The Good Life France Magazine




The Good Life France Magazine brings you the best of France - inspirational and exclusive features, fabulous photos, mouth-watering recipes, tips, guides, ideas and much more...


Published by the award winning team at The Good Life France

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Issue No. 28

This gorgeous issue is stuffed full of fabulous features from beautiful Annecy to the sunny southern Basque country and the city of Pau, the Canal du Midi and much more. There’s a fabulous photo essay of the four seasons of Provence, practical guides and recipes galore with a focus on the gastronomy of the Touraine region in the Loire Valley - from an ancient recipe for macarons to more-ish nougat cake!

King Arthur’s forest

King Arthur’s forest Kevin Pilley wanders through a wizard’s forest and finds that though there are no signs of ogres or medieval maidens – it is truly magical…

Brocéliande in Brittany © Aurelie Polvet Tourist Office Broceliande In the forest of Brocéliande in Brittany, forty miles south-west of Rennes, there is a pile of red slate blocks. Through them grows an ancient holly tree. In its branches are flowers and wreaths of seven times knotted hair. Wedged into the peeling bark are little anonymous messages. Some are written on slips of paper, some on the back of supermarket receipts. All are addressed to Merlin, the ancient intercessor between man and nature. The world’s most famous wizard is said to be buried in these sacred Celtic woods. Since the origins of fifth and sixth century Celtic mythology, and the publication in the twelfth century of the romances of Chretien de Troyes and Elinor of Aquitaine’s poet, Robert of Wace’s “Roman du Brut (1155), the Arthurian legend has fascinated and inspired millions. And mentioned Brocéliande. The name appears in Tennysons’s “Idylls of the King” and inspired Tolkien’s region of Beleriand in Middle-Earth. Some claim King Arthur is buried in Glastonbury or Worthyvale in Cornwall. His sword “Excalibur” is said to lie at the bottom of a pool in Bodmin Moor. Camelot is said to be in Tintagel, Winchester or Roxburgh in Scotland. No one can really say for sure, the details are lost in the mists of memory. But here in France they know where Arthur’s most trusted advisor is. A Breton, his tomb is in the forest of Brocéliande. “Le Tombeau de Merlin” is under an hour