Classic car rally comes to Angouleme

This year's "circuit des remparts" promises to be a cracker.

It's on 18-20 September and plans are afoot to recreate the grid the crowds witnessed at the first Ramparts race in Angouleme in 1939, with many of the classic cars being sourced from collections and museums.

Expect also to see vintage cars working their way round the famous hairpins and Touring and GT cars power sliding round this tight Angouleme street circuit.

Hotels in Angouleme have been sold out for months but, if you're thinking of coming, you should be OK in near-by Jarnac or Cognac.

You don't need to be a "petrol head" to enjoy the spectacle...after all who can resist smiling at the thought of seeing so many Terry Thomas lookalikes in one place together.

www.cognacproperty.com

What price ear plugs?

I went to visit this house today on behalf of clients.

It truly is one of the most magnificent houses I have ever seen and is on the market for just €400,000.

The salon is 120m2 (about the size of most normal houses), it has a marble staircase running from the entrance hall, 6 bedrooms/4 bathrooms and a stone terrace with steps down to the pool.....all surrounded by about four acres of land that runs down to the Charente.

Sadly it's on the N10/N141 axis and the traffic noise is constant.

How on earth do you put a value on a house like that. Just about anywhere else in the Charente and it would be a million euros. What price ear plugs?

I'll send details to my clients of course but quite what I'll say about it I just don't know.

www.cognacproperty.com