A funny thing happens when you cross the strip of water separating England from France. All the details change.

From street furniture to window catches to the way they sell veg in supermarkets, everything is slightly different. Which is possibly why we keep going there.

And that's how it is with these paperback guides to the French regions. The words may have been translated into English, but somehow they remain thoroughly gallic, from their whimsical introductions ("You'll find in the following pages the heart and soul of the region. Seize them, now that you have the chance") to the adverts for local businesses that don't quite come off in English (Faïences de Quimper: "Since 1690, hand and spirit, a timeless art").

Petit Futé guides (futé means crafty like a fox) began in 1978 as the work of two French students in Nancy. They designed them for their fellow students, and from the start the idea was to flag up good, inexpensive restaurants and bars, along with all the sights worth seeing.

By 1982, the pair had covered every major city in France and were turning their attentions to the rest of the world. But in 1994, they returned to France and began producing a set of regional guides, and these form the basis of their first collection in English.

Seven titles are already available, covering Brittany, Burgundy, Provence, Bordeaux, La Rochelle and Charente Maritime, Normandy and Paris, with Geneva due out in October, Languedoc-Roussillon and Lyons in January and the Dordogne and Périgord in February.

Written by local authors, each is packed with phone numbers, opening times and up-to-date prices, as well as tips on where the French bathe and where they buy their produce.

What they lack in glossy colour photos, these guides more than make up for it in authentic local colour.