French Forays

In a few of my more recent posts I seem to have mentioned France quite a few times so I thought I'd do a post on my francophile tendencies.  Living in London, we are only a short journey from Dover and the ferries to France and there is nothing we like better than to pop across the Channel for a weekend, to get away from it all.  Our trips are a little curbed at the moment due to the puppy, but we are planning to get her a Pet Passport and take her there with us as soon as we can.

We don't always go very far into France when we do go, as this can mean a long drive, but we have found some wonderful places to visit not far from the French Ports of Calais or Boulogne.  One favourite place that we have visited on many occasions is Le Touquet.  A small seaside town which is just 30 minutes drive from Boulogne.  It has a lovely traditional French market on a Saturday morning, a great indoor pool with huge slides for my daughter and lovely sandy beaches, plus a multitude of other activities to enjoy including an interesting museum, horseriding, cycling, etc.  I understand that it is a firm favourite with Parisians on a weekend, being probably the closest seaside resort to Paris.  We have in the past taken our bikes and cycled to nearby villages to attend their markets and we always have a great time there.

Boulogne itself, is also a firm favourite place to stay, with another lovely pool and an old part of town well worth a visit.  We are still discovering lots of other small places in the vicinity, every time we go to France.  It may seem a little unadventurous to some people to stay that close to the ferry ports, but the stress of long drives, toll fees, petrol costs etc. can add a lot to the cost of the trip and in a weekend, time is very limited and precious, so we are happy not to travel too far.

If we holiday in Brittany or the Vendee for a week or longer, which does tend to be a more expensive trip, we like to take the ferry to and from St Malo on our journey and take time to walk the streets of it's walled town.  We even managed to stay inside the walls on our last visit, which was very interesting.  The streets of shops are great to wander around on an evening. 

We have also ventured further into France and do love the South of France, but it is a long journey in the car.  Not one I would care to do with a dog.  Perhaps our next trip there will have to be minus the dog, but I do love the relaxed feel and beautiful warm weather further south and the views along the coastal roads are fantastic.

Our trips to France do usually include an obligatory visit to the Hypermarche, our particular favourite being Auchan in Boulogne, where we tend to stock up on very palatable and inexpensive French Rose, White and Red wine, beer, spirits, coffee, etc.  We do feel a little embarrassed approaching the till with a huge trolley full of such commodities, but quickly shrug it off when we see the till receipt.  Our last trip was in the October half term, in good time for Christmas, and we still have quite a few bottles to keep us going until probably Easter or beyond.  You may think this is not very loyal to buying at home, but frankly the amount of tax paid on alcohol in this country is verging on the ridiculous.  The French really do know how to live well and in a civilised manner for less, and we can all learn a lot from them in this regard. 

Hopefully, once we have arranged a passport, had her rabies jab and any other medical treatments required by the French, we will be taking our puppy on our next trip.  In our experience French people do seem to like their dogs, so hopefully she will have a great time too.  The only drawback will be that there will be slightly less room in the car for our supermarket sweep.  I guess you can't win them all.