It’s been a long time since I got to have a
holiday abroad. As much as I miss my little pooch, and loved her when she was
with her, she did make it difficult to have holidays outside the UK. As this is
the first full year without her around, my parents and I decided we were long
overdue a holiday in the sun, and off we went for our little adventure into the
beautiful France.
The Journey There
My Dad and I don’t like flying, and my Mum
doesn’t like boats, which makes travelling anywhere a bit of a challenge. But
the good thing about Europe is there’s a third option that none of us mind, the car and the Channel Tunnel.
We set off at 8am on the Friday morning with
all our luggage in the back of my Dad’s car. That is the bonus to travelling in
the car, although it takes a lot longer, there’s no restrictions on what/how
much you can or can’t take.
Our tunnel crossing was booked for 15:30 but we arrived an hour earlier and, after a quick stop at duty free so I could
stock up on perfume, we managed to get on an earlier train and made it into
France earlier than expected.
Night One
The first night we got into France we spent
in a hotel called Armony Hotel, in a little town named Bourg-Achard. It
was late when we arrived at the hotel, so we didn’t get a chance to explore the
town, but from what we saw through the car windows it seemed like a very pretty
market type town.
The Hotel is a budget type hotel, the rooms
were similar to what we’d get in the UK. They had a bed (which wasn’t the most
comfortable I’ve ever slept in), a TV, a desk, and an en-suite shower room.
They were clean and tidy, and well kept, so there was nothing to complain
about. But what was lovely was the restaurant.
We had our first French meal of the holidays
in that restaurant, and whilst there wasn’t tons of choice what we ate was
delicious, and what we saw them bring out for other people looked amazing.
After struggling a little with language barriers (the staff didn’t speak much
English, and my GCSE French was a little rusty) we all opted for a burger and a
drink, followed by some ice cream. It was very tasty.
Breakfast the next morning was what I loved
about France. Fresh baked pastries and fresh fruit juice. I had a selection of
mini croissants, and pain au chocolats
(all of which were still hot from the oven) with some passion fruit
juice to start my day, my Mum opted for croissants and cereal, my Dad went for
cereal and toast. It was delicious. I was disappointed that this wasn’t going
to be my breakfast every morning.
Week 1
After another five hour drive (and getting lost in the countryside
for a little while) we arrived at our first week long home. A beautiful little gite called Les Iris, just outside of a little village called
Tout-y-Faut. Accessible by a very small little country lane, the farm house is
set in the rural countryside. With only the pool, and a few other houses nearby, this gite is perfect for anyone wanting a quiet relaxing week away from the hustle and bustle. It was ideal.
The gite itself had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room and a kitchen. It was very rustic in it's decor, but it suited the property and the area. The pool was just a nice size, and we were in it every day. It was lovely just being able to lay around and read, soak up some sun, watch the birds as they decided to dive bomb the pool to cool down!
We did venture out and about on a few occasions, and everywhere we went was beautiful. We spent a day in Royan which is a lovely seaside town, which did the best crepes of the holidays! There was a lovely beach, a fair ground, and a high street of shops to explore.
We spent another day exploring more of the area, and the little villages around where the cottage was. We visited Alunay on market day, Saint-Jean-D'Angley's cathedral and car museum, Green Venice which is so beautiful, and stumbled across this lovely little park and boating lake which had the best electric boats ever on it. They were mini cruse liners/steam boats. They beat the ones you can hire on Lake Windermere by far! I wish I could find a picture of them to show you all....but I think my Dad took them on his camera.
We also ventured to La Rochelle one day, which is a very large historic port town. The weather wasn't wonderful that day so we spent a lot of time in the Aquarium. The majority of the pictures I took on holiday were in that Aquarium. There were so many pretty fish. I loved the jelly fish, and the sting ray that smiled. Here's just a selection of pictures I took in the first week of our holidays:
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| From Top Left to Bottom Right Chocolate banana and coconut crepe in Royan, our private pool, strawberry crepe in Royan, smiling sting ray in La Rochelle aquarium, me and my mum in Green Venice, pretty jelly fish in La Rochelle aquarium, our little home for the week, caramelised apple crepe in Royan, Green Venice. |
Week 2
My Dad gets bored very easily of being in one place for a long time, which is why we split our holiday and moved across to the coast of France for our second week. We stayed in a lovely bungalow just outside of Pornic. Unlike the previous house, this was much more modern and in a suburban setting. There were restaurants and shops within a few minutes walk, a few minutes walk to the beach and a half hour walk into the centre of Pornic.
Whilst I did miss having the pool on the second week, I loved this house and it's location. It felt a lot more homely and comfortable. I could have lived in this house long term.
We spent a lot of time this week in Pornic. It's a beautiful little port town, no where near as big as what La Rochelle was the previous week, with a lovely little harbour, loads of tasty restaurants and picturesque beaches. We ate in Pornic almost every day and tried out a range of the different restaurants and ice cream shops. Their speciality is mussels, so if you're a fan then this is definitely a good place to go. Everywhere sells them.
The first time we ever went to France (over 10 years ago!) we went to a picturesque island called Noirmoutier, as we were back in the same sort of area we went back to visit. Some of the island was like we remembered, including the market square with the watch shop and the slush and ice cream machines in the middle, but a lot had changed, and unfortunately we weren't as impressed as our last visit. The island was the only place in France that we found was very commercialised, which was a shame. A lot of the restaurants were now burger bars, and there was even a Hollywood American diner on one corner. It wasn't the same, but I'm glad we got to go back to somewhere we all had fond memories of.
Whilst we were on holiday, France celebrated Bastille Day. As a national holiday, the majority of places shut, but we got to experience how France celebrated their national day. We got up on the morning and watched the parade of all the armed forces in Paris on the TV, I bet that would have been brilliant to watch live. We then spent the afternoon at the beach before heading into Pornic on the night for their celebrations.
Pornic had a mussels and music festival. They'd blocked off a large area of the port, created a stage which a live band were performing on, and laid out five or six large tables. There were about 10 different stands selling food, from mussels and chips to crepes and burgers. The atmosphere was amazing. Everyone was out with their families to enjoy the music and food, and then at eleven pm the fireworks started.
It was a pretty amazing firework display. They were set off from a walk way just in front of Pornic Chateau and filled the harbour with light, and the Chateau was letting of sparks from it's roof top, and at the end had lights on the side of it that said 'Pornic 2015'. It was a lovely night, and I'm really glad I got to celebrate this day in France.
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| From Top Left to Bottom Right Our home for the week, Bastille celebrations in Pornic, Pornic Harbour, Pornic Marina |
The Journey Home
Travelling home is definitely the worst part of the holiday, and ours was just as bad. While we split the journey going across two days, we did it in just one coming home. It was a very long day. We set off early (7:40 French time) from our temporary home to drive to Calais. We made it just in time for check in.
After long queues at passport control, there wasn't time to stop for a break or a last trip to duty free so we were straight on the train and back in the UK. It was about 4pm when we got back into the UK. Two hours later and we still weren't off the M25....what a nightmare road that is!
When we eventually got off the M25 and hit the A1 we stopped for some dinner at a service station before commencing our final leg of the journey. Sixteen hours after we first set off, we arrived back to my parents. Home Sweet Home.
Looking Back
It's nearly a month since I came back from France and my little adventure. It feels like forever ago now, but it left me with lots of happy memories. I had an amazing time, and I can't wait to go back again in the future.
Sarah x