In France, strawberries are adored – in fact they even claim to be responsible for the popularity of the delicious red fruit!

The common woodland strawberry was known in Roman times and grown in Europe since early days but it was much later that the sweet red strawberry we all know today was cultivated. In France they are called fraises.

In 1714, Amédeé François Frézier, an explorer, mathematician and naval military engineer of Louis XIV was sent to South America to spy on the Spanish who had ports there. He returned to France with some strawberry plants from Chile and gave them to the gardeners at the King’s Royal Gardens in Paris. The fruit was white, quite large “as big as a small egg” said Frézier and not particular tasty. The Paris gardeners sent the plants to Brittany where they were cross bred with other berries grown around the town of Plougastel near Brest. They produced the succulent tasty strawberries we know and love today.

Nowhere loves them more than the town of Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne, famous for making the biggest strawberry tart in the world!

Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne in Correze, Limousin claims to be at the heart of “Strawberry Country” and celebrates its Fete de la Fraise every spring on the second Sunday of May. There is a competition for the best fruit, producer’s stalls, music, games, sports activities, circus school, craft market, a parade and an incredibly enormous strawberry tart – enough to give the thousands who attend this colourful festival a slice! Entry is free to this typically French festival.

The picturesque town is in the heart of Dordogne in a beautiful and unspoiled part of France that’s well worth a visit – even if you don’t make it to the Strawberry Festival!

Now… if only we could team the biggest strawberry tart in the world with the biggest bottle of Champagne in the world – we’d have one big party on our hands!



A thousand year old cellar and the biggest bottle of Champagne in the world, now that’s got to be a big pop when that cork goes! Welcome to Champagne Drappier…
Champagne Drappier in the village of Urville, Aube, Champagne is one of the biggest Champagne houses in the area producing some two million bottles of bubbly a year. The cellars are huge and one of them dates back to 1152, built by St Bernard, a monk who also founded the nearby Abbey Clairvaux. The Abbey is open to the public and is one of the oddest tours I’ve ever taken since it is also a maximum security prison!

As old as it is, the Drappier cellar is young when you consider the vines were first planted here by the Romans a thousand years before it was dug out. I toured the underground wine vaults with Philippe Verrier from the Champagne house, an incredible experience to see all the bottles ranging from a half bottle upwards that are made here. I saw with my own eyes a Melchizedekis - the largest bottle of Champagne in the world! Uniquely Drappier make around 30 of them a year. 400 glasses can be poured from one of these enormous bottles, presumably very carefully and with several helping hands. What I wouldn’t give to hear the cork pop on that bottle!

The ancient history and the sheer magnificence of this place are amazing, they’ve been making Champagne here since 1808 and, even to this day, the bigger and most expensive bottles of Champagne are all hand turned to clear them of sediment. Afterwards we sat on the eye-catching pink and gilt chaise longue in the tasting room and quaffed several different types of Champagne include President Charles de Gaulle’s favourite, now named in his honour. Michel Drappier, the charming head of production joined us briefly before nipping off to judge a Champagne contest but not before telling us a story about Champagne.

“How many bubbles in a normal bottle of Champagne?” he quizzed. We all took guesses ranging from 9,000 to 250,000. “Non” he said emphatically “You are all wrong. Scientists have worked out from the size of a bubble and the amount of carbon-dioxide that can be produced, there are around 60 million bubbles in a bottle of Champagne”. Then he departed smiling and leaving us all wondering if he was being serious. Actually, when I checked some scientists claim there are even more bubbles – possibly as many as 250 million in a standard bottle of Champagne.

Michel’s father, André Drappier, affectionately known as Drappier Père joined our tasting. At 80 years old he is as sparkling and effervescent as the Champagne the company produces and drives from his home in the village, down the hill and into the office every day to keep an eye on things. He told us how his beloved wife would take a phone call from the wife of de Gaulle who would order her husband’s favourite Champagne and the two women would meet at a local market. Madame Drappier would transfer the bottles from her 2CV to the 2CV of Madame de Gaulle. Although Monsieur Drappier met the President once or twice, “he was not a man to be friends with” he says drily.



I leave regretting only that I can neither afford, nor carry one of those record breaking giant bottles of Champagne that are almost as tall as me. I do manage to cram a couple of standard size bottles in my suitcase and later, at home, sharing them with friends and family I vow to return to buy more, it is utterly delicious Champagne.

How to get there: The journey from Calais to Urville takes around 4.5 hours by car. One of the easiest ways to get to the heart of the region is by train. Fares from Paris to Troyes, 45 kilometres from Urville, start from £29.50 per person standard class return uk.voyages-sncf.com (2015).

JANINE MARSH is one of my favourite people but the photo above is very rare. It is one of those few times that she isn't a blur of activity. She not only edits http://www.thegoodlifefrance.com but also writes wonderful articles (as you can see) plus publishes The Good Life France Magazine 6 times a year. This darling girl allows me to re-publish a selection of her journalistic gems for our readers' delight.