Interactive map: Read a compendium of Anthony Peregrine's France
The public sector is insurgent and Top Gear is back on TV. It is time to take refuge, like Eleanor before us, in Aquitaine. Just try to beat me there. Aquitaine isn’t so much a unified region as a great slab of French country life spread over farmland and rivers, hills, vineyards and villages. The long view is endemic.
Some small towns would still be recognisable to Hundred Years warriors. So would the diet. So would much of the landscape and many of the people. In the circumstances, anything happening beyond the land (Greek tragedies, Monaco weddings) is merely a passing phase. This is a place of essentials.
But a big place, withal. We’re choosing the Basque bit, where the Pyrenees decline to the Atlantic in the deep southwest. Basque country is both a distillation of the best of rural Aquitaine and entirely distinct from it. And from everywhere else, for that matter. Basques have been farming here since the Stone Age — ample time to imprint hillsides and valleys with substantial homesteads, a jaw-breaking language and an open sense of exclusivity.
The lunatic fringe exasperates, but lunatics usually do, and they’re mainly across in Spanish Basque country. On the French side, identity is more a question of food, fishing, family and rooted festivity. I’ll be waiting for you.
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The plan
The battered Basque coast is brilliant but busy. We’ll be based slightly inland. Civilisation and landscape roll up mountains and down valleys, forming a settled, seamless entity. The white walls and red woodwork of farms and houses leave no doubt to whom this country belongs. It expects respect and gives it in return.
The initial task is to slow down. Basques have got this far by keeping things strong but simple. Follow suit. Share the villages — Sare, Espelette, Ainhoa — with them. Walk the hills and mountain pastures. Eat nearby. Investigate local festivals, though be discriminating: Basque folk-dancing is as infernal as any other.
Then... well, I’m suggesting four options. First, to the coast at Guéthary, the vast beaches of Hendaye, for surfing, or, best of all, the bay at St-Jean-de-Luz, where discerning Basques bathe.
Second, a trip up the 3,000ft Rhune, the region’s emblematic mountain, served, rather handily, by a cog railway. Coolest thing is to take the train up from Col de St Ignace (£12.60, one-way; www.rhune.com), then walk the two hours back down. It is very stupid to do the reverse, believe me. Look out for magnificent views, wild pottok ponies and cheap booze and fags in the lonely bar on the Spanish side of the frontier, which bisects the summit.
Third, take a longer trip via St-Jean-Pied-de-Port. Curve up (and up) to the Iraty forest — Europe’s grandest beech wood — and on for a trek along the remote Kakouetta gorges.
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This will give you a taste for wilder action. So, fourth, nip to Bidarray — a village centre for mountain and wild-water pursuits: rafting, climbing, biking, hiking, canyoning, you name it. Try Arteka (00 33 5 59 37 71 34, arteka-eh.com), an English-speaking outfit offering half-day adventures from £13.50.
Villas and hotels
To stay properly in inland Basque country, you need a big old house (or a big new house built like an old house) in countryside or a village with views to the mountains.
Alternative Aquitaine (01395 576655, alternative-aquitaine.com) has a good selection. This includes the Maison d’Olivier, a modern five-bedroom farmhouse back from the coast at Urrugne. What with peace, pool and the required views, you’ll be basking in Basqueness. A summer week costs £3,260.
You might also look at Gîtes de France’s large local choice (00 33 5 59 11 20 64, gites-de-france.com). It has a good number of reasonably priced rural places that will have you favouring a life as a Pyrenean shepherd. And, from Saturday until August 6, it’s offering 50% off a second week in certain properties. Alternatively, Travelzest (0800 171 2160, travelzest.com) has a 200-year-old farmhouse sleeping seven outside Méharin; from £355 to £711 for a week.
