Fran My favourite thing

Fran My favourite thing to do over the festive period is visit the Christmas market in Strasbourg, officially the largest outside Germany. Every year, Strasbourg spends thousands of euros on lighting up the entire city centre and puts up a huge Christmas tree in Place Kléber, the main square. I lived there for four years and have visited every year since 2005, to see friends, drink gallons of vin chaud and eat my weight in tarte flambée (the pizza-esque regional speciality), preferably the one drowning in smelly Munster cheese. I’m sad to not be going there this Christmas but plan on heading over the second it’s safe to travel again! Love tarte flambée? click here for our utterly scrumptious recipe...

Anne Snow and Christmas – is there a better combo? I struggle to find one, so spending Christmas in the mountains is just my idea of heaven. I spent one of my loveliest Christmases in the French Alps and certainly hope to be able to do it again one day. The mountains, the small resorts and of course the snow already provides the near-perfect backdrop. If you then add lovely hotels or cosy chalets and open fires, it gets even more special - and with the best comfort food belonging to the mountains (all that melted cheese and other French delicacies) you can’t help but indulge! All washed down with wine – hot or cold, I’m not picky. And the best thing is, you leave your doorstep and the indulgence becomes almost guilt-free thanks to all the skiing, sledging and mountain walks. Right, I’m off to book my next Christmas holiday...