The cluster of red-tiled roofs perched on a knoll high above a provencal plain, tempting the traveller to turn off the motorway; the tiny hamlet in the Massif Central, occupying the site of a Roman camp, where one can easily imagine the frozen, tramping legions; the captivating first glimpse, revealed by a bend in the road as it winds along the river bank, of the perfect village, its cascade of medieval houses clinging to the side of the gorge and leading the eye up from an ancient bridge past a Romanesque church to the crumbling ruins of an imperious fortress, outlined against the sky. Every traveller who has ventured off the beaten track in France has made such joyous discoveries, and knows that one of the greatest pleasures that France has to offer is its wealth of superlative villages. There are thousands of fine examples, scattered all over the country, and here the photographer Michael Busselle, who has travelled more widely in France than most, presents his personal favourites