France has been home for two decades yet I still feel on holiday – French art de vivre (art of living) is just too good. From my Haute-Savoie house on Lake Geneva's southern shore, the Jura's dark-green hills and un café in the wisteria-draped village bar are my wake-up call. Weekends of endless possibilities punctuate the gentle rhythm of village life: art museums in Lyon and Paris, Alpine hiking and skiing, paddle boarding on the glittering lake, road trips to Beaujolais and Burgundy and other regions so different they could be another country. France’s sheer variety is amazing.