Meet the Family

Encouraged by their shared love of France and David’s passion as a professional chef for French cookery, David and Vikki Chance emigrated to the South West of France in 2002. Enticed by the virtually unspoilt beauty of the Gascon country and the area’s renowned gastronomic reputation – claiming duck foie gras and cassoulet within its repertoire- the couple chose the village of Gramont to be their new French home and the location of one of the most attractive and well-run chambres d’hotes in the region (Le Petit Feuillant was endorsed by Alister Sawdays in 2009).

David Chance retrained as a professional chef fifteen years ago and now specialises in French cuisine, and wife Vikki, before becoming hostess of Le Petit Feuillant, was a social worker in their home county of Hertfordshire. Both David and Vikki speak French – Vikki was proficient before the move whereas David learnt the language from scratch and is now the proud owner of a true South-West country accent! – and both of them are passionate and knowledgeable about the gastronomy and wine of Gascony.

The couple have two grown-up children: Sam, twenty-five and a Marketing Executive who having spent the last year travelling in Asia and Australia has now decided to settle with his parents in France; and Courtney, twenty three, who is a self-employed hair stylist in the couple’s former home in Hertfordshire. All of the family are involved in the running of the chambres d’hotes and can be found regularly visiting the region they all know and love so well.

The youngest member of the Chance family is their five year old cocker spaniel, Archie. A favourite with Gramont locals and chambres d’hotes guests, Archie’s lively, loveable personality is one of the many ways in which this family-run bed and breakfast becomes such an individual and memorable place to stay.

Members of the extended family include Gramont resident and fellow professional chef, Bernard Corbiere, who runs a French cookery school with David in the summer months, and his three children Natacha, Annabelle and Mathias. Other frequent visitors to Le Petit Feuillant are next door neighbours Gerard, your archetypal Frenchman short only of the striped t-shirt and garlic necklace (he even , on occasion, wears a beret!) and his lovely wife Janine; and next door neighbours on the opposite side, Bernard (other Bernard), Chantal and their Irish terrier, Tequila.