A Swedish Army issue trangia-style stove can be bought on "a well-known auction site" for about £10-£15. For camping on French campsites it's very handy as meths is easy to buy there, and you can set it up in the corner of your pitch and it quietly gets on with its business while you play with tent, beer, showers, etc.
For cold weather you can buy some Ronson cigarette lighter fluid and pop a squirt into the top of the meths and light it - the fluid burns and heats the top layer of meths which then catches light from the burning fluid and then heats up the whole shebang. Works well.
For weight weeny stuff it's the Pocket Rocket and big gas canisters - one lasts me about a week.
For really sub-zero stuff it's the MSR petrol stove.
Finally, a few spoonfuls of water in the meths will ensure no build-up of nasty black stuff on the bottom of your Trangia pans.