Cookham to Cannes - Brent Tyler

Strange but true… it is a label that could be stuck on the front cover of many accounts of life in France but this quirky book makes it a fine selling point.

It is a little helter-skelter in the early stages as we find the depths of hopelessness that Brent and wife Debbie find themselves in before heading to France for ‘a new start’.

Picking up odd jobs, setting up new ones, they seem to find more work than a dole office hands out and it is all told in an amusing, self-deprecating way. All through there is the feeling that everyone bar them is mad… but they are not immune themselves.

It is very hard to dislike the hard-working but seemingly hapless couple who find both work and time to play. If you fancy working in a chateau or looking after an empty villa for a while… this is the how-to manual for how to cope with both house and owners, providing both parties are mad in the first place.