With a French mother and a whole host of relatives living in Normandy, Colette Taylor always felt drawn to the area. So in the late ‘90s, she left her home in Devon with husband Steve and their two young children and moved to Caen, selling English groceries from

a van before opening an English shop and a small restaurant beside William the Conqueror's castle.

‘Steve always referred to me as his Doll, so we called the restaurant Dolly's to give it a personal feel,' explains Colette who sadly lost her husband in a road accident in 2004. Dolly's was on the point of closure, but Colette wasn't easily beaten. Having sold all her fixtures and fittings, she hunted at boot fairs and second-hand shops for bric-a-brac to represent both her grandparents' era and her own childhood.

‘This time I went for a coffee and chocolate colour scheme instead of the old Union Jacks and tartan,' says Collette. ‘I wanted cosy corners where friends could chat over tea and coffee - a place that felt like home.

‘We kept all the old customer favourites on the menu like fish and chips, curries and English breakfast, but my daughter Elise - who now runs her own vegetarian restaurant in town - insisted I took on a chef and bilingual staff so I could spend more time chatting with clients. Within a year, we

had doubled our turnover.'

Colette has passed on her own recipe for Devonshire scones and her mother's lemon meringue pie to her three chefs, as well as a range of crumbles pies and puddings. Now Dolly's is open seven days a week, including five evenings.

‘Caen is a really great city,' she says. ‘University students come from all over the world which gives it a real international atmosphere. We have the castle, the cathedral and the Caen Memorial on our doorstep and are so near the coast and historic D-Day beaches.'