I know that it's been my habit to come back from motoring around the continent and then complain about the prices here - citing meals eaten in groups of ten where the bill has been so small that it hardly seemed worth paying, you know the sort of thing. The fact is however, that all that whinging changes things not one jot or tittle, so this year I'm going to give it a miss. Instead I'll tell you about some very nice places that you could visit easily.

The first is in the south of France, on the Cote d'Azur. This is a piece of coastline that has been blessed by the weather. The Maritime Alps act as a barrier, keeping away the cold north winds and shifting rain away from the coast. The Cote d'Azur has a climate more in keeping with Mediterranean coasts much further south. It has, too, a purity of light, a freshness that you begin to notice as you drive southwards through France once you arrive at Langres. This crisp light gets more pronounced as you go further south and by the time you reach the Riviera you realise why so many artists made this area of France their Mecca.

Not far from Nice, going inland, you come to St. Paul. This little hilltop Provencale village is picture-postcard pretty, its streets cobbled and flagged in local stone, its every doorway and window an art gallery. Indeed the famous 'Fondation Maeght'
is to be found here, a purpose built gallery of paintings and sculptures. This summer there was an exhibition of Russian art covering the period from the revolution up to 1930. The triumphal art of the proletariat, so determinedly anti-bourgeois, filled all the rooms that normally hold the permanent exhibition, and after walking them all it was time for lunch.

St. Paul has another big tourist attraction, a restaurant. This one is renowned not so much for its cuisine, but for its art. In the early part of last century artists came to stay here and paid for their room and board with paintings. Luckily for 'La Colombe d'Or' those artists had huge careers still to come, so today the walls of the dining room are covered in paintings by Miro, Picasso, Renoir and Monet. I was intrigued to find a more modern addition by the artist Ben, whose work also turned up on a wine label of a recent choice of mine for wine of the week. The day we went was a hot day, so instead of dining inside and admiring the framed art, we dined outside on the terrace and admired the view, the sculptures and statuary. Just inside the entrance stands a huge white marble thumb, perhaps six feet tall, that I wanted to christen 'fragment from the statue of Zeus of Olympus'.

The menu in La Colombe d'Or has been unchanged for ages, it works on the principle that if a thing is right there's no need to fix it, so some dishes on it are house classics. There were four of us and we spread ourselves across the menu, picking their famous hors d'oeuvre which involves ten different small dishes of tasty morsels, a couple of warm foie gras, and I chose the 'aioli de legumes', a basket of fresh vegetables slivered and diced that comes with a ramekin of garlic-flavoured mayonnaise to dip them into. To follow we had truffle salad, lamb's kidneys, sole and a rich, winey stew. We finished with a couple desserts and coffees. With eight bottles of mineral water and two bottles of wine the bill came to €293.50. Expensive for lunch, but for a one-off experience, it makes for a meal to remember.

People keep asking me where they should stay in Tuscany and my reply is always that I'm as much a stranger there as anyone else. But this year I can finally offer some advice. Half-way between Pisa and Lucca, two cities that any visitor to Tuscany must eventually visit, lies San Giuliano. A spur road from here takes you to Rigoli, a small town where you can find the Villa di Corliano, a fine house owned by the Agostini family which dates from 1448. The villa is run as an hotel by the current Count Agostini and he has recently added a restaurant which I have yet to visit. The rooms are beautiful and some are exquisite with frescoed ceilings. The great saloon, painted by the Florentine Andrea Boscoli in 1592, is one of the finest rooms of the period. The family chapel, situated in the grounds, coupled with the new restaurant has made the Villa di Corliano a perfect place for small weddings. Rooms start from as little as €68 and suites range from €156 to €182.

Lastly it's easy enough to find good and expensive restaurants in Tuscany, all guides will list them, but let me offer you a classic Tuscan trattoria: simple, plain, welcoming, friendly, honest and genuine. To the north-east of Pisa is Uliveto Terme, where the Uliveto water is bottled. Oddly it's hardly drunk in Tuscany, but it's a huge seller in Naples. Next to the gardens that surround the spring itself is the trattoria 'Cinotto', set back a bit from the road and easy to miss. In this homely family-run enterprise, three of us ate a fine dinner of real Tuscan delights for less than €90. My pasta with octopus was truly exceptional. Such is the easy and welcoming manner of the owners that by the end of the night most of us diners were talking across the room to one another. A very memorable night.

La Colombe d'Or, St. Paul de Vence. Tel. 00 33 4 93 32 80 02
Villa di Corliano, Rigoli, Pisa Tel. 00 39 05 081 8193
Trattoria Cinotto, Uliveto Terme, Pisa. 00 39 05 078 8043