Situated in the south-western corner of France between the Gironde estuary and the Spanish border, the region known as the Aquitaine has probably the strongest and the most traditional links with Great Britain than any other part of the "Hexagone". In fact, ever since Aliénor of Aquitaine wed the future Henry II Plantagenet and gave England two kings in Richard I (Lionheart) and his brother, John, and later, during the "hundred years war", when Edward, the Black Prince, was writing his own part of history, the British have always had a soft spot for this region, an understandable soft spot that has been maintained to this day.

Understandable because, as is so often the case with France's different regions, the five départements which form the Aquitaine have many faces, each one attractive in its own right. The most meridional of the départements, the Pyrénées-Atlantiques comprises two contrasting landscapes, the gently rolling green hills and vales on the basque side and the craggy breathtaking mountains as we approach the béarnaise part.

Moving northwards we soon encounter the Landes département, where millions of acres of maritime pine trees were planted at the end of the nineteenth century to stabilise the forever moving sand dunes. This became quite simply the largest forest in Europe.Then follow marshland and lakes for as far as there's land and the Gironde estuary marries the Atlantic ocean.

To the east, towards the Lot-et-Garonne and the Dordogne, we first meet the alluvial plaines of the rivers Garonne and Gironde then, successively, vineyards and farmland where fruit, vegetables and cereals are cultivated. This highly agricultural landscape only gives way to the chalk cliffs of the Périgord plateau and it is now great oak and chestnut forests that dominate the views and accompany us into the heart of the Quercy.

Weatherwise, the Aquitaine tends to have mild winters and the ocean winds and the Gulf Stream bring a breath of fresh air in summer when the temperatures soar.

Spring too is mild with frequent showers readily welcomed by the wine producers and the farmers and autumn is essentially the back end of the long summers, often punctuated by dramatic storms in the later months.