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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8 months ago

Summer 2024

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  • Paris
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  • French cuisine
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  • French history
  • France magazine
  • Free magazine
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  • France
  • Reims
  • Arras
  • Toulouse
Full of fabulous features, fantastic photos - inspiring, entertaining and informative. Culture and history, destination guides including Paris, Brittany, Toulouse, Troyes, Alsace-Lorraine, Champagne and more. Discover brilliant city, country, seaside and gourmet breaks. Truly scrumptious recipes to make at home. And much, much more. Bringing France to you - wherever you are.

Renaissance to art deco,

Renaissance to art deco, and contemporary. There are great shopping facilities, including a super Saturday morning market in Rue de Mars, the perfect place to pick up some pink biscuits, les biscuits roses, a Reims speciality and traditionally dipped in Champagne. They were invented in 1690, and served at King Louis XVI at his coronation in the city in 1775 – he loved them and had them supplied to the Palace of Versailles! Several museums will please culture vultures including the fabulous Tau Palace, the former home of the Bishops of Reims. This is also where the Kings stayed while awaiting their coronation in the Cathedral next door, including 12-year-old Louis XV, the first king to drink Champagne. Tau Palace now hosts an exceptional collection of religious artefacts including the Coronation chalice. You’ll also spot Roman remains as you wander – Reims was an important city in Roman Gaul, called Durocortorum, and the monumental 30m high Mars Gate, originally one of four triumphal arches, is one of the largest known porticos of the Roman world. The absolute must-see in Reims is one of the world’s most famous churches – the great Gothic Cathedral of Notre-Dame. Listening to the sonorous bells of this working church is mesmerising, and the incredible facade is mindbogglingly beautiful as you enter under the gaze of a stone angel seemingly beaming with pleasure at church goers. Inside, as the light shines through the dazzling rose window, kids run up and down the nave, mums and dads ‘shush’ them, tourists from around the globe ‘ooh’ and ‘ah’ at the beauty of this building and its stained-glass windows. The coronations of a mind-boggling 37 Kings of France took place here, beginning with Charlemagne’s son, Louis the Pious in 816, and ending with Charles X in 1825. Charles VII, with Joan of Arc at his side, was crowned here in 1429. Built over the foundations of a 4th century church, the Cathedral was begun in 1211 and took almost 100 years to complete. It was shelled by the Germans in the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, and again in World War I, when its dazzling stained-glass windows were destroyed, but rose again to its former glory. The restored cathedral was reopened in 1938 and miraculously avoided the destruction suffered by much of the rest of Reims in World War II. A truly divine must-see in Reims, a city that sparkles from start to finish. Get there: You can reach Reims in just 46 minutes by train from Gare de l’Est, Paris. Stay: Hôtel La Caserne Chanzy A former fire station converted into a 5-star spa hotel offers lovely, luxurious rooms and great Week-long Creative workshops for writing, photography and painting in the south of France Memoir writing workshops Be inspired and gain the skills and confidence to tell the story only you can tell. Watercolour painting workshops Take a meditative approach to watercolours inspired by Japanese masters. creativefranceworkshops.com service (including valet-parking, a real bonus in a city where parking isn’t always easy). There’s also a fabulously glamorous and elegant Champagne bar. And for extra wow factor, ask for a room with a balcony overlooking the Cathedral opposite. Useful websites: reims-tourisme.com tourisme-en-champagne.co.uk Scenic photography workshop Develop the skills to create images that resonate with emotion and authenticity. 38 | The Good Life France The Good Life France | 39