Dreaming in Dijon

Visitors to France spend relaxing evenings in street-side restaurants enjoying the ambiance, food and wine and dream of a getaway place in France, but it is usually just that, a dream, seldom acted upon.
While on such a visit to France, self-confessed Francophile, Alan Shattock and his wife, Sandra, took the plunge and bought an old belle maison française in the small Burgundy village of Charrey-sur-Saône, near Dijon. This is an amusing, true and quirky story of the amazing coincidences and events before and after the purchase, the practicalities and disasters, and of villagers who came to the rescue. It is an engaging memoir that shares with readers the author’s experiences of buying a place in France and of becoming accepted into the community. It gives positive encouragement and justification to those who dare to ignore the cautions given on television about buying that Place in the France, and especially to those who dare to do so when armed with little French.
Alan Shattock recounts the extraordinary series of seemingly fatalistic coincidences that led to the eventual purchase of la belle maison, and, along the way enthuses about the influences of his parents during childhood visits to Burgundy in search of wine dealers. It is a wonderful account of village and family life at the table and at play and, above all, it is an illustration of the importance of the French lifestyle, the Gallic sense of friendship, camaraderie and neighbourliness - splendidly described in “Dreaming in Dijon".

CHAPTERS
Prologue - Let there be Light from the Hatchet Man in Esbarres
1. A trip to France is arranged. - Shambolic arrival for a holiday at a friend’s house north of Dijon
2. Dreaming in Dijon - Markets and an Immobilier’s fateful brochure – we keep seeing the idyllic house
3. Place St. Pierre - We find the house by chance and get a preliminary viewing.
4. With a View to Temptation - The fatalistic full viewing
5. An Interlude in Beaune - Childhood influences of holidays in France with parents, Chateau Gaillard, the Atalanta Motor Company, the impossible building of a wine cellar
6. The Deal is Done - Our bluff is called - decision time - the Promesse de vente
7. L’Act de Vente - How not to buy a French property - Raclette and swimming pool lessons
8. Journey by Jeep – Return to Reality; A marathon by boat; The nightmare starts; The disappearing credit card; How not to equip a French house in three days - A very large petite dégustation de vin - Farewell dinner party with Josette and Yves
9. Journey by Jeep, Part Deux – It can’t get any worse! - But it does, much worse
10. On the Owl’s Trail. More ‘brocantes’ and ‘Trocs’ – Notre Dame and other sites along the trail of the ‘Lucky owl of Dijon’.
11. Geneva calls for Painting with two Marks - A Swiss non-entente cordial - The Mayor’s favourite colour and a five-course dessert.
12. Vive la piscine - Tribulations of running a pool - lessons in solar heating
13. Hot Cars and a French Party - Perils of car-hire – Friends arrive to celebrate - a pre-Quatorze knees-up
14. Le Quatorze Juillet Tournoi de Petanque - The French at play - The Mayor gives presents – Serious boules and a challenge - Four courses of duck at Le Moulin aux Canards – Fireworks at the village dance.
15. Ireland vs France – 13 nil, but who cares? - The French ply us with drink, food and alcohol to beat us at boules
16. Barbecue and Fireworks by the Saône - The Eve of Le Quatorze Juillet a year later
17. Les Routes des Grands Crus - Wines direct from a producer
18. Childhood Memories Revisited -- A trip across France in a bubble car to Lods and a 3-star lunch with chef Alexandre Dumaine at Saulieu
19. A Short Tour of Beaujolais
20. A Four-Course PicnicPicnic in a Junk-yard - Turning a village into a scrap-yard and dining alfresco with finesse
21. Disaster! Neighbours, Mayor and fire-brigade to the rescue.
Epilogue - Neighbours, more important than French?