I don’t know what a ham joint is. Is it just a pig’s leg? Possibly cured? Because you can get them in my local Inter, in the meat section, not the charcuterie traiteur counter. They also have wonderful pig shoulders if you want to do a 12 hour roasted one.
I love pigs’cheeks… long and low, in wine and herbs… mmmmmm 
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Had pigs cheeks at a commune run restaurant in Feniers, plat de jour, délicieux😆 But I didn’t know what I was eating at the time and had i bothered to read the board and asked, maybe wouldn’t have.
Oh Mark… we didn’t know the first time… just had the menu du jour (but it clearly mentioned “porc”) … Anyway, it was so delicious, I chatted with the waitress to find out a) what it was exactly … and b) how to cook it. Firm favourite in our house now…
Menu du jour can often offer something “unknown”… only once had a disaster…Andouillette … which we tried, but hated…and vowed … never again !
Having said that… we were out, way down south, dining out with friends (their treat) and were presented with Andouillette. Our faces fell, but we both nibbled a little (for good manners). 
To our delight the sausages turned out to be Andouillette de Canard… absolutely delicious … home-made by the Chef. (yes, I got to talk with him as well and take a look in his kitchen).
Sadly, we have never found Andouillete de Canard in our area…
Why do you say such a thing ? That is just complete nonsense. It is not terrible at all.
I have done two renovations and I am a perfectionist when comes to walls and painting. They have to be silky smooth and perfectly painted. I have tried all paints, and some from the UK. The French paints are better. The only paint I would buy from the UK (or France because they sell in France) is Mylands paint which more of a specialist paint that gives a loverly texture on the wall. Their wood paint is excellent to. But it is very expensive.
But again I would say, those complaining about French paint don’t know how to paint properly. I am pretty confident I can paint with any paint as long as I do the prep correctly. The difference is the finish. The french paints give a nicer finish. Especially the statin paints. Not sure what ‘satin’ is called in the UK. Last time I asked in a shop in the UK the 10 year old had a blank look on his face.
If any professional UK painter says that French paint is rubbish then they are not a professional painter. They need a career change. No paint from whatever country is going to make a horrible wall look nice.
Having seen the various posts about paint it had never occurred to me that people painted walls. I always think in terms of doors, windows and shutters. 
I say such a thing because that is my experience - obviously not yours, and this is a forum for people to express their opinions and experiences. As long as you are happy with the way you do things thats great but dont tell others that it is "just complete nonsense" if they dont happen to agree with you…
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Hi David…
I reckon you must have lovely stone walls… sadly our stonework was already well hidden when we bought…
We ripped the dark brown wallpaper off everywhere… and painted the downstairs walls a lovely sunshine colour… very daring for me… (I’m known in UK as Mrs Magnolia)…
Got even more daring in the bedrooms. Warm, bright colours, every room a different theme and the main guest room has a deep-red wall…offset by “hint-of-pink” white. Our daughter was thrilled when she saw it…
All our paint is French… and I love getting colours mixed to just the right shade for our needs.
But… I would dearly love to have some “pierre apparent”. I know we could strip back, but too late now…the cars have our full attention.
I’d say, for groceries buy in the market, not the supermarket.
For building materials join the nearest builder’s merchant (like BigMat), not the ‘Homebase’ equivalent. Quality products, discounts and fantastic advice.
For the furniture try the local brocantes or Troc. Sand it down, paint it, digress it to your liking.
I’m not a professional painter and my house has what you might generously call a cheerful bohemian look to it, but I had no gripes with the paint, and though I says it myself I managed a remarkably good job on the woodwork, with a nice even finish. My girly and extremely non-pro comment would simply be that I found a far far wider choice of nice colours here, blues and yellows and reds and greens. In the UK it used to be quite hard to find much except 50 shades of magnolia and 25 shades of white. It’s durable too, must be at least 7 years since I painted upstairs and it’s still looking quite fresh.
Oh, doors, windows and shutters. 
Yes well, that is a different subject all together. You have to be very ‘keen’ and very good to do that.
In terms of shutters, Volet roulants solve that problem. Could not live without them. If you want the ‘expat’ Provence blue look shutters then I think Aluminium is the way to go. Same with the doors.
Windows = quality PVC…not brico depot.
You are taken out and shot if you even have thoughts about “quality” PVC windows in our area. 
BTW, bricodepot.fr windows can be dressed up, stained, leaded etc to look quite smart. I agree the quality isn’t always as good, but for the price they are hard to beat.
Who by ? The french ? Nooo
Hi I get some of my furniture on Rue du commerce that have some really good offers. I think screwfix Europe sell paint and then deliver here. Failing that home shopping UK are a great company for food and goods also mouse2house deliveries for both shopping and goods. I have used both. I too fund it very expensive here and have been here for 13 years haven’t found one decent lathe chicken yet. Good luck.
Do you live nearby then?? Southern Creuse, PNR Millevache?
No, not at all. I am not sure I could point out where the Creuse is on a French map.
Due you know what, I got carved up on bank holiday Monday coming back to Paris by a late middle aged women driving a sporty Audi A5 registered 23. In fact she nearly took everyone out undertaking and overtaking in fast moving traffic. She clearly did not appreciate how long her car was. I guess she was coming back to Paris from her maison secondaire/chateaux or whatever in your part of the world.
Given her car, shades and lack of respect to other motorists I bet she does not order frozen steak and kidney pies from Asda. LOL.
Oh god don’t get us started on Audi drivers. They obviously get the ‘how to be complete twat handbook’ with the car registration documents.
Actually Mark…
In our Commune, deep in the countryside…UPVC windows and doors were fitted at our local primary school a few years back…to replace the rotting wooden ones. Some teething troubles with the doors and how the kids coped with their slightly odd opening/closing mechanism… but apart from that, they have been a boon… only needing a wipe down every so often.
The Salle des Fêtes has recently had aluminium doors fitted…These were deemed more user-friendly than UPVC (after the school experience). The old wooden windows are waiting until we have more funds in the kitty…then, it will either be Alu or UPVC… definitely NOT wood.
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Hi Verity, there’s The Pound Shop maybe? They send tracked deliveries and orders of up to 30kg have a Standard Delivery fee of £12.95 to France
Hi Verity re the furniture have you looked at Maison du Monde? I have bought a few things from them on line and the service has been excellent. The furniture is not flat-pack and the items I bought the quality was fine.
I cannot get the link to work for their site but google it.
As to Dubai I lived there for a few years in the 70’s a very different place. I met a lot of very interesting people from all over the world and many different types of cuisine. I metmany professional Palestinians who had lost their homes and were stateless but would invite you in to eat and show me how to cook many middle eastern dishes.
In fact my late husband and I married there and my daughter was born in Dubai. Many happy memories.
best wishes Sara