An Easter holiday home in Normandy for the spring break

Easter Monday is a public holiday in France, as it is in Ireland and most of the UK. For many families the weekend therefore runs to three nights, from the end of the week to Tuesday morning, which is enough to bring several branches of a family together round a meal without anyone going home worn out. Check-out is by 10 am: on Tuesday, load the cars the night before and do not linger over breakfast.

The Easter school holidays follow a different logic. British and Irish schools usually break for a fortnight around Easter, while French spring holidays fall in April and are staggered across three zones, with Normandy in zone B and Paris in zone C. They do not always coincide with Easter, whose date moves every year, so a week on the coast can be busy or quiet depending on which French families are off. A week in April leaves time to see the coast and the plateau without back-to-back drives. Outside the high season the house can be booked from 2 nights, with Idylliq confirming the rule for your dates. Long weekends in May are covered on our page about the May bank holidays in Normandy.

The grounds cover more than a hectare, planted with trees and fenced all the way round, with an electric gate. That makes them ideal for an egg hunt: you hide, you let the children loose, and there is no road to watch. To be clear from the start, the house provides no eggs, no chocolate and no baskets. The hunt is yours from start to finish, and here is how to make it work on ground this size.

In spring, rapeseed turns the Pays de Caux plateau yellow in April and May. A late Easter weekend has a good chance of catching it as you drive up out of the Durdent valley. For garden lovers, the Bois des Moutiers at Varengeville-sur-Mer (45 to 50 minutes) is known for its rhododendrons and azaleas from April to May; it opens seasonally, so check before you make the trip.

On the coast, April is calm. Lifeguards only cover the beach at Veulettes in July and August, and the water is still cool: you come to walk the seafront, go rock pooling on the rock shelf at low tide or skim pebbles. Outings for each age, from the farm to the ponies, are sorted in our guide to things to do on the Alabaster Coast with kids. With a baby or a child under 4, the page on a holiday home in Normandy with a baby answers the practical questions about pushchairs, naps and bath time.

In April the Normandy sky can go from sunshine to a downpour within the hour. Rather than cancelling, plan an outdoor outing and an indoor fallback for each day, and decide that morning. Under cover, there is ESTRAN Cité de la Mer and its aquarium in Dieppe (55 minutes), the bowling alley and Île aux Jeux at Lac de Caniel (10 minutes), or the Palais Bénédictine in Fécamp (25 minutes), whose seasonal opening hours are worth checking before you set off.

Pack layers rather than one heavy coat: a jumper, a windproof jacket, wellies for rock pooling and a dry change of clothes. At the house the heating works in every room, and the wood stove in the sitting room is still welcome in the evening. When the sun comes back, the terrace facing the grounds, with its outdoor table, is already good for lunch outside on days sheltered from the wind.

The long table seats 10, the bar that extends it adds places for the youngest, and the kitchen has crockery for 12. The oven is big enough for a leg of lamb or a family dish, the dishwasher for what comes after. One local product deserves a place on the menu: scallops, which are usually fished in the Channel until 15 May, are still in season at Easter. On a mild day, the plancha on the fire pit sears them in a minute, outdoors only.

Easter lunch among the people staying in the house is a family meal, and very welcome. Parties with outside guests are not allowed, and noise outside stops at 10 pm. For an Easter holiday home in Normandy, the long weekends go quickly to families who plan early: as soon as you have agreed the dates between you, ask Idylliq whether the house is free.