French B&Bs

Two of our France inspectors dropped by for lunch a couple of weeks ago. They are English, living in France and addicted to the work. Part of me would love to be out there with them. It was 'news from the front line' and one of their most interesting, and depressing, revelations was that the old French B&B is slowly dying.

Our French Bed and Breakfast was our first book, filled with farming families opening their rooms to make ends meet. The book opened doors all over France, to English travellers who were unused to the idea that the French would welcome them. Thousands of relationships and friendships have been forged over the years. It is sad to hear that this wonderfully tatterdemalion community is gradually wearing away, replaced by families - equally interesting in their own way - with more money and pandering to travellers with higher expectations. Houses are converted to be little businesses. Rooms are ripped apart and bathrooms and wet-rooms installed. That old farmer's wife whose sense of colour was execrable but whose warmth and humanity were touching, who opened her doors to boost a meagre income, may be about to retire.

So if there are any of you out there who share my sense of woe, do go and spend your time and money with the people who most need it. The same applies, of course, to the UK, though perhaps less dramatically. Let us know if there are B&B providers whom we should support.