As we drove towards our holiday park in France the sky loomed above this hayfield, picture perfect. Yesterday I wrote this post about Eurocamp and our experiences of the site, today I want to tell you about what we did when we left the site.

What to do in France? First up, random it may be but I must tell you about my visit to a French pharmacy. I have a chronic illness, and needed to stock up on pain killers, so Mr Purple and the children waited in the car as I visited the local pharmacy. Firstly there was a queue, around four people long, not a very clear queue but it was obvious from the faces around me that I needed to pick the right spot in it. No problem, chose a spot, four people, this won’t take long thought I.

So I watched as the people at the three counters, with three assistants got served. First lots of passionate discussion (or perhaps everything sounds passionate when you hear it in a language you don’t understand?) Then the bringing of many (up to 20) boxes of many different sizes. Next more discussion, long, drawn out. Then some boxes get swapped for different boxes. This step was repeated, until the boxes where agreed upon then payment and done. I was almost disappointed when I asked in stilted French/English for mine, and got given the correct box straight away.

Visit a chateau, or as myself and the children called it (much to Mr Purples pedantic annoyance) a castle. This one is in fact the ‘chateau de Pierrefonds’ where Merlin is filmed. We happened across it completely by accident. Looking for some woodland to walk in we went for a drive, and found ourselves here. A very magnificent, impressive castle, we’re very glad we found it. As a bonus we fulfilled another one of the Eurocamp bucket and spade list. 

Buy children’s clothing. I love French children’s clothing, and as an added bonus the French hypermarkets sell stuff that I’d expect in an English boutique at supermarket prices. A dress I bought Wonder Girl has been admired a lot today. To reign myself in I let each child get a new outfit and a set of pyjamas.

Go on a bike ride in the French countryside. We were able to loan bikes from our Eurocamp site, and with Wonder Girl on the back of my bike and Robo Boy on a tagalong with Mr Purple we set off. It was idyllic, rolling countryside, not a person in sight. There may have been some grumbling when we had to push the bikes up a large steep hill in the middle of woodland. However it was totally worth it for the picnic at the top and the cracking downward descent.

*Disclosure: we were given travel and accommodation by Eurocamp. Our holiday would have cost £1259 for ferry crossings, accommodation and access to all our sites facilities.