It's a great idea to buy your own property in France, but have you immersed yourself enough in French culture to know exactly where you want to be; and what you would like to spend your time doing in France?

I have lived in many different regions and worked in different capacities in France for many years and offer you some tips to consider.

Spend time in places at the hub of the community with your ear to the ground - a café where the locals congregate, a hairdresser or local surgery; get involved in group activities like harvesting your region's local produce.

I have been lucky enough to do the 'vendanges' in a domaine where the grapes are still handpicked and where every evening is spent with the family, eating, drinking, discussing those everyday French topics of local politics, national politics and of course, local gossip as the tongues become more loose. What I loved in this situation was the milieu of people - lawyers, train drivers, musicians, students, a few different nationalities outside of French - giving a wide take on all topics of conversation.

Another experience I found special was to be invited to participate in a family 'trie'. This involved 10 of us, I being the only non family member, around a huge kitchen table, with a multitude of walnuts in front of us. The 'trie' is the sorting - you have probably come across the 'triage nurse' who is the first person to see you when you arrive at Casualty in the A and E ward of your local hospital. Same job - the triage nurse needs to sort you into priority order.

Our sorting involved perfect walnuts for the pâtissier, less perfect nuts for cakes, nuts to be crushed for several products, nuts for nut wine, nuts for nut oil. A busy, enjoyable, rewarding evening with, of course, a few delicious drinks towards the end and I learned so much about the area and the people. I asked Madame, whose house we were in, why she had 3 taps over her kitchen sink - the extra tap was for her private source - she never uses the cold tap water which she was obliged to be connected to and for which she has to pay.

La municipalité!

Stay for a few days in a chambres d'hôte where they also offer tables d'hôtes - you will learn loads from the host and hostess, particularly over dinner when the local wine will be flowing.

Watch out for disputes in the village of your choice - the most frequent dispute is over the common drive to two or three properties - originally designed for a horse and cart at most, it now has to accommodate several cars and where are the allocated parking spaces? Where do your friends park when they come and visit?

I studied viniculture and viticulture in several wine regions and one year, worked my way up from the South where, with the sun, the 'vendanges' begins first. Working first in the Bandol in a cooperative I then spent several weeks in the Côtes du Rhône, determined to have done every job on the vineyard. Work started at 7am and finished at 11pm for five weeks - up a ladder 15 feet in the air, scraping off the 'bourbe' with a sieve, leaping down the ladder to add this 'bourbe' into another delicious wine to give a glistening effect.

Emptying out an enormous cement vat, planting myself right inside it to shovel the grape skins out slowly but surely, with only a round port hole about 18 inches diameter to shovel through and a weak fan connected to the top of the vat to make an attempt at aerating the atmosphere. Impossible to breathe normally, I had to control my breathing to be completely even otherwise the alcohol fumes would have knocked me out. Essential to work as a pair doing this job, so one is shovelling out of the vat into a barrel and the other is taking the barrel away, coming back frequently to check number one hasn't slipped or tripped or become completely inebriated with the fumes and conked out. People still die doing this job.

Next vineyard was in Burgundy where I was put in charge of the chaptalisation of the whole cuverie. Large, open, wooden vats were used in this cuverie. Having taken the required readings following specific formulae, I calculated how much sugar I could add to encourage the alcohol level to rise. The next job was to climb up a ladder and plant myself on a beam lying across the top of the vat with an enormous plunger in my hands. Anyone who has done any ballet will understand what I mean by a deep second position plié - this was the only position which helped me to have the strength and tenacity to plunge through the 8 inches or so of thick, almost hard, grape skins, to the bottom of the vat. This is an important process as it is the grape skins which give the colour to the wine and of course, all the natural yeasts are on the grape skins which are needed for the fermentation.

Twice a day for each vat. Every so often Madame would come running in, checking on me to see that I hadn't fallen into the vat - again, a dangerous activity and one you wouldn't come out alive from.

Dangers aside, I wouldn't have missed any of these experiences - all of which add up to enormous respect I give to vinifiers who make their wines with passion. It is a tough job dealing with the climate during the growing of the grapes and tough again when it comes to the making of the wine. Machinery has now replaced many human hands - maybe this saves time but I would not have wanted to miss the camaraderie and conviviality that these experiences gave to me.

Of course all these experiences of 'getting involved' and immersing yourself in the French culture do presume a certain level of speaking French - the more you immerse yourself the more you will learn and the more you will speak. Making the effort will only give you admiration from the locals so give it a go!

Gastronomic adventures are offered through Gourmet Espionnage - all of which contain learning experiences in aspects of gastronomy and wine, none of which you could do for yourself off the street. If you would like to participate in one of these take a look at the adventures offered on the 'menu' or ask for an 'à la carte' programme to be created for you: www.gourmetespionnage.com