AFLOAT in France

Thinking back, I can still smell the pêches plates, the sun-ripened ‘flat peaches’ piled high on the wooden trestle tables of the Marché Saint-Pierre in the town of Saintes. Flattened orbs of golden flesh redolent with the heady scent of a European summer, all set against the backdrop of cobbled lanes and ancient cathedrals.

Then again, perhaps it’s unfair to single out one stall from this Romanesque market town on the lower reaches of the Charente River in western France. For there were also the patissier’s fresh ; platters of fresh seafood from just down the river at Rochefort; long fridges of pungent, or dry-cured sausage, which is best enjoyed over lunch with crispy ring-shaped sourdough from the village baker.