The Perfect Lifestyle

The French Kitchen at Camont & Kate Hill. Photos supplied by Kate Hill.

I’ve had a fabulous morning – spent in the company of French-based American-born food writer and French cooking school owner, Kate Hill, who lives an idyllic lifestyle on a 100-year-old Dutch barge, moored on a canal in Gascony, Southwest France. Kate has lived in France for over twenty years, sharing her French way of life with visitors and cooking students in the 19th century canal-side farmhouse-cum-cooking school a few steps ashore from her barge. Kate is currently on a cooking demonstration tour of New Zealand with Great Village Holidays and we had great fun this morning exploring a Christchurch deli and a new chocolatier. Like any ardent foodie, Kate is making a point of meeting and ‘swapping notes’ with local food producers and she’ll be producing great Gascon food using New Zealand produce. From Christchurch she heads north, stopping at Ruth Pretty Cook School in Wellington and then on to the blissful environs of Waiheke Island’s Te Whau Lodge, owned by Gene O’Neill and Liz Eglington, who have their own ‘French Connection.' If you put ‘Meet the People’ into the blog search box (top left) you’ll find them there and be able to read all about their French adventures too. In the meantime, look out for Kate’s book “French Kitchen,” which details her amazing life “in the slow lane of rural France.” www.TheFrenchKitchen.com