FRENCH JOURNEY - PROGRAMME 1

MONTAGNE NOIRE - CAMPING

Where to go to totally wind down? David has gone east to a place that's called le Bout du Monde [literally, the end of the world]. That really seems to be the ideal place.

David:  Is anyone there?

Martine:  Yes?  Did you sleep well?

David:  Very well, thank you

Martine:  Despite the cockerel and the geese?

David:  Very, very well

Martine:  Come on, Marc, we must give him some croissants

David:  Thank you very much. 

Martine:  Our lovely croissants!

David:  See you later

David:  Martine and Marc...how long have you been married?

Martine:  Thirty years

Marc:  Twenty-nine!

David:  And how did you meet?

Martine:  At Shepherds' School.  It's a national school for breeding sheep, but it's known internationally.

Marc:  Martine was the first shepherdess, because up until then... 

Martine:  Shepherd. There have always been shepherdesses.....

Marc:  …they didn't take women in the school.  Yes, she forced them. She said, "But I work like a man".  And there we are, they took her, she was the first.

Martine:   He was a normal shepherd and I was a fast-track shepherd - that's to say on a fast-track course.

Marc:  Shorter.

Martine:  Better suited to my nature.

David:  Yes, Marc's a bit slow.

Martine:  He is from Alsace.

David:  Did your course prepare you well for living here?

Martine:  It did. First we raised animals but now we raise tourists!

Martine's realm is the kitchen. Crayfish, fished just next door, are on today's menu.

Martine:  They're vicious because the weather is bad.  When there's going to be a storm they nip your fingers.  A pinch of salt like this, and they'll stop suffering.

Marc:  Is it table six?

Martine:  It's number one, I think

Marc:  Our aim is to make good products with good ingredients.  Products which have flavour.  Finding something different which reminds people of a taste from their past.

Martine:  One client said, "I've rediscovered the taste of veal I knew as a child".

David:  This isn't a normal guest house...or a normal campsite - there's something special here.   

Martine:  We're way up in the mountains, so we try to entertain people and give everyone a purpose to their day.  There's a little tennis court and a swimming pool.  There's a paddling pool, ponies freely available.  We have 21 ponies just waiting to be ridden wherever you like, and free.

Marc is an ideal host. He loves children. 

Marc:  And now we add the salt, and we're going to mix it right in.  

He makes bread at least twice a week. David hurries to get his hands in the dough. 

Marc:  And now we mix like this.  Come on.  Right down to the bottom, everyone.  Now everyone has a little ball to knead.  Mr David.   

David:  Thank you

Marc:  Go on, you knead it, you turn it and you fold it.  Our bread will be good!  Ah, Mr David, keep going.  So Mr David, now we're going to shape it.  You can make a round or a French stick.  Or with two, you can make a plait.  That's a nice plait, isn't it?

David:  Then you have to marry them.

Child:  You'll have to marry them.

Marc:  Just married!

David:  Et voilà!

It's a family story. Their daughter, Sophie, has created a method to teach children to ride horses.

Sophie:  The children want to ride, want to gallop like an Indian or a cowboy on the TV.  But naturally the horses frighten them.  So we do archery on horseback as you see.  Having to hold the bow which is big and heavy gives them problems, so they concentrate on holding the bow and aiming it and forget they're on a horse.

David:  Does this method work for adults?

Sophie:  Of course.  We created it for children, but realise that adults are also very interested.

David:  Personally, I'm a little scared.

Sophie:  Don't worry.  I've got just the horse for you.

Copyright BBC 2000