I ALWAYS get a bit of a buzz from seeing deer in the countryside, but if you have trees in your French garden then they can also cause real damage.

Phil Voice planted some Field Maple along the drive to his property near Monflanquin, and for some time was pleased to see that the deer he’d seen gave them a wide berth.

Until recently that is, when one damaged a couple of trees and so Phil has had to protect them with plastic coverings; he has written more about what he has done as well as provides a link to more advice from the UK’s Forestry Commission.

IT has taken some time in coming, but the French tax authorities have finally agreed to treat same-sex couples who have entered into civil partnerships in the same way as French PACS couples.

Until recently the French system did not recognise couples who had registered under civil partnership arrangements in their own countries; so on the death of one, the surviving partner was treated as a third party and charged inheritance tax.

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I KNOW I have a number of readers who are involved in the French property business, either as estate agents or home finders.

So a series of articles by Martin Belham, who works as an information architect on The Guardian site, about search engines on property websites is sure to prove enlightening.

His research took place during a house hunt in London and whilst he was searching he kept notes about the experience, unfortunately it seems property firms have a lot to learn.