.: Vive la France at the Bastille Festival in Franschhoek

This is one of the unmissable festivals and despite heavy rain and a chilly winter day, we donned our red white and blue clothing on Sunday and went to enjoy the festival in the tent at the Huguenot Monument

There was a lot of good food for sale in the marquee. We liked the look of these very “patriotic” chocolate cupcakes with tricolour macaroons

Lynne chatting to chef Garth Johnson on the Reuben’s stand. He was using four large Big Green Eggs to cook on. And we needed to know how they work and get some tips. All will be revealed next week...

A nicely seared piece of beef

The Seychelles Creole stand was serving tastes of some really interesting and delicious foods and giving out the recipes, which Lynne took and will try at home and publish in MENU in the near future

Here she is with Jenny Prinsloo, CEO of the Franschhoek Wine Valley, discussing Seychelles and their Creole Festival in October with David Germain, Director of the Seychelles Tourist Board and their talented chef

The marquee was filled with people enjoying the day, the wine and the food in Franschhoek

We chatted briefly to very busy chef Neil Jewell of Bread and Wine Restaurant and tasted his new Polish salami, full of warm paprika

The Rickety Bridge team Duncan Stuart, Melanie Sauermann and Deidre Fourie were having fun while pleasing customers on their stand

Dawie Botha, winemaker at Antonij Rupert, was very busy pouring tastes of the Protea Range. We really like the bottle designs

and loved the way they have used them as a chandelier which the cellar staff made.. Gave us lots of ideas

The fresh oysters on the Wild Peacock stand are always very popular

Ross Baker, who owns and runs Wild Peacock Products, told us about his new warehouse, opening soon

Gaye Davies of Morena was selling lots of glasses of their Brut Rosé

One of the warmest smiles in the wine industry. Here she is on working hard on Boschendal's stand

Hmm, what to have for lunch? Lynne plumped for this lamb curry with tomato salsa, which was full of flavour and didn't have many carbohydrates, just one poppadom. But, sadly, it was full of bones and fat. We are told its traditional to serve it like this in the Cape. Not sure we agree

It seemed to be a very generous helping for R50

John decided on Sliced Sirloin of beef on a ciabatta with Béarnaise sauce and that too was very fatty and full of tendons, so not a success, as he doesn't eat the bun. Great flavours, but perhaps the wrong choice for him

some of the food on offer

We shared our table with these two suitably moustachioed young ladies, Este & Carla, both from Stellenbosch, but Carla teaches Afrikaans at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein. We asked if she would send our respects to Professor Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice Chancellor; we are huge fans of his and of his policies, his views on education and his weekly column in The Times

Biltong and droewors (dried sausage) are always popular at events like this

Here you could buy chocolate dipped marshmallows and/or strawberries. Strange as it seems, strawberries are in season even though it’s mid winter. Up north they have the weather to grow them in July

Some hot soup or filled rolls at reasonable prices and some great looking French pastries. Be gone temptation!

Bobbing for Apples and throwing rings at a target to win prizes and to raise money for the local Ambulance brigade

Yes Darling, these toffees are sold in Franschhoek, but they are made in Darling. Sneaky!

Leana Schoeman of Porcupine Ridge was doing brisk business selling their wines

Nice to meet another wine maker friend enjoying herself, Karin de Villiers from Klein Roosboom in Durbanville, suitably attired

We were very impressed indeed to find that we could taste three of Rupert and Rothschild iconic wines, Baroness Nadine, an elegant creamy and buttery Chardonnay, Baron Edmond, a classic Bordeaux blend and Classique, a blend of six wines including Cabernet, Merlot and Shiraz. They are not normally available for tasting and we enjoyed them all very much indeed