Why is it that the continental Pere Noel, St Nikolaus or Santa Claus cuts so
much more charismatic a figure than our own podgy Father Christmas? Go to
France, for instance, and Pere Noel is ubiquitous, shinning up drainpipes,
clambering into upstairs windows, or represented by a pair of fat red legs
waving from a chimney top.
Strangely the mannequins used to achieve this effect seem, like such
fastidious avian species as black redstarts and middle spotted woodpeckers,
to stop at the French coast. I have yet to see one on our side of the
English Channel.
In Britain Christmas illuminations seem to fall into two categories - the
municipally mean-minded and the commercially sponsored but garishly
ill-judged. Our standards of Christmas street decoration had deteriorated so
much that a few years ago the parks department of Boulogne-sur-mer
despatched their team of exterior decorators to give Folkestone a
much-needed seasonal makeover with swags of white-painted brushwood,
white-frosted Christmas trees and other ornamental left-overs from their
Christmas kit. Even now quite small French towns are likely to show more
striking and imaginative illuminations than Britan's principal shopping
streets.
Of course the biggest incentive for going to the continent for Christmas
shopping remains the lower rates of duty on alcohol. The limit on what you
can bring back for personal consumption (that includes anything you are
giving away as gifts, or at Christmas and New Year parties) is really the
quantity you can safely carry in your vehicle. It is wise to check the
weight limits carefully, because Kent police have been known to set traps
for overladen vehicles. Bear in mind that a case of wine or beer weighs
about 17kg, champagne (because of the heavier bottles) 22kg.
Customs do publish guidelines of what they consider reasonable - suggesting 90
litres of wine, 110 litres of beer and 10 litres of spirits - but these are
guidelines, not limits and customs do not, in fact, enforce strict limits.
Their quarry is really those frequent travellers who are using booze cruises
to fuel illicit businneses in Britain, illegally selling on imported alcohol
which is supposed to be only for personal use.
WINE IN FRANCE
There is no need to shop around the big sheds that surround Calais hunting for
bargain wines. My advice is to head straight to one of the two branches of Wine
& Beer World, the continental arm of Majestic Wine Warehouses
where Cave des Fleurs Dry White for example, a good value party wine from a
reputable co-op in southern France, is sold at £1.09 a bottle. That is
actually substantially less than the duty alone which is levied on any any
bottle bought in the UK - a thumping £1.30. |Wine & Beer World's La
Mancha Red comes in cheaper still - just 99p a bottle.
It is the duty and VAT, of course, which explains why an established Majestic
best buy, such as the Spanish La Serrana Tempranillo, is only £1.49 in
France yet considered “great value” in Britain at £2.99 - that is, twice the
price.
My other recommended best buys from the wine shelves would certainly include
the wholly reliable Casillero del Diablo range from Chile’s exceptionally
skilful wine house, Concha y Toro. Buy six and the Cabernet Sauvignon,
Shiraz, Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc are £2.99 a bottle. The best prices
you can get at Majestic in Britain range from £4.39 to £4.79.
Savings do not stop at wine, of course. Majestic’s entry price Oak Cask Scotch
Whisky is £6.99 a single bottle in France, £11.49 in Britain. Stella Artois
is £1 a litre or less in France, and up to three times that price from
Majestic in Britain.
It is worth noting also that you can pre-order from Wine and Beer World on
01923 298297 or by visiting their website, www.wineandbeer.co.uk , and if
you pre-order £300 worth or more you can have a free day return ferry
crossing from Dover to Calais by car, or £30 off if that is what you would
you prefer or if you use the Channel Tunnel.
TOBACCO IN BELGIUM
Belgium’s prime incentive to travel is that other indulgent vice - tobacco,
rather than alcohol. The French having finally hiked their tax on tobacco up
in 2004, Belgium is now the cheapest Channel-side source (though, if you can
get there, Luxembourg is cheaper still). Adinkerke, just
across the French border between Dunkerque and Ostend, is the outlet
favoured by most British shoppers, and veterans of the trip say it is worth
paying in £ sterling cash rather than by credit card or in euros. Expect to
pay about £27.50 for 200 cigarettes, or £2.90 for a 50g pack of Golden
Virginia.
