IT IS something of a crime to visit the gastronomic capital of northern France and order an omelette, let alone a plain omelette. Yet that is the sorry state to which my wife was reduced in Lille because of nausées matinales – morning sickness. So I can reveal that the omelettes of this charming French city are good – very good – but there does appear to be an egg shortage in some otherwise excellent establishments. But that need not matter as Lille, France’s fourth-largest city, has so much else to offer.

One point in particular was overlooked amid the fanfare of the launch of the Eurostar station at St Pancras earlier this week: the new high-speed line will bring Lille well within commuting range. It is now only 80 minutes by rail from the centre of London to the centre of Lille – a journey time that many London commuters stuck on overcrowded suburban trains or grid-locked on the M25 would happily accept.

The French have already discovered the secret of Lille. The city is only an hour by TGV from Paris or Brussels, yet property is up to two thirds cheaper. No wonder many French workers simply buy or rent in Lille and commute. All of which helps to explain why locals are fond of saying that Lille is “the centre of Europe”.

There is no doubt that property in Lille is good value, with basic studio apartments costing as little as €85,000 (£60,000) at the agent Pap.fr. In Vieux Lille, the oldest and most attractive part of the city, a one-bedroom flat is for sale for €110,000 with the agent Lamy Capitales.

Some Britons are ahead of the game. Pascale Crombez, of Le Lion Immobilier, says the naming of Lille in 2004 as European City of Culture was a good advert for the city. She sold four properties to Britons that year – the average now is four to seven. “English people want a flat with two bedrooms in Vieux Lille – the old town – and near the station. They spend about €300,000.” She adds: “The English love Lille because it’s close to the coast yet only an hour from Paris on the TGV.” She says a top-quality flat in Vieux Lille costs about €3,300 per sq m. By contrast, a flat in the best quarter of Paris is €10,000 to €12,000 per sq m, and in Brussels €4,000 to €4,500 per sq m. Francis Leleu, of Lamy Capitales, is more down-beat on British interest, however: “I’ve worked here for eight years and sold only two flats to English people in that time.”

The old town is certainly alluring, with its narrow cobbled streets, bijou shops and elegant townhouses with wooden shutters and Baron Haussmann-style iron balconies. New-build apartments are thin on the ground in Vieux Lille, such is the shortage of land. A smart new development, Carré Royal, due for completion in 2009, will comprise 196 flats and houses; unusually for Vieux Lille, many of the homes come with gardens. Prices range from about €180,000 for a studio flat to €500,000 for a fourbed house. Marie-Hélène Pacôme, head of the north region of Espaces Immobiliers BNP Paribas, says that Carré Royal offers a rare chance to live in a new-build home in the best part of the city: “This really is the last new development in Vieux Lille – there is simply no more land left.”

Lille is also an excellent place in which to own a second or weekend home. It has pages of history: Charles de Gaulle was born here (his house is now a museum) and the largest fortress in France, the Citadelle, built by the 17th-century military architect Vauban, is only a short stroll away. The Palais des Beaux-Arts museum is world-class, with works by Rodin, Van Gogh, Rubens, Goya and Monet. Farther afield, Agincourt is within an arrow’s flight and the battlefields of the Somme within a forced march.

In many ways Lille is France for beginners. Forget the ferry to Calais: this city is the place to practise your school French and visit a proper market for the first time. You could even come over just for lunch. Or to shop. Speaking of which, my wife, Helen, says that Lille is first-rate for shopping, especially for clothes. It has a new Galeries Lafayette department store, the largest outside Paris. That, coupled with all the designer shops and fabulous boulangeries, pâtissieries and restaurants, make it far more of a pleasure than traipsing round Bluewater. I still dream about the pain de campagneI bought from a little bakery in Rue de la Monnaie in Old Lille. It was, quite simply, the best bread I’ve eaten this year, with the perfect crust, the perfect texture, the perfect... There we go again. Food. But it’s hard to get away from the subject in Lille, the closest French city to the Belgian border.

The best place to eat genuine Flamande or Flemish cuisine is in one of the famous estaminets – traditional, nononsense restaurants. At Chez la Vieille in Old Lille you can eat carbonnades flamandes – beef stewed in local beer with gingerbread and brown sugar – or potjev-leesch, originally the poor man’s meal of pork, rabbit, veal and chicken cooked together and served cold in their jelly. All washed down, of course, with local beer: amber, blonde or wheat.

The local cheese, Maroilles – also known as Vieux Lille, presumably for its old, musty smell – finds its way into most dishes. In fact you can have it for all three courses: soupe au Maroilles, then poulet au Maroilles and a cheese platter to finish. Better than a plain omelette any day.

For everything you need to know about buying in France, go to: timesonline.co.uk/frenchproperty

FACTFILE

Eurostar has up to ten daily services from St Pancras, Ebbsfleet and Ashford to Lille. Return fares from £55: eurostar.com or call 08705 186186. Ebbsfleet International, a giant park-and-ride station close to Bluewater in Kent, opens on Monday. It is only 70 minutes from there to Lille by Eurostar. Contacts: www.lelionimmobilier.fr , 00 33 (0)3 20 13 81 81; www.lamy.net , 00 33 (0)3 28 36 20 00. Carré Royal: Marie-Hélène Pacôme, marie-helene.pacome@bnpparibas.com, 00 33 (0)3 20 13 34 86.

FORSALE

A first-floor apartment of 87 sq m in the building above in Vieux Lille, the oldest and most attractive part of the city, is for sale for €398,000 (£279,000) through Le Lion Immobilier.

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