Hotels here are mainly born-and-bred Basque. Many have been in the same family since the last ice age. But don’t worry: the best have absolutely contemporary standards, so no fear of grandad’s bedding. My choices would be the Oppoca, in Ainhoa (00 33-5 59 29 90 72, oppoca.com; doubles from £76 in low season and £85 in high); the Arcé, in St-Etienne-de-Baïgorry (05 59 37 40 14, hotel-arce.com; doubles from £112/£130); and, for tighter budgets, the friendly two-star Eskualduna, in St-Martin-d’Arrossa (05 59 37 73 39, logishotels.com; doubles from £57/£72, B&B). All have excellent restaurants. Otherwise they’d go under.
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Food
My French wife, who generally has the appetite of a goldfinch, never stops eating in Basque country. Bayonne ham, piperade, Ossau-Iraty ewe’s-milk cheese, stuffed peppers — the speed of the mouth defeats the eye. “Simplest, most honest and best in France,” she says, reaching for more gâteau basque.
She’s right, of course. The stuff comes from hillside or ocean, picks up a bit of spice and moves directly onto the plate. Happiest place to find it is the market, notably in St-Jean-Pied-de-Port on Mondays. While there, nip to Brana or the Domaine Arretxea, in nearby Irouléguy, for the necessary, mainly red wines — also called Irouléguy.
Or forget self-catering and follow the locals to country restaurants. The surroundings are usually uplifting. Some of the better establishments give a stylish twist to ancestral dishes. The Oppoca (as above; bistro menu from £14, restaurant £45) is a fine example. So, when you’ve found it, is La Ferme Gourmande, in Ossès (05 59 37 77 32; menus from £27). In the same village, the Mendi Alde (05 59 37 71 78, hotel-mendi-alde.fr; menus from £15) is another cracking spot for axoa (veal stew) or spit-roasted lamb.
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Over in Itxassou, you’ll find the terraces of both the Fronton (05 59 29 75 10, hotelrestaurantfronton.com; menus from £18) and Le Chêne (05 59 29 75 01; menus from £15) full of folk whose farms you can see. Don’t overlook, either, the Euzkadi, in the red-pepper capital, Espelette (05 59 93 91 88, hotel-restaurant-euzkadi.com; menus from £16), or the Argia, in Hasparren (05 59 29 60 24, hotel-argia.com; daily menu £11, main menu £26).
Tips
First, watch your wife’s eating (see above). Otherwise you’ll be bringing her home as hold luggage. Second, don’t discuss Basque politics. You’re not going to win. Instead, and third, look out for pelota games — either outside against the fronton wall (every village has one) or inside at a trinquet. Ditto Force Basque festivals. These are the regional equivalent of the Highland Games, and a rare opportunity to see, inter alia, men lifting farm trailers against the clock. There’s one in St-Palais on August 21.
Fourth, when shopping, consider the peasant-chic Basque table linen. Even I have noticed that it’s lovely. Fifth, if you’re a golfer, take your clubs. There are nine courses to hand. Sixth, if you are a drinker or a smoker, don’t buy anything but wine in France. Stock up in the much cheaper ventas that cluster tight by the Spanish border crossings.
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Getting there
Fly to Biarritz with EasyJet (0843 104 5000, easyjet.com), from Gatwick, or Ryanair (0871 246 0000, ryanair.com), from Stansted or Dublin. The train from London St Pancras to Biarritz, via Paris, takes 8hr 20min, a few minutes more to St-Jean-de-Luz; returns start at about £145 through Rail Europe (0844 848 4070, raileurope.co.uk). A week’s inclusive hire car starts at about £175 with Holiday Autos (0871 472 5229, holidayautos.co.uk) or Hertz (0870 844 8844, hertz.co.uk).
In your own motor, inland Basque country is 7½ hours from Caen, but only 2½ hours from Santander. Brittany Ferries (0871 244 1400, brittanyferries.com) sails from Portsmouth and Plymouth to Santander and from Portsmouth to Bilbao; return fares for a car and two passengers in a private cabin start at about £450. Visit ferrylines.com for full details of routes from Britain and Ireland to France.