Arrived home around 13:15 yesterday. Long old drive punctuated by only a few hours sleep on the boat and a 90 minute meeting in Windsor (8am to 9.30am – the things I do). Boat arrived a few mins earlier than advertised. We were first on and first off. It’s a quality of life thing. Last off = long queue to get through customs. First off = no queue whatsoever. Take yer pick.
The birdbath was full. The lake was full. Haven’t checked water butts but they will be full. It’s been raining in Lincoln. Plenty of tomatoes to pick, and apples, which are v sweet. Grapes starting to ripen and have grown. Greenhouse water butts full and the one by the potting shed half full – that was totes empty beforehand.
Been on a Waitrose run and got meself a Charlie Bigham chichen jalfraize (or however you sbel it) for dinner. Had a really fab holiday but now, as is the nature of things, quite exhausted.
There were lots of memorable things to look back at from the trip. At the last minute we switched from an overland route to coastal due to the heatwave continuing to hit France and booked a hotel in Les Sables D’Olonne. It was peak season so most of the “good” places were booked but we managed to get a a gaff with private parking opposite the marina. Private parking can be important in the middle of towns and it is one of the things I look out for. The hotel waited until we had booked the room before emailing us just to mention there was a rave going on over the road and what we could buy tickets for it if we wanted. Err. I sleep through these things but THG doesn’t and it was bloody noisy.
At lunchtime we found a bar on the quay and I hade fish and chips which was just the right portion size and included tartar sauce but no mushy peas. We dined in that first night and whilst the food was okay the service was interminably slow. They were understaffed. The couple sat next to us upped and left. The second night we pushed the boat out and ate at La Cotriade. Great seafood. As you might imagine seafood was a strongpoint of Les Sables. The other memorable thing was the waiter in the temporary market who could spin his tray, toss it up and catch it on his index finger. When I asked to do a vid of him doing this he and his pals were greatly amused. We let Les Sables after 2 nights, stopping at eleclerc where the cashier nearly fell off her chair when the final bill for the food shop came out. We were feeding 8 after all.
The Farmhouse at La Broulie was stunning. Perfect for the extended family who all got on well together and made the week one of those fantastic memorable holidays. We went out to buy croissants for breakfast, as you do, we visited the place where Richard Coeur de Lion died. Turns out he was Duke of Aquitaine. A highpoint was the private chefs coming in on the Wednesday night.
At the end of a very memorable week the fam parted company and THG and I set off back to the coast. Our hotel, Maison Des Ambassadeurs, was notionally the best hotel in LA Rochelle and really was a quality gaff. The only thing that we had to comment on was the breakfast. Nothing wrong with it but it didn’t live up to the 5 star experience that was the rest of the stay.
The following two nights we were at Hotel Les Sables Blancs just outside Concarneau. Great spot, huge terrace/deck outside the room, good restaurant, great breakfast where prawns and oysters were options. Only thing that let it down was the internet access which was v puer. Not a deal breaker but something that should be so easy to sort out. The food there was great. The staff were really just kids on vacation jobs but they were fine. I had a haircut under a gazebo in the marketplace, we strolled around the very cool walled town, had drinks in a cool locals bar called Le Cabestan and dined at Ty Cosy where the food and the service were great. I had dropped in during the afternoon to book and when we arrived got the best table in the house. We each bought a stripey Breton fisherman’s top for 10 Euros from a stall in the market. It was also very tempting to buy food but staying as we were in a hotel didn’t need to.
As a general rule when people spoke to us in English, as unfortunately they mostly did, we said that we didn’t speak English but French was ok. It was obvious that we did speak English but we got 100% smiles and approval from the French. What is it about us that makes people think we speak English. I would tell the waiter that I could speak French and Welsh which confused them no end. I really don’t like the fact that most people from the UK make very little effort to speak the local language where they go. “But I don’t speak French/German/Spanish/pick yer own”. Soz love that isn’t an acceptable stance.
We moved on from Concarneau to Granville which I’d never heard of before I booked the hotel but it was in the right general direction of the Brittany Ferries port in Ouistreham. Birthplace of Christian Dior, fwiw. He worked for the Germans during ww2 which was conveniently not mentioned. I guess you had to get by. He did financially support his sister who was in the French Resistance. We never got to see his “museum” as we only found out on the dat=y that you had to book. We hadn’t.
Anyway Granvile was great. Bought twelve very arty door/drawer knobs and we had the best oysters I’ve ever had from a quayside fish shop that was also a restaurant. Stunning. Our hotel looked out over the bay of Mont S Michel and I spend some time on the balcony just taking in the scene. There was a seawater swimming pool outside the hotel and we could access the prom by lift from our room. As we drove away from the hotel we found we were trapped by an ambulance attending an incident. It was a one way street with no other way out, Hey…
We finished off near Utah Beach. In the past I’ve stayed at Domaine Utah Beach which is a seriously good hotel but it is about 5 km from Chez Roger, one of our all time fave restaurants. We opted instead for a chalet in a campsite about 200m from Rog’s place. It had a 2 night min stay but fir us it was worth burning the second night just to be able to walk back from dinner. Our ferry left at 23:30 on the second night. One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to Dead Man’s Corner Museum. A seriously good ww2 tribute to those involved in the Normandy invasion. Included Dick Winters’ uniforms and that of Forest Guth including eh Nazi flag he liberated and the contemporary photo of he and it at Marmion farm on DDay is v famous.
On our last and very rainy morning we popped in to the caff at Utah Beach. Known as Le Roosevelt it is packed with DDay memorabilia and hundreds of autographs of veterans who took part in the invasion. The table we were sat at had the signatures of Babe Heffron, wild Bill Guarnere and Shifty Powers. If you know you know.
Back at the campsite we packed the car and were about to set off when I noticed we had a flat tyre. Sigh. Fortunately he AA were there in less than an hour, fitted the spare, and we were on our way. Now I’ve had folk commenting about why I didn’t change the tyre meself. Well when I pay someone to do this sort of thing and that someone is an experienced mechanic I don’t see why I should get my hands dirty and risk not doing a good job.
In the end it resulted in about an hour and a quarter’s delay which did affect our plans. We skipped the Pegasus Bridge museum but did visit the famous caff that was the first to be liberated on DDay by british airborne troops led by Richard Todd (it only took cash and wasn’t much of a caff but it had history on its side). The site of the glider landings is amazing. You wonder how on earth they managed to get down in such a small space. Anyway there ended our French holiday. We hit carrefour in Ouistreham to buy some supplies although we couldn’t buy cheese as the bloody British have decided they don’t want to risk importing mad cow disease or simlar.