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Older woman who could be la première dame

25th April 2017

Emmanuel Macron’s wife is 24 years his senior. Do the French care about the age gap?   There’s a sudden spring in every older Frenchwoman’s step. Being over 60 was never an obstacle to being attractive. In France there is no age limit to wearing m …

Vive le Toy Boy: Why French women want a younger man

10th September 2016

A survey in France has found that relationships between older women and younger men are on the rise. French couples explain the benefits of an age   During my last visit to France I visited my beautician. I have known Chantal for 15 years. She wor …

‘You’ll just feel a scratch,’ says Dr Viel, wielding a giant knitting needle

19th July 2016

It’s the most drastic anti-ageing treatment in Britain, but would a procedure that injects your own stomach fat into your face give your correspondent new skin?   There are times in your life when you wonder what you are doing and why. As I lie on …

‘She asked to borrow my husband for a fetish party. Of course I said yes’

23rd August 2014

  It was the week before I was due to give birth to our first child that I got the call (Helena Frith Powell writes). “My date has pulled out of the party,” wailed my best friend. “Please, please lend me your husband.” The party in question was so …

The secret life of a real French mistress

18th January 2014

François Hollande’s love life has highlighted French attitudes to extra-marital affairs. But what is it really like to be the ‘other’ women in France? In my next life, I want to be a French mistress. I know quite a few of them. They don’t have the same …

Why I don’t want my husband to do the chores

7th September 2013

A friend of mine told me recently that moving to the Middle East saved her marriage. “There is no doubt,” she said, “that if we’d stayed in England we would have been divorced by now.” My friend is a working mother. Her husband is useless around the ho …

The French man’s summer game plan

13th July 2013

Perish the thought of stripping off and showing builder’s bums. Gallic men don’t let style slip even in the heat   While the heatwave rages in England, bringing out more moobs and orange six-packs than anyone should have to deal with in a lifetime …

The secret to surviving love at first sight

15th April 2013

Happily married with three kids, Helena was shocked by her reaction to a chance meeting with her long lost teenage flame   When I was 16 I fell madly in love with a handsome rascal called Willie Harcourt-Cooze. I remember the first time I saw him. …

Rimini returns from the brink

10th November 2012

Brash and gaudy? Mussolini’s Margate is being revived RIMINI will always be a special place for me because it is where I first saw my father. My parents divorced when I was a baby and I had no contact with him until I was a teenager. When I was 12 my m …

What living in France taught me about myself, sex, marriage and affairs

5th March 2011

Helena Frith Powell always thought that having an affair would be a relationship deal breaker — until she moved to France   It was during a perfectly pleasant Sunday lunch with lots of wine and good cheese that I first realised that French marriag …

Quelle surprise! I was the thinnest woman in the village

3rd April 2010

Our house in France is close to a beautiful medieval town called Pèzenas. One of the best things about it, apart from its cobbled streets and stunning architecture, was that there was no McDonald’s. Then to my horror, one day it was there in all its mu …

French dressing

14th September 2009

Ken Hom has turned his ancient tower in southwest France into a retreat for relaxing, entertaining and writing cookbooks, he tells Helena Frith Powell of The Sunday Times   In Ken Hom’s wine cellar there is an oversized bottle of Cristal champagne …

Beirut: why the joke is on the Syrians

2nd September 2009

Helena Frith Powell makes her first visit to Lebanon and finds humour and familiarity in the landscape   I had been living in the Middle East for more than a year by the time I finally travelled anywhere else in the region. A friend invited me to …

Revealed: the first naturist B&B in Europe

4th July 2009

In the heart of the Swedish countryside the guests shed their inhibitions and their clothes By Helena Frith Powell My husband looks doubtful. “Why the suitcase?” He has a point. I am going for two days to the first naturist B&B in Europe. I normall …

France’s zero tolerance for anorexia

22nd June 2008

A shocking new Ad campaign in the usually pro-thin country has prompted calls for a law to combat the eating disorder   Alongside the catwalk shows, the gossip and the glamorous parties, Paris fashion week was dominated by a billboard this year. I …

My botox diary

30th March 2008

Which was worse – facing the needle, or her husband afterwards? Helena Frith Powell grits her teeth and goes for the face freeze   Wednesday, midday “You’re not going to get any Botox done, are you?” my husband, Rupert, asks as I leave the house t …

