Thanks, letour:

I've traded a few email messages with the directrice today. She's not sure if they will have a room available in the chateau or related building for the only week I would be able to attend (last week of August), but I'll know on Monday.

Since letour answered for <i>Millefeuille Provence</i>, I'll try to answer for the <i>Ecole des Trois Ponts</i>.

Rigour: The teachers we encountered at <i>3 Ponts</i> were excellent, and quite capable of teaching at any needed level. They were very thoughtful about French, and knowledgeable about grammar, etymology, details of pronunciation, and so on. There's an issue in any group class, though, of the level of the other students. We had a very advanced student in my group, a woman from Quebec, who had done substantial studies at the Universit&eacute; de Laval, and who was quite fluent in French (although she had a pronounced Canadian French accent).

She was initially put in with my group of advanced students, but after the first lesson, switched to private lessons for the remainder of the week. I don't know if she decided to pay for the switch, or if the school covered the extra cost of the private lessons based on being unable to put her in a group with students who were similarly advanced. I believe that at the end of the week, she was quite satisfied with her studies in both cooking and French. You might just ask the school what their policy is if they are unable to assemble a group of students who match your level reasonably closely.

The rooms: we paid the supplement for a larger room, and were put in Room A, a very large corner room. My wife saw a different room at one point, and it was quite a bit smaller. I would describe Room A as first-class accommodations - very large, with high ceilings, chairs, a desk, and big windows. In the bathroom, hot water arrived instantly - the room turned out to back up to the utility room which contained the water heater.

<i>Les moustiques</i>: We were there September 19-25, 2004, and there were some mosquitoes, but not in enormous numbers. Our large windows had no screens, and if we left them open in the evening, a few mosquitoes came in (not all that many, I think in part because all the guest rooms are on the second floor, and let me add <i>la premi&egrave;re &eacute;tage</i>, to be unambiguous). But after the first night, we discovered that we could leave the windows open all day, to keep the room well aired, as long as we closed them before dusk. By doing that, we got no mosquitoes in the room.

I'll bet you'll have a great time no matter which you pick.

- Larry

Thank you so much for posting about this school! I am so excited to learn about this course - I've gone on their website and it sounds ideal. Now, to find a good time to go...! Maybe next year.

I apologize in advance if I missed it, but does anyone know of a plan like this located in Paris? The school in Roanne sounds wonderful, but I'm thinking if I did this, it would be just me and I might prefer the city.

I just told my neighbor last night that I want to take French AND learn to cook French dishes, and I'll probably start on it here in the US. But I think doing it in France would be such an experience.

I'm not aware of a school like Ecole des Trois Ponts here in Paris, but there are ways you could combine courses to create such a programme. I think there are several schools that offer language classes plus a few afternoon workshops focusing on cooking. A better option, if you understand spoken French fairly well, would be to sign up for the relatively inexpensive cooking courses run by the school called Atelier des Chefs. Go to www.atelierdeschefs.com. They seem to offer a lot of classes, of varying lengths, on a daily basis at several locations. My husband and I are thinking of taking a few classes this year. There are of course the famous schools like the Cordon Bleu and the Ritz, which offer sessions in English and French.

An interesting and helpful thread - thanks to all who have posted!

Thanks, Kate, for the Atelier site. I really do plan on starting French classes, so maybe by the time I go back to France, I'll speak it well enough to take a cooking class!

irishiningo: Good luck with your French studies. As a supplement to any lessons you take (or for those who learn languages easily on their own), I recommend the BBC Active Language series, The French Experience. Go to http://www.bbcactive.com/languages/ I like it because it combines grammar and vocabulary exercises with lots of information about culture throughout the French-speaking world. It makes for an entertaining, as well as educational, resource. The various components of the programme include books, audio CDs and tapes, the BBC TV series for purchase, grammar guides, etc. The &quot;Teach Yourself&quot; series is also good.

I confirmed my booking for Millefeuille Provence. I really need this &quot;holiday&quot;. It has been a very stressful year, full of good and bad stress (new house, wedding, new job, changing countries, leaving new husband behind for two months because I had to start work right away, finding another place to live, realisation that new job was terrible in some important respects, brutal hours and then - le pire - the sudden serious illness and death of my mother, far away in Canada). For me, a study break like this immersion programme is something to recharge my batteries. I'm looking forward to it a lot.

I'll report on my experience when I get back. Thanks, letour and justretired, for your input.

bkm

Hi Kate &amp; All,
Sorry not to have seen your questions sooner, but I was away for the weekend.

It looks like Larry did a good job answering your questions for you- -thanks, Larry!

Kate, I know we'll all be eager to hear a report on your stay at Millefeuille Provence-- have a great time!

Kate,
Sorry to hear of the many stressors of your past year--that's alot to contend with! I'm not sure that MF is a pure vacation, but it will certainly give you a chance to have a change of scene and some other things to focus on. The woman who does their taxi service, should you take a cab from the Avignon TGV to MF is also very much worth speaking with. A real sweetie! Have a lovely time and all best wishes,
letour

bookmarking...for a future trip! sounds wonderful

bookmarking for future trip and daydreaming.

In an earlier reply to this post, I gave the URL of a report on our visit to <i>Ecole des Trois Ponts</i> which is on my personal web site. I've now relocated that site, so the report is now at:

http://ljkrakauer.com/france04/

Larry