Le Petite Garden Party & French Book Club, Thurs November 7 from 6pm

Take a twilight tour of my cottage garden in all its spring glory - then enjoy an entertaining evening as author Maria Hoyle shares her tale of falling in love and flitting off to France ... at the tender age of 63.

What would you say if a man you'd dated a handful of times asked you to go live with him in a mill by a river in France? The obvious answer is: 'Are you out of your mind?' Maria Hoyle's was: 'Okay.' Then she left her life in Auckland - her two grown-up daughters, her dog, her friends, a beautiful rental by a beach, and everything she'd loved for more than two decades - to settle in a tiny French village with a partner she barely knew. What could possibly go wrong?

A Very French affair is a romantic memoir in the vein of A Year in Provence and Eat, Pray, Love. Maria's tale is about grabbing life with both hands whatever your age, what it means to belong, the joys and frustrations of French living, and why you should always look closely at a map before emigrating. Ultimately, though, it is a story about the greatest adventure of all. Love.

Maria will be signing books afterwards (a perfect Christmas gift for the reader in your family!)

Tickets are limited and include garden entry, canapes & champers. Because, ya know, when in France...