.

Visit www.purefrancenow.com for more information on all aspects of Roanne, the Roannais, in the Rhône-Alpes.

Based in a region famous for its gastronomy, the Château du Bourg has a large summer house (it’s original orangery), recently renovated with heating and air-conditioning. This beautiful building, full of ancient character, is ideal for weddings, receptions, or business seminars and events. It can accommodate up to 200 guests.

This magical Château and its stunning countryside location also has a recently restored 17th century house with 3 bedrooms, and 2 suites which can accommodate up to 12 persons for self-catering or special events.

Apart from the magnificent grounds around the chateau where you can relax in the gardens or stroll through the estate, there is also a 120 acre fishing lake where you can fish for pike, carp, and black bass. It is a perfect place for a fishing holiday or just for some holiday fun. Ideal for both family and business events, too.

Close by you can enjoy golf, horse-riding, and swimming, as well as a huge variety of country and water sports, including different types of flying opportunities at Renaison airport nearby.

An absolutely perfect place for a weekend or holiday break.

www.purefrancenow.com

Château du Bourg

Our French friends, Jean-François and Adeline, co-partners in this exciting joint project, have now moved into their part of Le Cuvage.

Their new home looked great!

Although each of the three dwellings, being created out of this original ‘pressoir’ (wine-making barn) was individually planned and designed differently, the essential style and concept, led by our French architect, was consistently followed throughout each interior for a ‘co-ordinated ‘look’.

Our friends stepped over their threshold and moved into their new home before us at the end of October 2005.

This was purposely staged to be completed first so that they could move from their current smaller home at the ‘Pavillon de Chasse’ (hunting lodge), in part of the original grounds and courtyard of the Chateau des Cresses. Of course, unlike us at the time, Jean- François and Adeline lived in France, so it was essential that they ‘moved in’ first.

A young couple with modern attitudes, their new home in ‘Le Cuvage’ reflected an imaginative and contemporary ‘flavour’, with ‘lacquer-sealed concrete floor throughout the ground floor, stunning red kitchen, and a generally ‘fun’ atmosphere about the place.

We were impressed with their interior treatment and the practicality of Jean-François who had completed much of the flooring, painting, and lighting installations himself. As I have said previously, he is a useful, ‘hands-on’ guy (I have to admit with some envy!)Anyway, in the meantime, whilst our friends moved in, we moved on…!

Read the full article at:  www.frenchlife.com – The Cuvage Story

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