GIFT WRAPPED
Having dealt with the economies on the seasonal commodities, let us now turn
to the finer points of continental shopping. Gift wrapping, for a start. In
France, in small town centre shops, you will frequently be asked whether
something is “pour offrir?” Say “oui”, and they gift wrap it, when in
Britain you would be lucky to get so much as a paper bag. Some French
hypermarkets also now offer gift-wrapping services which leave British
retailers standing.
I have been offered (and have usually accepted) gift wrapping on items as
diverse and awkward as melamine trays, glass ornaments, Le Creuset cookpots,
electrical goods and French cheeses, as well as on more obvious gift items
such as buche de Noel (Yule log) cakes, fine china and lingerie.
GIFT HORSES IN CALAIS...
In actual ranges of goods on offer, the hypermarkets do not leave British
retailers trailing to the extent that they did a few years ago - but
Christmas food bargains worthy of special attention include whole hams and
sides of smoked salmon, while you can score savings on everything from
butter and sardines to television sets, DIY equipment, garden furniture,
sportswear, shoes and children’s clothes.
Auchan and Leclerc are my favourite
hypermarkets and there are out-of-town superstores of both easily accessible
from all the French Channel ports, but for Christmas food specialities, such
as cheeses, charcuterie, foie gras, Christmas cakes and pastries, marrons
glacees and chocolates, I much prefer to use the town centre specialists,
where quality is usually appreciably higher.
In Calais that means a round of La Maison du Fromage et des Vins
at 1, rue Andre Gerschel, just off the Place d’Armes; Fred (patisserie)
and Aux Delices de Calais (chocs) in Boulevard Jacquard;
and Blaise (patisserie) and Maffrand
(charcuterie) in the rue des Fontinettes, inland behind the town theatre.
...AND IN BOULOGNE
Boulogne still just has the edge on Calais for food shops, special favourites
being Philippe Olivier in rue Thiers for cheeses, and Bourgeois
(no 1, Grande Rue) for charcuterie.
EATING IN CALAIS AND BOULOGNE
If time permits a restaurant visit during your shopping trip, my top
recommendation at present would be Bernard Lefebrvre’s nautically-styled Au
Cote d’Argent at 1 digue Gaston-Berthe out by the harbour
entrance and beach in Calais. It is closed on Sunday evening and Mondays,
and the telephone number is 0033 321 34 68 07.
I have rather gone off an old favourite, Le Channel, since its owners, the
Crespo family, lifted it out its enchanting time-warp and gave it a rather
brutally egotistical modern décor, so my alternatives now would be the
charming La Pleiade at 32 rue Jean Quehen (0033 321 34 03
70) or the convivial Histoire Ancienne at 20 rue Royale
(0033 321 34 11 20). Unfortunately, like Cote d’Argent, both are closed on
Mondays.
In Boulogne town the best choices lie between the Hamiot
brasserie at 1 rue Faidherbe (0033 321 31 44 20) or Les Pecheurs
d’Etaples’ seafood restaurant in the Grande Rue
opposite Place Dalton (0033 321 30 29 29).
Those for whom the eating out is a prime purpose of the trip, and who are
prepared to devote two to three hours to the meal, are recommended to turn
off the motorway between Calais and Boulogne and try the gastronomic
delights at La Brocante by the church in Wimille (0033 321 83 19 31 - closed
Monday) or the Michelin-starred Epicure at 1, rue Pompidou in Wimereux
(closed Wednesday evening and Sunday). Neither is likely to disappoint.
MORE TIPS
My enthusiasm for France should not, though, blind us to the attractions of
the other continental counries to which a pre-Christmas visit might prove
timely. There is little doubt that Belgium is the place for spice breads,
sweetmeats, and ginger biscuits (especially recommended are the branches of
J Dandoy, provisioner to the Belgian Royal Family) and chocolates (my
favourites in Brussels, and with branches elsewhere, include Neuhaus,
Wittamer, Pierre Marcolini and Corne Toison d’Or).
And surprisingly a recent Europe-wide survey carried out by
www.pricerunner.com claimed that a standard shopping list of 11 Christmas
gifts (including an iPod, a Sony PlayStation, a Harry Potter book, a chart
CD and bottle of champagne) would come cheapest not from France, Belgium or
even Luxembourg, but from Germany, costing only £821.41 there compared with
£890 in the UK.
