kiwi - Congrats on the compliment. What a boost, eh!
As for France, I may be biased (and some places can be packed with tourists), but you can't beat the Loire Valley. Not only is it beautiful, there are loads of regional gastronomic specialities - and, of course, fantastic wine by the bucketload.
It's definitely worth seeing a château or two (Chenonceau and Chambord are probably the most famous and fairy-tale-like), but there are plenty of gorgeous little villages and towns dotted around also.
Some of our favourite places were Beaugencyand Amboise (you can also visit the beautiful former house of Leonardo da Vinci there). But we often used to enjoy just picking a road out of Orléans (where we lived) and driving until we found a picturesque village. I just wish I could remember the name of one such place - it was pretty small, with pleasant walks and a little square where they sold their speciality Sablons (sweet biscuits), and a little pétanque pitch on the outskirts. Looking at the map, it may have actually been the place called Les Sablons, but I'm not sure. In any case, there are so many similarly perfect little places in the area to visit.
I don't whether it's still in operation, but there was a fabulous boat ride (they also did dinners onboard in the evenings) which set off from La Source, just south of Orléans. It followed the Loiret through the Sologne (former vast royal hunting grounds, where wild boar still live), passing by exquisite little properties with extraordinary boat houses (particularly the one by Charles Garnier, who designed the Opera house in Paris). There's also a wonderful, huge botanical garden at La Source.
