France 2026

Chalk cellars, a last long table, and the drive that ended it.

Setting out

Where it began

We came off the mountain and drove north to finish the way you should: in Champagne. Épernay arrived as an evening — the canal holding still, moules and frites, red chairs waiting.

The canal at Épernay, mirror-still on the first evening — The canal, holding still

The heart of it

The middle of it

The day belonged to the houses, our favourites and our friends’. Up at Hautvillers — an incredibly cool town, which keeps both Dom Pérignon’s statue and his tomb — we took the flight on the barrel at the Caveau J.M. Gobillard et Fils, Alex’s recommendation and a good one. Then the Avenue de Champagne: Boizel’s Atelier 1834, and a toast under the Moët parasol because it would have been rude not to.

The Dom Pérignon statue at Hautvillers, arms open — Dom Pérignon, arms open

The tasting flight on the barrel at Gobillard & Fils — The flight, on the barrel

An aside

Chez Shao, Spécialités Chinoises, Épernay. Noted, not visited.

In their words

What people said

The best of what was said at the time, tidied only enough to read.

“A return journey, definitely, for the next anniversary.”

Claude

“Ten years from now we’re both torn. Having lived in Paris, for me it’s like going home. But the Alps with Jane — that was a very, very special time.”

Claude · the ten-years question

Golden hour

Where it ended

Notre-Dame went to full gold as we sat down to dinner, and the trip closed the way it had run — unhurried, well fed, and already planning its own sequel.

Notre-Dame d'Épernay in the last gold of the day — Notre-Dame at full gold

The days

Day by day

Every photograph of Part Five, on the day it was taken. Open a day and browse, or press play and it runs as a screening.

Day TwentyFriday 12 June6 photographs ▶ Play this day

Day Twenty-oneSaturday 13 June43 photographs ▶ Play this day