It’s been a couple of years since we spent our summer holidays in rural France – fresh, green, warm, relaxed … simple pleasures. A perfect recipe for recharging the batteries. Although travelling to new places is exciting, there is something comforting about returning to familiar haunts and this year I realised that in the time since our last visit there were lots of things I’d temporarily forgotten about summer holidays in France –
1 Rosé wine is a BIG thing – I love a glass of Rosé and in France it’s seriously popular so there is a huge range in the supermarket. And that makes me a happy camper.
2 Screw tops on wine bottles are NOT a big thing – the French like to sell mainly French wine and French wine producers don’t love those new fangled screw tops. Now where did we stash that corkscrew? Good opportunity to teach teenage children that retro art of removing a cork though …
3 Wine at lunchtime is a thing – A very civilised thing, but it does make me want to sleep in the afternoon. Is that just my age?
4 It is not a myth that virtually every person walking down the street in France will be carrying a baguette – I’ve even seen baguette vending machines for emergency out-of-hours purchases. Yes, really.
5 The credit card machine in the boulangerie is always covered in a light dusting of flour – I like that.
6 Sometimes my rusty A Level French from circa 1986 (surely it can’t be THAT long ago?) is enough – Occasionally things go so well that a conversation could have come straight out of a GCSE text book. It happened to me on a day where I went to the Post Office to buy a stamp and then walked around the corner to the boulangerie to purchase 10 freshly baked croissants. Decided to keep it simple and not venture into complicated topics like whether the light dusting of flour ever interferes with the functionality of the credit card machine (see point 5) and left feeling well and truly in the smug zone.
7 Markets are everywhere – Yes, they’re pretty. Yes, they provide the ultimate photo opportunities. Yes, it’s great to buy tomatoes from the guy who grew them. Yes, the atmosphere makes you want to buy everything but do approach with caution – especially if you want to be able to afford a few bottles of Rosé to enjoy with those tomatoes!
8 Marketholders are not afraid of specialising – like Franck, the Pâtissier who has been selling exactly the same macarons and chocolate orange cakes since we started visiting France 10 years ago. No new flavours, just the old favourites – but when they’re that good, why change? He truly has found his niche and it is delicious.
9 Everywhere closes for lunch between 12pm and 2pm – And it’s brutal …. even when we had driven for an hour and arrived at our paint shop destination at 12:02pm, they still wouldn’t serve us. And yet … once I’ve got into this rhythm, it really is terribly civilised (see point 10)
10 Lunch really is a thing – Everyone stops for lunch. It’s not just a thing, it’s a BIG thing. In a world where we struggle to slow down, let alone stop, there is definitely a place for taking time to sit and eat and chat and linger. There will definitely be a baguette or two; there will probably be a glass of Rosé and you might even close with something with Chantilly cream on the side (see point 12).
11 Trying to get lunch outside of that 12-2pm window can be a challenge – You see the thing is, we’re pretty rubbish at eating at a particular hour at the best of times, but during the holidays even more laid back rules apply. We’ve been caught out so many times that we now carry an emergency picnic set in the back of the car, so that if we’re caught short we can swing by the supermarket and transform a baguette (of course – see point 4) and some cheese into a feast.
12 There is a widespread fondness for Chantilly cream in France – I wouldn’t say that I dislike it, but you can get too much of a good thing.
13 And using Chantilly cream to top a cappuccino is just plain WRONG.
14 The French are very proud of their food – Dishes are often cooked with a simplicity that is refreshing. Take buttery pastry + crème pâtissière + fruit + a light glaze, to make a delicious tart. Maybe lose the Chantilly cream though (see point 12).
15 You can get a fantastic meal in the most surprising places – I guess it comes from that food pride thing and the fact that the whole of France stops for lunch EVERY DAY, so tourist destinations that I wouldn’t normally associate with being great culinary destinations are just that. For example, the restaurant at La Rochelle Aquarium does the most beautiful lunch – think Beluga lentils dressed with a mustardy vinaigrette, a few salad leaves and a perfect poached egg. See what I mean?
16 Finding a takeaway coffee in rural France is virtually impossible – And oh how I have tried. There’s plenty of places to sit and drink one but when you want to wander with your drink, it just isn’t a THING. The up side to this? It forces me to pause, to sit, to take a moment before I order my Café Allongé (my favourite tipple).
17 The air is really clear – And when the sky is blue, it’s really blue. Like living life through an HD TV screen.
18 And at night, there’s no light pollution, so the stars are wonderful – I can still only identify the Big Dipper though. My lovely husband can point out all sorts of constellations in the sky, but he may be bluffing – you know, say it with confidence and people will believe you.
19 We sleep super late into the morning – That will be the window shutters making the room pitch black. And the peace and quiet. The Rosé probably helped too …
20 And we also stay up late – The relaxed pace means that dinner is a bit later; we linger over drinks; chat over coffee; treat ourselves to a nightcap under the stars.
21 We move so much more than we do at home – There are walks literally on the doorstep, along dusty ‘chemin blancs’, by fields of sunflowers and through shady woodlands. And sending teenagers out to explore on bikes also features heavily. Armed with a map (to give me some comfort that they would eventually find their way home), a couple of bottles of water and a few snacks feels like proper holiday magic.
22 And we pause so much more than we do at home – It’s not just the fact that everything stops for lunch, or that drinking a coffee on the go is impossible; the pace of life in rural France is most definitely more relaxed. And with that spirit of relaxation comes so many opportunities to pause, to take a moment, to truly embrace that holiday spirit, to recharge the batteries, to refill the tank. It’s a feeling that I would love to bottle and dip back into long after the holiday is over …..
You can find out more about summer holidays in France at https://mortafond.com