Interviews

Laurent Portuguez leads a team of 10 full-time gardeners at the 100% organic Château de Villandry. He talks to Jane Hanks about the scale of his job

You may recognise him from topical shows such as Les Terriens du Dimanche on C8, but what makes satirist Tanguy Pastureau laugh? Jane Hanks finds out

Jacqueline Yallop lived the French rural dream rearing pigs then wrote a book about it. The author told Jane Hanks about how her porcine passion changed the way she looked at both farming and food 

Eco activist Yannick Jadot savaged the government for failing to ban glyphosate and buckling under to the agro-chemical lobby but such direct challenges are normal for a man who led Greenpeace campaigns against nuclear arms. The Europe Ecologie MEP tells Samantha David of the need for a green society that makes everyday life better

All Black legend Dan Carter says he thought nothing could match winning the Rugby World Cup in 2015... but that was until he won France’s Top 14 championship with Racing 92.

France lures people from many countries and we will meet some of them in this occasional series. Writer Rosie Richards is first – and talks of her long love affair with her new home town to Justin Postlethwaite

Two pilots who bought a plane to be able to save migrants in the Mediterranean say they were inspired by the work of the rescue charity group SOS-Mediterranée. We speak to one of its founders, Klaus Vogel, on what else needs to be done to stop the deaths

Jane Hanks talks to successful home chef Ollie Timberlake about her path to a life in Burgundy, how UK chefs’ reputation is changing and why France is food heaven

Jane Hanks talks to award-winning coffee roaster (torréfactrice) Anne Caron about the bean-to-cup process

Author Adam Thorpe speaks to Jane Hanks about French country life and the expat experience