Pau is often referred to as ‘La Ville Anglaise’, and lying in an area of great beauty at the foot of the Pyrenees in south west France, it has long been popular with the British, who came here to enjoy the mild winters during the 19th century. Their strong influence was instrumental in the founding of continental Europe’s first golf course and, more importantly today, the renowned Hippodrome racecourse - the beautifully maintained course hosts some of France’s most prestigious steeplechase events and, after Chantilly, Pau boasts the second largest training centre in France.

This weekend tour incorporates the very best that Pau and the region has to offer with a day’s steeplechase racing, including the famed Grand Cross race, visits to a renowned training yard and a charming small vineyard, a tutored tasting of the region’s wonderful wines at a pretty 17th century chateau and, last but not least, the delicious local cuisine.

Mini Constant and her husband, Rory, who have lived in southern France for over fifteen years, will look you after in Pau, and will share with you their knowledge and love of this region.

Friday

London / Pau

We depart from London’s Stansted Airport in the morning on a Ryanair direct flight to Pau in France, where we will be met. The airport is light and airy and we will enjoy lunch in its popular restaurant. Afterwards we will be transferred to the three-star Best Western Hôtel Continental where the next two nights will be spent. Located in the historic heart of the town, close to the Palais Beaumont and the Château of King Henry IV, the hotel offers comfortable and well-appointed accommodation in elegant surroundings.

The remainder of the day, and dinner, will be under our own arrangements.

Saturday

Pau

Early this morning, after breakfast in the hotel, we will be collected from the hotel by Rory Constant and driven to Domaine de Sers, the training establishment of successful young trainer Charles Gourdain. Charles worked in Ireland and America as well as at Newmarket, including two years both at Keenland and as an assistant to Luca Cumani, before setting up his own yard in 2001. Here we will see the yard and some of the 30 horses put through their paces.

Afterwards we make the 30-minute drive to the charming 17th century Château de Bouillon, Minette and Rory Constant’s home, where we will enjoy an introduction to wine tasting with eight carefully chosen wines showing the quality and diversity available in south-west France. Indigenous grape varieties, both white and red, give a fascinating range of flavours which we will discover together. We will also taste some of the superb sweet wines made in this part of France.

Lunch will be taken at the ferme-auberge in the neighbouring village of Morlanne, where all the ingredients are home-grown and the specialty is mouth-watering duck. After lunch there will be time for us to look around the pretty village with its fortified 14th century château, before we return to Pau.

The remainder of the day, and dinner, will be under our own arrangements.

After a leisurely start to the day, we leave the hotel for the racecourse – L’Hippodrome de Pau. The local population has always had a great love of horses, which spawned a region known for the quality of its breeding. In 1839 a racing society was created and the first races took place in 1842 on a course laid out by the British. Ever since then, the site has been constantly used and regularly extended and embellished, resulting in the racecourse we see today, which has a grandstand seating 3,500, stables with 90 boxes and 12 stalls, several turf tracks with hurdles (inner and outer tracks with hurdle jumps, inner and outer steeplechase tracks, figure-8 steeplechase track and a cross-country track), and a 2,250m x 20m fibre sand flat track with a 400m straight.

On arrival, we will go straight to the restaurant, where we will have a large table with a wonderful panoramic view of the course and lunch will be taken before racing begins. The table will be ours for the afternoon, so whilst we might wander down to look at the horses or place bets prior to the races, we will then be able to come back to the table for a bird's eye view of the action. A highlight of this afternoon’s card will be the Grand Cross.

Racing ends around 6pm, when we return to the hotel with dinner this evening under our own arrangements.

After breakfast today we leave the hotel for a visit to Domaine du Château de Cabidos, a ‘boutique’ vineyard owned by the Comtesse de Nazelle of the Veuve Clicquot family, which lies in a beautiful setting around a splendid house. The vines have recently been replanted and the Domaine is producing excellent white wine in a little-known region.

Afterwards we go straight to Pau Airport in time to catch the Ryanair flight back to London, arriving at Stansted Airport early afternoon.