Log: a shopper's siege of Troyes

During times of world strife, research suggests that we tend to 'nest' - preferring to spend money on home improvements rather than a holiday in the sun.

We were packing for a trip to France the week before last when TV programmes were interrupted with the news that the air attack on Afghanistan had begun. Suddenly, foreign travel - even a brief jaunt to France - seemed rash.

But overnight this nagging anxiety ebbed away. What would actually be the point of cancelling and staying at home? The more I thought about it, a break from the constant gloom of the TV news began to seem extremely appealing.

And we weren't going on any ordinary jaunt to France, we were taking a shopping trip - retail therapy on a grand scale. The perfect excuse to travel.

Extra security was evident at the Folkestone Channel Tunnel terminal. And there was an obvious lack of passengers - but better for us, we were boarded quickly. Within an hour of arriving at Folkestone, we were on the French autoroute. The pouring rain of Kent had given way to the glorious warm sunshine of Picardy - the omens were auspicious.

Our destination was the city of Troyes, a 250-mile drive from Calais straight down the A26 taking little more than three hours given the light traffic on that road. Most people in Britain will know little of Troyes, apart from the fact that it has a football team, beaten last week by Leeds.

The city lies in champagne country - Epernay, where many of the big champagne houses are based, is a 30-minute drive to the north. Troyes is a very attractive place with a well preserved centre historique - all halftimbered houses, Gothic churches and cobbled streets. It was here that Henry V came, during the Hundred Years War, to agree his succession to the French throne (a scheme derailed by Joan of Arc).

But it wasn't Troyes's history that attracted us - it was its shops. For reasons only partly explained by the city's past prominence in France's textile industry, Troyes has become the country's factory outlet capital.

Our hotel, Le Champ des Oiseaux, was a gorgeous 15th Century building right in the heart of the city next to the cathedral. Another bonus was that the in-room TV had neither CNN nor Sky News: retail therapy would perform its magic unencumbered by world gloom.

THE main complex of outlet shops lies a couple of miles north of Troyes in the Pont Sainte Marie industrial-zone. The main development is the McArthur Glen 'Boutiques de Fabricants', a modern sprawl of around 80 shops.

While the names of the shops are impressive - the list includes Armani, Calvin Klein, Versace, Polo Ralph Lauren, Pierre Cardin and Timberland - even more exciting are the prices.

At Versace, suits were on offer from less than £250, shirts for £35 and jeans for £40.

If you were looking for Christmas presents, you could buy a Versace umbrella for £29, a tie for £19 or a belt for £25.

Opposite, at Armani, jeans were even cheaper: £16. A heavily reduced and very smart man's ski jacket and salopettes cost £155. Next door at Calvin Klein, normal jeans were £27. The stained, baggy variety (very fashionable, I'm informed) cost £37. There were similar alluring bargains at Kookai, Quiksilver, Diesel, Columbia and Lacoste.

Last week, many shops were running variations on the 'buy three items and get the cheapest one free' concept, making prices even more alluring.

In a neighbouring site to McArthur Glen is Marques City, which has 11 separate buildings with 24 shops. There's nothing very up-market here. It seems to appeal to more of a student market: Lee Cooper jeans, Kappa jackets etc - but plenty of bargains.

Marques Avenue, five minutes' drive south of Troyes city centre, has a good choice of designer fashion. For example, Stock B had Kenzo suits from £120, Givenchy suits from £259 and Yves St Laurent jackets from £119.

For Christmas presents you can find silk ties for £16 (buy two and get one free).

If you need something to bring your swag home, very solid- looking, capacious Delsey suitcases are on offer for £35.

The place we liked best was a few minutes' walk from the main Marques Avenue shopping mall - the Marques Avenue Maison et Decoration shop, which has 18 separate stores selling household linen, crockery, kitchenware, selfassembly furniture etc. There were some wonderful bargains, from cut-price Le Creuset pots and pans to simple elegant crockery - lovely plain white dinner plates, for example, for just £1.50, cereal bowls for £1.20 and big salad bowls for £2.50. We were tempted by some gorgeous metre-square limestone tiles at £11 each.

AS we cleared UK immigration at Calais on the way home, we were confronted by a British soldier in uniform, with machine-gun at the ready.

At that moment we decided we needed to get away again very soon. A little foreign retail therapy is what we all need at the moment.

Weekend break returns with Eurotunnel cost from £99 for a car and passengers (day-return fares from £45). Book online at www. eurotunnel.co.uk or call 08705 353535. Rooms at Le Champ des Oiseaux hotel (tel: 0033 325 805850; www.champ desoiseaux.com) are available from £53 per night. The factory outlet shops are open 2pm to 7pm Monday; 10am to 7pm Tuesday to Friday and 9.30am to 7pm Saturday. They will be opening specially next Sunday from 10am to 7pm.