In reply to Offwidth:
> "If the weather is crap, there isn't much to do in the area, apart from the Chateau, or get a train into Paris"
It depends very much what you're into. Apart from the boulders, I think the whole of Northern France is basically hell on earth, but even worse as the people are less diverse.
> The forest is delightful for walking and cycling almost any time
Boring.
> and the French love their history and culture (and sadly the English too often ignore it all):
I don't love their history and culture.
> you could spend months exploring small monuments and villages...
Uh huh.
> Then you get to drink and eat at reasonable prices for the high quality in lovely places.
Although I've had some really delicious stuff in bistros in the area, and I liked that place with the simple food and huge portions at Dame Juanne, I've also been presented with some of the most disgusting dishes I've encountered in my lifetime. For you sir, we have the small portion of tagliatelle hidden under a mountain of kidneys and covered in a bucket of double cream. There was probably some garlic in there as well as the kidneys and cream, but it was basically just kidneys and cream. This was part of a menu in which every dish was themed around cream and cheese. Apart from the food, it was a lovely bistro...