Three and a half weeks in France
The first week and a half was our working from home in France experience and the final 2 weeks was our actual holiday. We stayed with Marion's parents just outside of La Rochelle on the west coast of France.
Our journey to France was straightforward. Pick up Emma from nursery and drive to Portsmouth and wait wait wait in our car to board the ferry to St Malo. The weather was hot and we had to wear our masks in the car so it was a tiring wait but we finally boarded just 15 minutes before the boat departed. We were able to go outside and view the scenery of Portsmouth Harbour as we sailed out to France before retreating to our cabin for a sleep. There was nothing else to do. Arriving in France we stocked up on patissery for the journey south and joined the morning traffic out of St Malo. The next hours were spent driving south, past fields of sunflowers and then eventually to our destination. Unpack the kids and car, then jump back into work.
The first week and a half were spent working and the weather was good so the children often went to the beach or to town with their grandparents. Being at home was ok and we could go for a run or walk to get some exercise.
The next two weeks we actually had a very good holiday. Trips to the beach on ile de Re, to see family, to each ice-cream. Marion's brother, his wife and their 1-year old stayed with us for 5 days and the weather was super hot. Their baby doesn't sleep too well and we all were exhausted at the end of 5 days. Then finally we had a few more days of beach and cooler weather before coming back to quarantine in UK.
Impending Quarantine
We knew it was going to happen after the rising number of daily cases in France, especially so after Spain was removed from UK's safe list. But when they announced it on the final Friday (before we were due to return to UK)we were still caught off guard. But there was not much we could have done. A brief thought went to trying to dash back to UK before the deadline but we'd rather spend the final days with Marion's parents and enjoy the end of our holiday before putting up with it in the UK when we were back. My parents volunteered to host us for the 2-week quarantine so we accepted.