Françoise Fauquet outside La Cheneviere in Normandy

It’s often said that no matter where you go in the world, Shropshire is never very far away. That’s certainly the case across the Channel in rural Normandy, writes Andrew Owen.

On a recent Press tour ahead of the 65th anniversary of D-Day, my coach party stopped at the French country hotel La Cheneviere.

Over dinner our host was telling us about the history of the building, its time under both German and Allied occupation – and then casually mentioned her “happy times” working at Shrewsbury’s Lord Hill Hotel.

“At the time it used to belong to Mr Wycherley,” said Françoise Fauquet, who works as La Cheneviere’s sales manager – or, as the French put it with somewhat more sophistication, the Responsable Commerciale.

“I was looking for a job at the time,” she explained afterwards. “I wanted to go into the hotel industry and I felt I should start in England for my English.”

A friend knew the manager of the Lord Hill Hotel and was able to recommend her when a vacancy arose.

And so she found herself in Shropshire, where for the next 12 months she worked as a hotel receptionist, discovered the sights sounds of the county town and explored the countryside.

These days, as Responsable Commerciale, she looks after Press inquiries and goes out and sells the hotel around the world.

“Most of our guests come from America, so I do travel every year to America,” she explains.

“I meet around six to seven hundred travel agents every year in America, and we want to expand into Europe, because we are not as well known in Europe as we are in America, so that’s why I travel around.

“I went to Belgium, I am going to Russia, I will be going to Italy to meet other travel agents.”

It’s a big step up from receptionist to international hotel sales, but her decision to learn in Shropshire certainly paid off.

As Françoise says: “I enjoyed my time there very, very much. I had a great time in Shrewsbury.

“I had some very good friends and we still keep in touch.”