The association Amis of Patrick O’Brian based in Collioure, O’Brian’s home during the most prolific years of his writing life, has been entrusted with the contents of his writing space. The donation includes O’Brian’s books and papers as well as his writing desk, pens and ink.

We love publishing your reviews. They’re honest (mostly!) objective, (hopefully) unrelated to advertising (bien sûr!) and cover a wide range of tastes, prices, and places. You might not always agree, the chef might be having a bad day, your standards might be higher….or lower – but they give you an idea of what’s available.

TGV Perpignan -> Barcelona SNCF (French Rail) and RENFE (Spanish rail) have reopened the super-speedy train travel between Perpignan and Barcelona for the summer season. Running through until September, passengers can now access the Catalan…

Free navettes will transport you from stations along the way to the ski resorts, reduced prices apply at the Hot baths of St Thomas (get off at Fontpedrouse) or at the ski stations of St Pierre de Forcats (off at Mont Louis) or Eyne ( off at Bolquere Eyne the highest station in France).

The events of the past few months, allied to the deep fall in the value of Sterling, means that everyone is looking to extract the best possible value from their travel budget. In fairness to the airlines, they are doing their bit by largely keeping most of the existing flights available, introducing new aircraft onto routes, and taking advantage of the continuing low fuel price by offering keener than ever fares.