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Binns Breaks volume 2
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Welcome to the second of my “less ambitious”
Binns Breaks guides. BBs are more modest than my earlier main
guides but I promise that volume 2, plus the invaluable Lauréat 2000
supplement, will provide you with scores of touring ideas. In addition I
have included, once again, a long list of further amendments and deletions
for your copy of French Leave Finesse (FLF). Last year I asked
my readers to complete a section on the order form called
“Favourites”. My letter included these words: “I would dearly love to know
your six favourite hotels and restaurants in French Leave Finesse
(FLF).” I added the following thought: “If many hundreds of you submit
entries then the winning hotels and restaurants, say the top 20 or so, could
be the subject of a more than interesting and useful chapter in Binns
Breaks volume 2.” The response was fantastic. I received thousands and
thousands of nominations. Within a week or two, after the first 100 or so
letters arrived, a distinct picture of the likely winners emerged. The picture
hardly changed as a cascade of nominations continued to arrive during the
following months. The 20 winners, listed in place name alphabetical order,
are the subjects of a special 12-page supplement which I've enclosed with
Binns Breaks 2. The top three winners are clearly identified; number
one won by a handsome margin. I was so pleased with the huge enthusiastic
response that I asked my brother to design a “Lauréat 2000” diploma
for the winners. He produced 20 diplomas, A4-sized and in colour (see the
mini black and white version on the supplement cover). All the winners have
received a copy and, hopefully, have hung the diplomas in prominent positions
in their hotels and restaurants. Finally: I have prostate cancer. Treatment
started, to sort me out, last December. I'm not entirely certain what will
come next and just when I'll be able to research future projects. But, meanwhile,
please write and fill me in on any aspect of your travels in France and Britain.
“The more you run the risk of getting lost the more certain you are of seeing
the real France.” (Or Britain.) Those words, written 20 years ago, sum up
my personal freewheeling philosophy of exploration, one which has brought
me endless regal dividends for 45 years. So my readers: get lost - often!
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