Actually we didn’t go to Juan-les-Pins last week, we went to Saint-Thois in Finistère, northwestern France, where we had the loan of a friend’s house (two houses in fact) for the week. And very lovely it was there too.

I won’t bore you with all the holiday snaps (not least because, as I’ve already explained, I’m not prepared to post pics of my children here, and most of the holiday ones are of them), but I have got a few for your delectation.

Here’s the Nantes-Brest canal at Chateauneuf de Fau just a short distance from where were staying for example:

And the view from the top of the hill overlooking the canal:

Gorgeous isn’t it?

Scenery aside though, the highlight for me of the week was getting to spend so much time with my children. The oldest two are 21 and 20 now, they’ve both left home, and yet bizarrely they still like coming on family holidays with us. I don’t know what we’re doing wrong (or should that be right?) but every time I read about how teenagers reach a point where they don’t want to go on holiday with their parents any more, I wonder when and if that’s ever going to happen with any of my mob.

Anyway, as you may have gathered from my Tweets, I discovered when I got there that my dongle wouldn’t work (not that I was planning on spending much time on the Net, honestly), so it really was a proper holiday. We walked; we lay on the beach (although as you can see, even though it was France I neither went topless nor did I wear a burqini):

We read; we drank wine; we played basketball in the barn; we played basketball in the barn and drank wine….

And basically we did what you’re supposed to do on holiday and forgot about the real world for a while.

Oh yes, and we met some wildlife.

Here’s a river full of fish (just don’t ask me what sort):

A big fat caterpillar thing:

A grasshopper (or is it a cricket?):

And finally, last but by no means least, my personal favourite who we met just as we were packing up to leave:

A toad!