How it all began

Ste Marthe
Yesterday's weather: dull, warm, sunny evening.

One chilly wintery day in 1980, Jon announced that our next summer holiday would be camping in France. As we had only had very few and short holidays in the early years of our marriage this came as a bit of a shock to me. How could we possibly afford an overseas holiday?

I trawled the newspapers, this being before the days of the internet, sending for brochures and dreaming of sunny days on a French beach. We found a company who seemed to offer the holiday we wanted at the price we could afford, booked up for two and a half weeks in early June and saved our pennies for spending money.

We had a small hatchback, five year old twins and a toddler who couldn't yet walk unaided and wasn't sleeping through at night. We selected various areas including the Vendee, the Dordogne, the Cote d'Azur and Paris. We booked campsites at all except Paris where we booked a hotel (luxury).

We were mad.

2,500 miles around France in a small car. I couldn't drive so it was all up to Jon and we had three little people, two of whom were very good at 'Are we nearly there yet?' and 'I'm bored' and 'I need the toilet' and one who was still in nappies.

We had the most amazing time. An empty beach in the Vendee, a peaceful hilltop in the Dordogne and the perfect campsite for kiddies on the Cote d'Azur. It didn't rain until we left Paris and then it rained all the way to Calais and back to the Home Counties. France was crying the tears we felt.

We were in love and decided that year that we would live in France once we had given up the day jobs. Year after year we dragged the girls around France, from nappies through puberty to teenage strops and missing boyfriends. We visited as many areas as we could and loved them all. The cars got bigger according to the length of the daughters' legs. We went from all-in holidays to a caravan, to a big frame tent and staying with friends.

And so, here we are. Living our dream and it is everything we wanted it to be. Why here? Well, we have been visiting the south west since that first holiday. We are within 3 hours of the Mediterranean or the Atlantic. The scenery is stunning, the weather is (normally but not this year) perfect; mild winters, hot summers and it is as far south as we felt we could drive in one day. There are two airports within 90 minutes both with low-cost airlines flying in from London and Birmingham, and the promise of another only 30 minutes away opening in 2008.

Sometimes my lovely husband has great ideas. The first holiday in France was one of his greatest.