Marketing Cheshire boss Katrina Michel is setting off today (Wednesday, March 8) to the Côte d’Azur laden with Cheshire’s finest cheese, wine, gin and speciality gifts.

CEO Katrina is taking the four-day, 1,078 mile journey to Cannes in her husband’s BMW, instead of her own Fiat 500, with her friend Imogen for company.

Her husband Andy will fly out to the south of France and share the driving duties on the way back.

She is attending MIPIM (Le Marché International des Professionnels de l’Immobilier), the world’s largest annual property and investment festival which is attended by 23,000 investors, politicians, architects and property people from more than 90 countries which takes place from March 14-17 2017.

With Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership, Cheshire West and Chester Council, Cheshire East Council and Warrington Borough Council, Katrina is part of a 17-strong delegation which includes Addleshaw Goddard; Alderley Park; City Place, Chester; Fifield Glyn; Glenbrook; Graham Construction; Grosvenor Estates; Mott McDonald; Northgate (Strutt & Parker); Patrizia; Pochin; Pozzoni Architects; Protos; Tatton Estate Management Property Group; Thornton Science Park; Vinci; and Warrington & Co.

Her cargo contains such culinary delights as cheese from Burt’s in Knutsford and sparkling wine from Carden Park, where 4,000 vines produce around 6,000 bottles of Carden Old Gold sparkling wine each year from the two grape varieties grown, Seyval Blanc and Pinot Noir.

Cheshire's finest cheese, wine, gin and speciality gifts

Also in the boot is Orsem cheese and Forest Gin, which is made in Macclesfield using local botanicals such as wild bilberries and moss; Hunters Premium Gin from Warrington; and lavish gifts courtesy of Bentley, whose luxury handcrafted cars are made in Crewe and marketing brochures to give prospective investors a guide to life and business brilliance and opportunities in Cheshire.

Katrina said: “Cheshire hasn’t been to MIPIM for several years so we have to make a great impression and it’s fantastic that so many businesses have seen the importance of supporting the mission and working closely with us.

“We have some excellent investments to promote – the Cheshire Science Corridor Enterprise Zone, the Chester Northgate and City Place schemes, opportunities in Warrington and the Northern Gateway Development Zone designed to capitalise on the Government’s proposed massive investment in HS2 including a rail hub at Crewe. So we will need plenty of copies of our Ultimate Guide to Investing in Cheshire and Warrington.

“We know that after a long day, a bit of hospitality will go down well too, so, I thought why not drive for four days instead of fly for two hours and fill the boot of the beamer with the taste of Cheshire.

“I am literally taking cheese and wine to the French – who needs champagne and camembert when you can have the crumbliest Cheshire cheese washed down with a glass of Carden Park fizz?

“I’m sure that nothing that goes in the car with me will be coming back, so there will be room on the way home for a few bottles of rose from Provence to accompany the English summer.”

You can follow Cheshire and Warrington at MIPIM on Twitter @Cheshire MIPIM or Visit: www.871candwep.co.uk.