-
France set to pass emergency ‘budget law’: is it good or bad for your finances?
The country will effectively be without a budget from 2025, with knock-on effects for individuals and companies
-
Festive French phrases and words for the Christmas period
Joyeux Noël tout le monde - your vocabulary guide to get you through the festive season
-
EasyJet announces nine new flight routes from France including to UK
A service from Bordeaux to Birmingham is among the new announcements
French home’s huge Christmas decorations attract thousands of visitors
The 22-year-old creator of a winter wonderland – which took six weeks and €15,000 to create – says seeing children and parents ‘happy makes me even happier’
Christmas decorations on a house in Pas-de-Calais, northern France, are attracting up to 800 visitors every night, after taking more than a month and a half and up to €15,000 to install.
Many of us may trim our homes with a few outdoor Christmas lights and call it a day for exterior decor, but 22-year-old Hugo Capron in Neuvireuil (Pas-de-Calais) has gone much, much further.
His decorations include a light-up Ferris wheel, light-up reindeer and penguins, a fake snowmaker, roof lights, huge baubles, a gilded archway and even matching Christmas music.
His mini “Christmas grotto”, which will be up for all of December, is now attracting up to 800 people per night, with parents bringing their children to enjoy the lights, dance to the music, and take photos amid the glow
À Neuvireuil, Hugo Capron fait briller les fêtes de Noël avec sa déco de folie https://t.co/PYMo2RIvjt pic.twitter.com/bdCf7WW2jD
— VDN Saint-Pol (@vdnsaintpol) December 18, 2021
Mr Capron told FranceInfo that Christmas decorations “are his passion”, and said he had originally spent €10,000-€15,000 on the decor some seven years ago when he was just a teenager.
This year, he invested an extra €1,500 to update and repair some, and started planning the 2021 display more than six weeks ago.
He said: “Seeing children and parents happy makes me even happier, and [the] work I've done serves a purpose. Even if the [lights] are really expensive, I'll generally leave but then go back and buy them two or three days later anyway.”
Related stories
Health advisors call for New Year Covid restrictions in France
Bordeaux to have glass and steel Christmas tree instead of 'dead tree'
Did you know? Strasbourg was France's first Christmas market