Fabulous France
Fabulous France is the culmination of 20 years experience and just two people with a flair for restoring derelict properties across the Loire and Burgundy Regions of France thanks to Yannick's amazing talents as a builder and electrician and Katherine, who had a vision, a drive to succeed and a longing to share the secrets of this amazing country with others.
Yannick has spent every waking hour over the last 2 decades mastering the skills of all the main trades to create beautifully crafted homes that have been successfully sold or rented. No problem has been too much for him to solve or redesign and his expertise is always on hand to make the guests feel safe and secure in their surroundings.
As well as being all of the above he is also a Pilot on Luxury Hotel Barges that cruise up and down the Burgundy Canals through to Champagne and on to the Alsace. He also drives the Tour Buses that collect clients from the chic Parisian Hotels, delivering them to their Barges where they are then taken cruising through the spectacular scenery of the waterways of France.
Katherine always dreamt of creating beautiful homes and inviting others to enjoy them, sharing all things French. Having spent her childhood years on holidays in the South, taking in the taste, smell and colours of all the produce in the markets, (but too young to enjoy the wine!), it influenced her decision to leave England when she was just 22 and set out on an adventure that she would not come back from. Meeting up and marrying Yannick whom she met in a local village not a thousand miles away from their first building project.
Building and restoring, ‘Le Four a Pain,’ a 100 year old village bakers whetted their appetites for repeating similar projects in different areas of France, and finally come to rest in Burgundy where Katherine had been working as a successful Chef for the American/French Barging Company.
Together, they found, ‘La Ferme de la Lochere.’ Finally they could have a home and bring up their now expanding family and run Bespoke Culinary and Wine Adventures, Private Rentals and Bed & Breakfast.
Katherine still commutes from her local train station Montbard to London on Eurostar, her very successful bespoke Chef services are in high demand both sides of the channel for private clients, parties and Weddings. She has even been known to fly over to the USA for private clients in Beverley Hills, New York and Memphis, and with more and more clients booking her services it looks set to expand.
Included in the BBC Good Food magazine and providing Special Occasion Recipes in the newspapers has been a great way for Katherine to share her ideas. Using combinations of ingredients, styles and tastes from all over the world, creating recipes that are easy to follow and reproduce at home.
She is now the Culinary contributor for a very chic internet company www.bacchuslucullus.com which gives her the freedom to really get creative. The products available on the site are sourced from around the world as are the wines the results are sublime! Here is the link taking you straight to her page http://www.bacchuslucullus.com/boutique/site/en/recettes.htm
A pioneer for all things locally and fairly sourced, Katherine created a range of ready prepared meals for farm shop, ‘Foxbury Farms,’ who have since gone on to win many awards, have been featured in Country Living Magazine and where Katherine still holds Cookery Demonstrations.
From all this exposure it was only a matter of time before a TV company asked for a screen test and whilst it was exciting and the potential enormous, for now France and her clients are the main priority as well as her young children.
However, never one to be idyll Katherine is to hold cookery demonstrations in the UK and the US as well as just launching her own exciting spice range after a recent trip to the Spice Plantations in India inspired her to create her own blends.
With all this passion from Katherine and her team of experts, surrounded by Vineyards and the splendor of the Burgundy countryside it is just the perfect place to explore and learn the secrets of this hidden jewel of France.
