The Sunday market is a must. Get off the Metro at Gambetta and go straight, you're there. Otherwise walk from the centre across Place de Republique down rue Gambetta and get more of the atmosphere. If you walk take a break at Le Stout for a coffee and cognac - it is the café on the corner with a bike suspended in the window. Then twenty yards later you are in the flower market and behind that the covered market. In the covered market there are plenty of treats.

A Polish stall which does the best smoked filet mignon in the world although a bit expensive at 27 euros per kilo. We call it 'baby' at home because it is so tender.
There is also a cheese stand that is good value and massive - so they always cut more than you want.
The other side of the covered is the open market. A mix of farmers' and bulk buy, but both are good value. Olives beside endives. The spice stands used to be good but they have doubled their prices recently. There is also haberdashery and second hand clothes and a fine selection of elephant-shaped underpants.

There is plenty to eat - banks of roast chicken, ribs, Chinese noodles and pies (try the cheese maroilles on a pie or traditionally dunked in coffee). All the cafés on the square are fine but I prefer those on the street on the side of the covered market as they are where all the stall holders go. In front of the church it is more trendy, very people-watching and people who have not been to bed.

There is a great family restaurant on the square but I'm not telling as they refuse to be in guidebooks. It serves a fixed menu of what is fresh and cheap. Fantastic veal liver, fish and chips (French style, no batter) and if the kidneys don't appeal there is a tender rump steak as standard. All this with a starter and a cheese plate or a dessert for 25 euros. Find it!

The market is on Sunday morning from 7am to about 2pm depending on the weather. If it isn't raining it is packed - the Lillois don't mind the cold, only the rain. France is very kid-friendly, but don't take a pushchair as all your kid will see are bums and you get stuck in pram jams.

Lots of other stuff to see in Lille: museums, medieval buildings, general Flemish architecture. A very under-rated place to visit.

Metro Gambetta
or walk through the town across Republique and down rue Gambetta

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For your wine cheese and food shopping, take a bag on wheels, and stop off at Eurolille on the way back to Lille Europe station.

Find all you need at the vast Carrefour - then top up with bread and pastries at Paul, before nipping out of the side-exit from Eurolille for the short walk to Eurostar.

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Once alighting from the Eurostar, it is simply essential that you take the time to appreciate and delve into the vast collections of buttons in the many nearby haberdashery shops.

With buttons adorning almost everything on this year’s catwalks, now is the time to purchase some yourself and liberate your creative side.

Pick out the buttons from jars as if they were full of penny sweets and try not to ask for a quarter.

They range from the size of a ladybird to the size of a saucer and one expects they come in those two styles also!

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My tip is to visit the annual 'Braderie de Lille' - the biggest flea market in Europe, with stalls on over 100kms of pavements.

It is held over the first weekend in September in the centre of Lille. From Antiques to Junk, from Books to Pictures it is all there. The walk from Lille Europe to the market is short, some 500 yards so access is easy.

I discovered it by accident. Leaving the old station (Lille Flandres), after an ovenight trip from Italy, I headed for a café and stumbled across a small part of the market. I was hooked!

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Any visit to Lille must include some time exploring Furet du Nord, the largest bookstore in France.

This bibliophile's dream is a huge labyrinth consisting of eight floors and is the perfect place to escape from Lille's uncertain climate.

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Plan your trip to Lille to coincide with the Christmas market at the end of November, beginning of December.

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This is a tip for shopaholics. If you want some retail therapy, jump on a Eurostar train to Lille for the day, preferably with a girlfriend. Take an empty wheelie case, and go early.

The Eurostar terminal exit brings you out next to the Euralille Centre, but leave this for later and head for the main town, an easy five-minute walk.

If you have children in the family, the Rue de Paris has about seven wonderful children's shops. The streets of Vieux Lille offer an enticing variety of shops. There is a Printemps department store, and this autumn a new Galeries Lafayette store will open.

Grab a quick lunch, perhaps at Paul on Rue de Paris or Le Pain Quotidien, 33 Place Rihour. A delicious tea can be had at Meert, which you'll find at 27 rue Esquermoise.

Finally, whisk through Euralille, not forgetting the mammoth Carrefour hypermarket with food on the lower floor and household goods and clothes upstairs. Then it's back on the train to reflect that a day trip is really not long enough!

www.lepainquotidien.com/

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Hidden inside the Vieille Bourse (Old Stock Exchange) you'll find a wonderfully eclectic range of second-hand books. We bought some old TinTin comics (in French, obviously), which we treasure as a great memory of our day trip to Lille!

fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vieille_Bourse

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Check out the Braderie, a massive annual fleamarket. Bring an empty case with you and check it into left luggage before having an exciting day of bargain hunting. When you arrive back at the station, fill your case with the numerous items you've bought and travel home in style. All is ease and comfort after the hustle and bustle of the market!

www.mairie-lille.fr/sections/site-en

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With the Carrefour hypermarket close to the Eurostation, get yourself a good strong rucksack to carry those bargain wines onto the train and so back home!

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Lille is only one hour from Ashford International station, which makes it perfect to hop over for a day's shopping in the brilliant hypermarket situated next to Lille station. You will save pounds, so take plenty of shopping trolleys!

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For all shopoholics, go straight to Rue de Bethune. You will find all goods shops and cars are forbidden!

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Le Chat Bleu is not simply a chocolate shop established in 1912 - although the chocolates are pure, dark and handmade - but also a repository of superb preserves. Home of the most blackcurrant I've ever had in a jar.

3, Rue des Manneliers, 59000 Lille
Tel : 03 20 15 01 73 - Fax : 03 28 52 61 04

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Stock your freezer with French delicacies! Shopping day trips to Lille by Eurostar are short enough that your frozen food doesn't defrost and there are plenty of small boutiques to entertain even the most fussy shopper.

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La Braderie de Lille: an all-over-town 48h street market is held on the first weekend of September. Think bargains on clothes, antiques, knick- knacks, night time shopping, local beer sampling and the restaurant competing for the highest mounds of mussel shells when tons of moules -frites are traditionally wolfed down over 48hrs. An absolute must-see.

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