Go Slow France

A pioneer in the environmental world, Alastair Sawday has had a remarkably miscellaneous and varied career, which has taken him to the most far-flung corners of the globe: he headed up a VSO programme in Papua New Guinea, ran a disaster relief team for Oxfam in Turkey, and has run a small travel company, conducting walking tours throughout Europe.It was this that inspired him to publish his first travel guide, French Bed & Breakfast, after discovering various 'special' B&Bs and the extraordinary people that run them.

France is blessed with great food and a richness of scenery and rural living that is hard to beat. Can you imagine the French en route to the office, drinking coffee in takeaway cups on the hoof, eating pot noodles at their desk for lunch or flying off for weekend city-break boozing in Prague? No! - the Slow ethos is celebrated in France. Wander down to the boulangerie in the morning for freshly baked baguettes; buy veg from the local market: eat stunning food at a family run restaurant. Farming organically and sourcing food locally are traditions that, for some folk, have never stopped. "Go Slow France" celebrates fascinating people, fine architecture, history, landscape and real food. You will find places of ravishing beauty, of vast age, where you can eat like emperors. We celebrate the endearing eccentricities of these really special places to stay, and the vivacious hospitality of their owners. Visit them and you will drink wine from their own vineyards, eat vegetables from their own potagers and bread and patisseries from their own kitchens. Bon Voyage!