A holiday home in Normandy for October half-term

In late October, life in the house draws in around the sitting room. Its seven or eight seats face the wood stove, enough for most of the household to gather while others finish the washing-up next door. The heating works in every room: the fire is not a necessity, it is the pleasure of the season.

A half-term week always includes a few hours indoors. The large table for 10 suits the board games you bring, the Smart TV and fibre Wi-Fi suit film nights, and the speaker takes care of the rest. For little ones, the switch to winter time often upsets bedtimes: the blackout curtains in the upstairs bedrooms help settle nights, and naps.

The grounds are still worth it in autumn. Between showers, the children get back to the swing set and the enclosed hectare while the adults stay dry; the fire pit and its plancha still earn their keep on dry days, at lunch rather than dinner. Plan the days around the light: the big outing late in the morning, home before dark, and the evening by the fire.

Autumn is the season for long walks. The GR21 follows the top of the chalk cliffs, cut by valleuses, the dry valleys that drop down to the sea. You can follow a stretch from one village to the next, then come back down to the beach through the next valleuse. The whole coast, from Étretat to Le Tréport, is covered on our page about the Alabaster Coast.

Two rules apply in every season: stay away from the edge at the top, and never settle at the foot of the cliffs, as the chalk is retreating and rockfalls happen. Down below, at low tide, the rock shelf is uncovered; set off with the tide times and keep an eye on when the water turns. For a shorter outing, Veulettes-sur-Mer and Petites Dalles are only 10 minutes from the house; at Veulettes you park free on the seafront, without hunting for a space as you would in August.

On properly wet days, fall back on indoor visits: the Palais Bénédictine and the Les Pêcheries museum in Fécamp (25 minutes), ESTRAN Cité de la Mer and its aquarium in Dieppe (55 minutes), or the old town of Rouen, an hour away. Autumn opening times are not the same as in summer, so check them before you go.

Scallop fishing in the eastern Channel opens in early October. By October half-term the season is a few weeks old and scallops have reached the fishmongers along the coast. The kitchen has what you need to cook them: induction hob, oven, and the plancha on the fire pit if the weather lets you cook on the terrace. Dieppe even holds a herring and scallop fair in November; its dates change every year, so confirm them with the tourist office before the 55-minute drive.

Autumn is also apple time in the Pays de Caux, and cider is one of the local products people happily take home in the boot. Rather than aiming for a single address, go round the markets and the producers' stalls: that is where the seasonal produce turns up, among the villages of the Pays de Caux.

The local markets are all held in the morning, each on its own day. During the autumn holidays, one detail differs from summer: Saint-Valery-en-Caux no longer has its Sunday market, which only runs in the summer season. If a French public holiday such as 1 November falls during your stay, the town hall or the tourist office will confirm whether the market goes ahead.

Outside high season, the house is let from 2 nights, with Idylliq confirming which periods apply. Depending on your dates, a long weekend during October half-term is as possible as a full week. Check-in is from 4 pm: at this time of year it gets dark early, so it is best to do the shopping on the way.

The same logic works for the other school holidays. At February half-term, you get the stove, walks on an empty coast and the big winter tides, at a pace close to Christmas and New Year stays. Over the Easter holidays, the scenery changes: rapeseed turns the plateau yellow in April and May, and the rhododendrons flower at the Bois des Moutiers in Varengeville-sur-Mer. We cover it in detail for May bank holidays and long weekends. For half-term as for Easter, availability is checked with Idylliq, and the best plan is to book as soon as your school holiday dates are known.