A duck farm do

La Ferme de Ramon, near Galapian in the Lot et Garonne, farms ducks ... lots of them.

It is a well-known producer of quality duck products, including foie gras.

Last weekend it held its annual Foires au gras (foire means fair). Nice little play on words that.

The festivities culminated in a beaut Sunday lunch, which attracted people from miles around.

For 20 euros a head, you got a choice of entrée ...foie gras or ballotine/gallantine of duck.

For main course we shared a magret de canard avec frites (grilled breast served with french fries) and a cassoulet (beans with duck wings and sausage).

For dessert, we chose a tarte su pruneaux (prune tart).

We began our lunch with champagne and continued with a Cotes de Duras.

The bubbles, a Feneuil Pointillart from Chamery, were exceptional. We found out you could source it from a tiny post office in a two-horse, D666 town called Bourran. That's not so far to drive.

About 150 diners were seated at tables in the massive old barn. The rustic French atmosphere was enhanced by antique armoires (cupboards) and interesting old rural wares displayed around the walls.

...  and singer Pascal provided a lovely, easy-listening backdrop with his renditions of traditional tunes.

Outside the barn, there were lots of stalls selling wines, honey, candles, jams, armagnac and all sorts of duck products, including carcasses with necks and heads.

We bought one of those.

During lunch we sat next to a lovely couple, M. et Mme. Simon, who spoke pretty good English. We soon found out why. They had been all over the world through his job as an electrical engineer working for a multinational French company. He had site-managed the building of hydro-power stations, oil platforms and the like.

We came away from La Ferme de Ramon having thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

We had spent time immersed in rural French culture  ... and as a bonus we had made new friends.

M. et Mme. Simon invited us for an apero and nibbles that night ... and we gladly accepted.