France has joined several other European countries in imposing a ban on smoking in bars, cafes and restaurants. The ban came into effect at midnight on New Year's Eve. Most people appear to have accepted the prohibition as inevitable, though there's strong resistance in rural France. Hugh Schofield reports.

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It's in places like this deep in the heart of the French countryside that resistance to the smoking ban has been at its strongest. People see it here as an affront to personal liberty and as a threat to a traditional way of life centred on the village café. But the fines are large, the government says it means business.

And so from tomorrow here at the Point du Jour bar as across the rest of France, the morning coffee and cigarette will be a thing of the past.

Hugh Schofoeld, BBC News, Burgundy

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come into effect
officially become the law

busy puffing away
(informal) smoking cigarettes quickly

is without teeth
doesn't have serious consequences

reprieve
when you're let off (or don't have to do) something for a period of time

to bring in
to celebrate

a fag
(informal) a cigarette

resistance
people feel very strongly that they don't want something (here, the ban on smoking to become the law)

an affront to personal liberty
an action which insults or offends the freedom of individuals

says it means business
is very serious about something

a thing of the past
something which no longer happens

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