Travelling by TGV to Rennes left us with just a one hour drive to reach Malestroit. With the exception of a garden full of massive weeds the house was pretty much as we left it at the end of May - hopefully the weedkiller will help keep things at bay at the end of the summer growing period before we return in October. With the weather being rather glorious we enjoyed a wander around Malestroit before enjoy a drink in the main square ahead of dinner at the 'Pont 9...

On the first part of our holiday in France we were joined by my Mum and her friend Chris and involved travelling on Eurostar to Lille. Lille was a convenient overnight stop rather than trying to make the journey all the way to Brittany in one day and as a city makes for a great place to visit and is far less busy than Paris which was our other option. Our hotel, the Balladines, situated opposite Lille Flandres railway station was a ten minute walk from Lille Euro...

Arriving at London St Pancras we had an hour or so to kill before checking in for the 2001 Eurostar departure to Paris Gare du Nord. This is the second time in the last few weeks we have been on this train and not only did we have the same seats in the same coach but also exactly the same train itself (train number 4003). The journey to Paris was quick, infact we arrived over ten minutes early at 2320 local time. The food and service on board in Standard Premiere...

Paris, a bit like London, is somewhere that we both have visited a fair few times in fact we will be passing through the city another three times before the end of May! The weekend itself was not really about seeing the sights, although we did not 'do' many we did 'see' many of the major sights as we wandered the streets, or took a bus around the French capital with our friends, Julie and Paul, who are living in Paris for a year in an apartment within spitting ...

The extended Easter break allowed us time to visit Malestroit in Brittany, France in order to check up on our house in the attractive town, enjoy some time exploring this part of France and preparing for the visit of friends at the end of May. Our weekend however started in Southend-on-Sea in the UK as this happened to offer the best cost combination of hotel and transport to/from France for us. The Friday morning flight from 'London' Southend International Airp...