I ordered Beth Haslam’s delightful memoir Fat Dogs and French Estates without noticing it was part three of a series. Fortunately, it reads very well as a standalone and had me in stitches from the start. It has also whetted my appetite for the other books in the series. The renovation of a property in France that includes a guardien’s house, guest apartment, function rooms and several outbuildings would be an enormous undertaking for anyone – not to mention the 180 hectares of land and moat to go with it! But this is precisely the kind of challenge Beth and her husband took on when they decided to buy a second home in the French countryside. The extent of the work involved was far greater than either of them realised, with phrases like ‘dangerous’ ‘very dangerous’ or ‘don’t go near it’ quoted by the various tradesmen. Reading this account of the hair-raising situations that arose was like a tonic and I am full of admiration for their fortitude and sheer determination to restore Le Palizac to a habitable condition and make it the place of their dreams. The author’s personality shines through in her witty, lively writing. I love her descriptions of the French workmen – a motley crew with their own little foibles, personal issues, and dispositions that often clash with each other. It’s clear to see that Beth Haslam is a passionate animal lover and the antics of Sam and Biff, her two fat dogs, make this exhilarating and uplifting tale all the more hilarious. I could go on and on describing the delights of this book, but it would spoil the many surprises the author has in store. I urge you to see for yourself and add it to your ‘must read’ list. I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed. 5*

I find this Fat Dog series hugely entertaining, and in my opinion, each book is even better than the last as we trundle through the trials and tribulations of settling in rural France with Beth, her adorably grumpy husband, Jack, and their two well-fed dogs, Sam and Biff. Fat Dogs 2 concluded with the family finally buying their French property, so would Fat Dogs 3 be an account of living the dream? Ooh la la non, it seems more like a nightmare, with crumbling walls, pests with no legs, four legs, eight legs and everything in-between, not to mention the colourful cast of artisans employed to put this rural idyll back to it's former glory. Jack can't possibly be as grumpy as he pretends to be, given that he had so much patience with the dreadful Bob the builder. I'm sure I wouldn't have found the loir so amusing had they been throwing wild parties in my bathroom, but I confess that I was charmed by these tubby door mice and their antics. I laughed, sobbed and chuckled some more over this latest memoir by Beth Haslam, and give it a well deserved 5 stars.