La Verte Campagne has menus from £15-£30 a head. It also has five rooms from £43 a night with breakfast at £5 a head.

La Conterie - cookery school and outside catering

Former London caterer Jan Rhodenbaugh is also cooking up a storm in Normandy. She does outside catering and runs a cookery school at her petit chateau.

Jan, 55, and her husband Peter, 66, used to live in Notting Hill, London, but fell in love with La Conterie in St Denis Le Gast while visiting friends in Normandy in 2002.

She offers individually tailored cookery classes from £550 for four nights. This includes all meals and wines. You can choose to learn all about certain aspects of cooking – like producing incredible deserts. “I have always loved French markets, and am now able to visit them regularly. Plus I get the tranquillity and beauty of the area, clean air, and being close to the sea,” says Jan.

Restaurant du Delice - fish and chips!

Most Brits holiday in France for French food. If they wanted fish and chips they would go to the Costas. Wrong! A British couple run a traditional French café but they have found that a fry up night is popular with expats and the Frenchies.

For a real taste of home you need to visit the Restaurant du Delice in Gavray (00 332 3351 6114) on a Friday evening when they serve some of the world’s best fish and chips for £7. The rest of the week they are only open for lunch.

Nicky and Patrick Hilyer bought the restaurant four years ago and have doubled the turnover. What is the secret of their success? “Our food is better than the French restaurants,” says Patrick proudly. “The locals have even taken to fish and chips and we sadly have to turn people away each week.”

They moved over from Essex with their two children – Sam, 13, and Rosie, 12 – for a better live and to be near Nicky’s parents, who had already carved out a new life in Normandy.

If you fancy a pint of Guinness you should head to the Vive La Difference bar (00 332 3345 4613) in Montpinchon run by Brits Peter and Pat Hill. It is a popular French bar, but has many British bar touches in the decor.

My place: Le Castel – chateau guest house near Coutances

Le Castel is a classic Napoleon III chateau with twin turrets and six ensuite rooms set in four acres of parkland near the cathedral city of Coutances.

I can hear the sigh of relief at the end of the phone when I tell British callers that they can speak English. As we know, Britons and Americans are seriously awful when it comes to languages. As with the other Britons in Normany, I can give guests all the insider tips on what to see and they can plan their stay.

Our food is pretty much 100 per cent French: I get so many comments about my home grown carrots. We are also one of the few places that happily cater for vegetarians. Recently TV chef John Burton Race stayed and did a cookery demonstration and this autumn, I'll be running French lifestyle courses. On the course you will learn all the skills you need for a holiday...or to move to France.

It will be a language course with a lot of added extras. It will prepare you for daily life and will also teach you how to cook and understand French etiquette, which can be very complex.”

Rooms cost from £75 - £100, B&B. There's a two-bed, two-bath, gite from £375 for a week self catering. And the week-long course French course with tuition, accommodation, outings, meals and wines will be £1,200.

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