Finding calm
Why slow and steady often does win the race
It’s Christmas Eve, but I’m not rushing around.
Until yesterday, I’d been in France for the past week. With my husband, I drove to northern France and spent the last seven days taking some time out relaxing in a quiet house in a tiny village and exploring the local area.
Before we went away, several people were surprised that we were going away the week before Christmas. I think it’s a time of year where we tend to focus on plans for the 25th December (in the UK, at least) but forget that it’s possible to take some time off before. It’s something I recommend, when possible.
We weren’t necessarily set on coming to France, but after doing a little research it was clear it was no more expensive to get a ferry and rent a little house for a week in northern France than finding somewhere within a similar driving distance in the UK. So, France it was!
Over the past couple of years, I have often joked with my husband about “when we have our French pied-à-terre!” but after the past two Gallic trips to the northern parts we have started to take this idea a little more seriously. In the past we’d travelled down to Bourgogne or the Loire Valley or further south to Bordeaux or Perpignan and so the idea always seemed nice whilst we were there but the reality of all of that driving seemed too much by the time we got home.