A grand day out in Nantes was planned, initially because we had located a shop that sold Cognac aux Amandes (Almond Cognac), which had proved a great hit with friends who had recently visited us in Malestroit. This warming Cognac, with a hint of almond flavour, can be found in a few restaurants in Malestroit and is served after dinner as digestive. We had scoured the shops and supermarkets but had never seen it sold locally, so after a bit of internet searchin...

For the first time since owning the house in France we have decided to catch the train from our local station at Questembert. The station is about 12km from Malestroit and is on the main line between Vannes (population 50,000), Redon (population 10,000) and Nantes (population 280,000) a journey of, if you catch a fast train, about one hour and twenty minutes from Vannes to Nantes. It is fair to say that SNCF have a fairly erratic timetable, one that makes no se...