Memoirs by Nana Mouskouri

11th November 2007

I have always been fascinated by Nana Mouskouri. She is the singer with the strange name and the big black glasses. I can’t name of any of her songs, but I picked up her book, called simply Memoirs, with a feeling of anticipation. Now I might finally g …

La Bella Figura: An Insider’s Guide to the Italian Mind

29th July 2007

For a book that is described on the jacket as “hysterical” this holds precious few laughs   In Italy, it’s not what you know or who you know that counts: it is how you look. Italy is the world’s most beautiful country and the people are expected t …

Forget the jet set, join the train set

20th December 2006

The new high-speed rail link will bring many places on the Continent within easy reach of British buyers, says Helena Frith Powell   The day before I was due to take the train back to my home in France during a visit to London, my husband called t …

Where should I buy in France?

9th November 2006

Sun-worshipper? Nightclubber? Want to get away from it all — and from other Brits? Helena Frith Powell of The Sunday Times advises which area could be the right place for you to buy So you want a house in France. But where? One of the toughest decision …

Tours de force

14th May 2006

Helena Frith Powell looks for a bargain in the Touraine, where property prices are set to rise thanks to a new motorway link   When the Foreign Office wants to teach its diplomats to speak French properly, it sends them to Tours. This well-spoken …

Doing the business in Le Marche

30th April 2006

France may be saturated with Brit-owned B&Bs, but it’s still possible to buy a cheap guesthouse in Italy, finds Helena Frith Powell of The Sunday Times   It’s fun to live in the sun but hard to make a living. One option is to run a B&B. In …

Celebrity island

16th April 2006

While Ile de Ré’s house prices reflect its film-star status, neighbouring islands offer more for your money, says Helena Frith Powell of The Sunday Times   When the English move to get away from it all they go to France. When the French want to do …

France vs Spain: Vive la France

5th February 2006

Thousands of British homebuyers head to both countries — but where is the best place to buy property? Home’s own resident experts, our French Mistress, Helena Frith Powell, and Spanish Property Doctor, Mark Stucklin, slug it out   The welcome you …

Bargain hunters’ corner

20th November 2005

Still largely undiscovered, Limousin is France’s cheapest region. But househunting Brits are already arriving, says Helena Frith Powell of The Sunday Times There is a French verb, limoger, which means to send somebody to a godforsaken place, and that m …

Lured to the Lot

16th October 2005

Francophiles find the southwest has rural charm and falling prices, says Helena Frith Powell What do you do when there are no more stone houses left to buy in the Dordogne? You go across the border to the Lot. The countryside is just as lovely: lush gr …

‘Middle class’ mums in France are to get £500 a month to have a third child.

25th September 2005

The Websters already have two under the age of five and would like another. They cannot afford this, either. They already pay £1,500 a month in childcare and when Claire goes back to work part-time, this will increase by £500. In a couple of years’ tim …

Béarnaise sauce

19th June 2005

Stunning views and low prices are making the the Béarn, in southwest France, the latest magnet for buyers, says Helen Frith Powell Some people say they move to France because it’s like England was 50 years ago. If you want England 100 years ago, then y …

What’s the French for entrepreneur?

20th March 2005

If you need to fund your move to France, you might try starting your own business. Helena Frith Powell of The Sunday Times meets Brits who have survived the red tape involved in the simplest start-ups   When Olivier Lesault went to the Béziers Cha …

Treasure of the Sierra Nevada

5th March 2005

Cheaper than the Alpine resorts and much more fun in summer, Spain’s ski spots are starting to attract British buyers, reports Helena Frith Powell of The Sunday Times   Think of property in Spain, and most people imagine a sun-soaked seaside villa …

10 French lessons

14th November 2004

Dreaming of starting a new life in France? Don’t leave home without carefully considering Helena Frith Powell’s top tips for a pain-free transition When I moved to France four years ago I spoke no French, knew little about the country and had no guaran …

Still in the dark about moving?

4th June 2004

Property finders say they can take the hassle out of finding the right place to buy abroad. Helena Frith Powell of The Sunday Times explains what you get for your money   Paul and Sarah Skitmore contacted Barbara Wood, who runs The Property Finder …

Catching on to Toulouse

3rd May 2004

A decade ago there were barely any Brits in the pretty villages around the city, but now you can buy Branston Pickle in the local shops and house prices are booming, says Helena Frith Powell of The Sunday Times   When Jill Allcroft moved to a vill …

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