When you walk along the lanes that meander through the Goute-la-Muanne, a village in south Touraine between the middle of March and early April, the air is permeated with a strange odour.

Several years ago, the French administration stopped transferring distilling licences from generation to generation. Now that fewer and fewer have the right to make their own eau de vie (otherwise known as "la goutte"), what can the tourangeaux do with all the surplus fruit?

The "Gouttards" (those who live in Goutte-la-Muanne) have kept a very old tradition alive. This is practised in the greatest secrecy.

Our correspondent has succeeded in infiltrating the Brotherhood of Gouttards to bring you the story . . .