Unpopular opinion: I’ve never been interested in beach holidays. It’s never long before the sun makes me irritated and I yearn for the attractions of a city.
That’s why I’ve never truly really had a relaxing holiday until my most recent trip to France. I’ve always been too interested in searching for all the sights and sounds that city life has to offer, even if it means rushing around like a headless chicken trying to cram everything in.
However, this all changed last summer, when I had my first relaxing holiday. It wasn’t a beach holiday, but rather an escape to the French countryside.
It all happened when my friends, Elsa and Freya (both cousins) invited me and my brother to their auntie’s house in the west of France. Needless to say we jumped at the chance.
They mumbled something about the place being nice, but nothing over-the-top. The whole idea of the holiday was just to spent some good quality time together. We all live in different parts of England and seeing each other can be trickier now that we all have jobs and whatnot.
Travel planning (and adjusting expectations)
Even though the holiday wasn’t my idea, I still got out a map and planned things for us all to do when we arrived. Naively, I assumed everyone would be up for whatever ideas I had.
Despite only having one week in France, I was determined to explore as much of the country as possible. Even if this meant staying somewhere new each night, instead of utilising the free accommodation.
My plans took us away from their aunt’s house for several days. In fact, pretty much all of my planning ensured that we were hardly there at all. I’m so used to either city break trips, far-flung corners, or solo-travel with lots of sightseeing, I forgot that holidays can look different. Oopsie.
My first experience of a French château
When we arrived, and I understood where we would be calling home for the week, all my plans were completely thrown out of the window.
The location, the setting, the house, everything about what I had envisaged completely exceeded all expectations. Elsa and Freya had completely under-sold it.
It wasn’t a house, but rather a beautiful château taken straight out from a postcard.
However, this didn’t mean I wanted to let go of my action-packed itinerary so easily. I still wanted to see lots of places. On the other hand, Elsa, Freya and Ki, didn’t seem up for it. Preferring instead to simply relax at the château.
While I was mildly disappointed, I respected the decision that I had been outnumbered and promptly re-adjusted my expectations for the trip. I would much rather do what everyone else wanted to do even if it meant lazing around most of the time. After all, the point of the trip was for us to be together as friends and family.
Enjoying the simple life
Throughout the whole holiday we barely left the grounds of the house because the place was practically self-sufficient. And you know what? I love it.
Everything we wanted we had, including food which could be picked straight from the garden. I was so impressed with their life-style. I wanted it for myself. A nice patch of land to grow my own fruit and veg? Yes please, sign me up!
Our days consisted of reading under the summer shade, sunbathing on the jetty, making sushi, swimming in the lake. We also played dressing-up with costumes, drawing, and played hide and seek.
Being in such a beautiful and laid back place really made us all get lost in our imagination. I really didn’t miss being in a city at all. It couldn’t have been any more relaxing, hmmm well, apart from if we had a masseur on hand (now I’m starting to get greedy!).
Here are a few more silly photos:
Elsa’s always wanted a big bum, and after copious amounts of cheese and drinking enough red wine to water a small garden in France, it suddenly appeared!
As you can see, my look was inspired by the the French painters of the 20th Century.
Freya dressed up like a Greek Goddess, complete with flowers picked straight from the garden. Later Bacchus would accompany us at dinner.
To be honest, I’m not sure what or who Ki is supposed to be. A cross-dressing Frida Kahlo? Anyone?
And when I wasn’t flashing off my moustache, I was scaring away any unwelcomed visitors with this little number. (Have you noticed how abnormally short my arms look?!)
Learning how to relax while on holiday
If someone had told me beforehand that I would barely leave the house I was staying at, I would’ve ran the other way. Thankfully, I went along, and it taught me the enjoyment of relaxing on holiday. This might seem really obvious, but holidays are meant for relaxing. I often forget this!
I still need to learn that getting to know a country doesn’t mean trying to see and do everything. Instead, just getting to know a small region can tell you much more about local life and history. From this trip, I learnt that the French really know how to relax!
This year, I may grab one of the many books I’ve been telling myself to read and give a beach holiday another go. Not going to lie, I’d love to see my pale skin turn a shade of brown for once!
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8 responses
Can’t stay in a place for long time, as there is always so much to see in the world.
Agreed, too much to see, but too little time! Saying that, I still like the idea of being rested in one place for a while…
Such fun you had! That chateau is absolutely beautiful! I don’t last long on a beach holiday or staying still for too long. I would have been like you and had days of itinerary and activities planned.
Oh the chateau really was idyllic, I guess this was one of the few occasions where I really didn’t mind staying still! But any other time I’d like to be reaching for the map!
I LOVE your photos, it looks so fun and relaxing. I usually get itchy feet too, but I could sure go for a nice holiday like this right now xx
My feet are at their itchiest in winter! I’d do anything to swap these dull, grey skies for hues of blue!
I typically can’t spend too much time just relaxing on the beach, but I love getting into the water as it can be so therapeutic. Considering that you got to stay at a beautiful French château, it seems that you made the right choice to enjoy an alternative holiday there. It’s great to mix things up.
The sound of water, and being inside it is very therapeutic! Agreed, mixing it up is definitely the way I like to travel – ruling things out just because it’s not what we usually do would be plain foolish!