At 11am today, Eurostar's first Paris-bound service from St Pancras rolled out of the lavishly refurbished London terminus. Whilst not quite a giant leap for mankind, the 20 minutes this move will shave off journey times to Paris and beyond is a small but significant step for British owners of French property and lovers of French culture alike.

As Alex Charles of Languedoc property and tourism website Crème de Languedoc points out, "twenty minutes doesn't make that much difference when you're travelling long-distance from London to the south of France's Languedoc region; what really matters is the comfort and convenience of train travel, as opposed to the stress and strain of the plane."

Comfort and convenience - now that's worth toasting! And what better time of year than November, when the announcement 'Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrive' resounds in the Rhone department? Although not to everyone's taste, the light and fruity new Beaujolais wines are a cause of much quaffing in wine bars up and down Britain. But with the new high-speed Eurostar services to Paris making Clermont-Ferrand just that bit closer to the UK, why not take the train and visit the nearby the Beaujolais region for a French celebration of the latest tipple?

Rhone is located in the Rhone-Alpes region, the heartland of French skiing. For avid winter sport's enthusiasts with a green streak, the new Eurostar 'snow train' service from St Pancras are also great news. Eurostar offers a day or night service direct to the French valley towns of Moutiers, Aime La Plagne and Bourg St Maurice, which are all only minutes away from major ski resorts of Paradiski, Three Valleys and Espace Killy. Travelling by train to the French Alps is not only fast, efficient and comfortable but also an eco-friendly means of transport, being ten times less polluting than flying. We'll drink to that, too!

For those interested in buying a property in the Rhone-Alpes just a snowball's throw from a Eurostar station, Erna Low is currently marketing Résidences Les Cybèles in Brides Les Bains, a spa town with direct access to Meribel and the Three Valleys ski domain. Here, studio properties are available from £55,000 and owners have a leaseback option guaranteeing rental returns of up to 4.9 per cent per annum.

Got a bigger budget? Apartments at Le Roc Belle Face (pictured) at Arc 1600, just 15 minutes from Eurostar destination Bourg St Maurice, are available from £135,000 and might be more to your taste. Le Roc Belle Face benefits from ski-in ski-out access, four-star quality and views of Mont Blanc. Again, leaseback is an option – with guaranteed rental returns of 3.5 per cent.

Bottoms up!

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Article first published 14 November 2007