Is this the worlds best Christmas tree?

The Sofitel hotel in London St. James has gone all out to impress visitors this Christmas. Their festive tree is adorned with Baccarat crystal bottles holding Louis XIII, Grand-Champagne Cognac.

The estimated value of the sixteen-and-a-half-foot creation is more than €50,000.

The 200 miniature bottles were handmade by Baccarat and finished with 24 carat gold. At least five expert craftsmen worked on each bottle, hotel officials say.

I'm thinking of trying to get some press coverage for Cognac Property Services by emulating this feat and filling some miniatures from my old friends at Chez Bacou (remember them from this post?) and hanging them from the €15 tree I plan on buying from Jarnac market.

Sadly though I'm pretty sure that they would all be empty by the time it came to put the angel on the top :-)

www.cognacproperty.com

Thumbs up for a French Christmas

Well, that's pretty much it for another year (and yes, I know all about the 12 days of christmas and the tree not coming down before twelfth night but how much good cheer is a man expected to take).

The most notable thing this year was the complete absence of television.  I can honestly say that from first thing on christmas eve to close of play on boxing day we didn't put the tv on once.

I guess that like most families we usually retire to the sofa after our turkey and watch The Great Escape or The Sound of Music....this year though we walked, sang, laughed, played games, read and cycled.

As usual our french friends oohed & aahed over the christmas pudding and went yuck to the jelly in the trifle. They marvelled at the fact that our christmas tree sat precariously on a Mont Blanc size present mountain (even though I have been pleading poverty ever since Lehman Brothers toppled) and they invited us into their homes and treated us like cherished members of their family.

Enough is enough though.  It's time to get back to work.

I have to continue my search for a 2,000m2 plot of building land on the edge of cognac and an old house with barns around Segonzac.

Or do I have time to squeeze in just one last mince pie....

www.cognacproperty.com

My christmas present to you....

It's a general belief amongst the cool dudes that the greatest Christmas song in the history of mankind is Fairytale of New York by the Pogues.

Well, it's not...the greatest Christmas song in the history of mankind is this one by The Boss which holds such great memories that it gives me goosebumps (RIP Roger Scott, I do still miss "The 3 o'clock thrill").

I hope you enjoy it and that you have a very merry Christmas indeed.

Graham

Christmas in Cognac - just plug & play

There is a report in our local paper, the Charente Libre, this week about christmas festivities in the town of Cognac.

As well as the usual wooden cabins, mulled wines and frosty window displays it says that on Saturday we can take the girls through to the town centre so they can "chat live to Father Christmas via satellite".

Technology eh.

Next thing we know the lazy old blighter will be sat at the North Pole, playing on his Wii, while entirely outsourcing christmas to Amazon.

www.cognacproperty.com