any one a whizz kid at English ? Can you look at this and correct any mistakes ??
Explore the Bastide town of Ste Foy la Grande, founded in 1255 by Alphonse de Poitiers, with its lanes,
half timbered houses and town square surrounded by archways.

Every Saturday morning there is the market, (classed as one of the 100 most beautiful markets in France),
where you can buy authentic regional products.

Surrounding the Bastide you can sample the charm of the Gîtes and Guest Houses in the villages that lie in
the undulating countryside inbetween St Emilion and Bergerac.

The Bastide lies on the banks of the river Dordogne which runs through the 'Pays Foyen'
(name given to the area of Ste Foy la grande')
The river has something to please every member of the family : boat trips, rowing, canoeing and fishing.

The Bateliers museum in Port ste Foy shows how life used to be on and around the "River of Hope".

With the aid of booklets on sale at the Tourism Office, you can discover walks that will lead you through
vineyards and forests where you can discover local history in the villages of St Philippe du Seignal, Pineuilh
Eynesse and Margueron. You can also retrace the footsteps of Elisée Reclus, or discover the ancient water mill
of Maitre Pierre in Eynesse, where you can grind grains in the old fashioned way.

The 'Vézelay Way' is one of the most famous routes taken to St Jacques de Compostelle and one which crosses the
'Pays Foyen'. With the help of a booklet available at the Tourisme Office, you can cross the districts of St Avit
St Nazaire where numerous traditional tobacco barns still exist, or St Adré et Appelles with its ancient mills.
When leaving the 'Pays Foyen' you will pass through the distinctive landscape of the vineyards of
Saint Quentin de Caplong and Caplong.

In the "Pays Foyen" the vineyards of two different appellations stand side by side. That of Ste Foy Bordeaux,
the wines of which you can discover at the Maison des Vins in Pineuilh, and that of Bergerac Montravel and its
'Wine route'(a map of which can be found at the Tourisme Office).
A visit to the wine cooperative at Les Lèves et Thoumeyragues is also recommended.

There are many gourmet restaurants in the area. To help you make your choice a restaurant guide is available
at the Tourism Office.
Why not taste the local biscuit the 'Croquet Foyen', made with oranges and almonds, available in the local bakeries ?

The 'Félibrée', a traditional Perigordian festival will take place on Sunday 2nd July 2006. Over 30 000 people are
expected to attend to celebrate Occitan values and traditions. Traditional costumes, folk dancing
and banquets all under canopies of millions of flowers stretching over many kilometres.

At the crossroads of three departments, the Gironde, Dordogne and Lot et Garonne, the 'Pays Foyen'
is the perfect base for your holidays, close to major tourist attractions like the caves of Lascaux and the
vineyards of St Emilion. The neighbouring town of Duras with its castle is a fascinating place to visit,
passing through the villages of La Roquille and Riocaud. Other worhwhile visits are the tower where
Michel de Montaigne wrote his works and Bergerac, land of Cyrano de Bergerac ...

Ok, here's what I found:

Every Saturday morning there is the market... would be better with there is a market.

countryside inbetween St Emilion and Bergerac In between is two words.

Also, there are a few times you have repeated words like "ancient" and "discover" and although they're not wrong, it might flow better if you put some different words in.

NM

thanks tinkeling noted the errors

You don't need the comma-parentheses and the brackets, choose one of:

Every Saturday morning there is the market, classed as one of the 100 most beautiful markets in France,
where you can buy authentic regional products.

Every Saturday morning there is the market (classed as one of the 100 most beautiful markets in France) where you can buy authentic regional products.



'Inbetween' is a portmanteau word, should be 'in between'.



Missing a full stop after the closing brackets.



Remove the space before the colon.



For balance, maybe move the comma in the first sentence to after 'forests', rather than after 'Office'.

Change 'old fashioned way' to 'old-fashioned way'



Remove the space before the question mark.



English numbers are written as 30,000 not 30 000.



I don't think departments would be the usual word: counties, regions?

Also, using commas to parenthesis the list and separate the items in it could be unclear, how about using dashes:

At the crossroads of three regions—the Gironde, the Dordogne and Lot et Garonne—the 'Pays Foyen'
is the perfect base for your holidays,




Worhwhile -> worthwhile.

Also, comma-parenthesise 'where Michel de Montaigne wrote his works':

the tower, where Michel de Montaigne wrote his works, and Bergerac...

departments IS the right word, 'cause it's France.

I was just going to say that Nicola!

Add comma after festival:

The 'Félibrée', a traditional Perigordian festival, will take place on Sunday 2nd July 2006.

I think YAP's found most of the others !

OK .

It depends how much one is anglicising it, and to whom one is addressing a literature. I guess it's a matter of taste: I'd stick with a word that would be more correct in that context to a native speaker rather than a literal translation of the French; but, then again, if the reader will know that department means region without being thrown off-stride then use it .

I'm getting some really good ideas from this, and helpful criticism, thankyou for your time every one, the document is aimed at English speaking tourists.

Actually the word is "département"

Isn't a portmanteau something you put clothes in?

ON ACTUALLY !!!

yes - so rather than use an English version of the same word, which doesn't have quite the same connotation in English, I personally would stick to the French spelling in this context. FWIW.

Listen to maggiemay - she used to be a proof reader and is a member of the Pedantic Piano Teachers Club!

I used to be pedantic but now I don't miss a thing ...

I find proof-reading gives me the opportunity to unleash my inner-pedant .

Maggie - I didn't know you used to do it as a job, is it as fun as it sounds ?

I started doing it as part of an English advisory job when I was living overseas. I quite like the attention to detail it needs - but it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea! Do it very occasionally these days.