A holiday home near Saint-Valery-en-Caux

The house is 15 km from Saint-Valery-en-Caux. Out of season, allow 20 minutes. In summer, allow more like 25: the coast fills up and the traffic on the road with it. For the market, or to find space by the harbour, the morning is still the easiest time to arrive.

On the way, you pass through Paluel, 5 km from the house. In mid-August the village hosts the Grand Marnage festival. Its dates change from year to year: the tourist office calendar lists them, and that is what to check before planning an evening around it.

Saint-Valery is not the nearest beach to the house. For everyday swimming, Veulettes-sur-Mer is 10 minutes away. Saint-Valery is better kept for a market morning, a walk round the harbour or a late afternoon when you feel like being among people.

In Saint-Valery-en-Caux, the marina sits between two chalk cliffs, and the town is built around it. So you do not come here just for a beach, as in the neighbouring valleuse villages, but for a town that lives facing its boats.

The walk is done on foot, around the harbour, with the boats in the foreground and chalk on either side. As everywhere on the Alabaster Coast, the beach is pebbles: if you plan to swim, water shoes are still the best idea, and the rule about not settling at the foot of the cliffs applies here too. Our guide to the best beaches on the Alabaster Coast places Saint-Valery among the other beaches within reach of the house.

One practical tip for groups: agree on a meeting point at the harbour before you scatter. With eleven of you, between those who want to walk, those who linger in town and those looking for a café terrace, you soon lose sight of each other.

The first is on a façade. The Maison Henri IV is a 16th-century timber-framed house, dated 1540. It houses the tourist office, so you can see the building and ask your practical questions in the same place. This is where you pick up the calendar of events along the coast, find out about markets or ask for ideas for days out.

The second is more solemn. In June 1940, the 51st Highland Division surrendered at Saint-Valery-en-Caux, and a monument here keeps its memory. For visitors from Britain, and for teenagers, it is a chance to talk about a chapter of the war that played out here, on the Alabaster Coast, long before 1944. Combine the monument with your walk round the harbour rather than making it a separate outing.

Do not confuse this memory with that of D-Day. The beaches of June 1944 are not in Seine-Maritime but in Calvados and the Manche: Bayeux is 2 hr 05 from the house. Saint-Valery tells another story, that of 1940, 20 minutes down the road.

The Saint-Valery-en-Caux market is held on Friday mornings. In summer, it also comes back on Sunday mornings, on Place de la Chapelle. Friday lets you do the weekend shopping in one go; the summer Sunday market is the only Sunday one among those we recommend around the house.

Back at the house, it all happens in the kitchen. Induction hob, oven, dishwasher, fridge and freezer: everything you need to turn market baskets into lunch for the whole group, with crockery for 12 and the basics (oil, salt, pepper, spices) already in the cupboards. A tip for big tables: split the shopping in advance, one pair per dish, so you do not come home with three lots of the same vegetables.

On other days, other towns take over. Over a week, a simple rhythm is Cany-Barville on Monday (10 minutes), Veules-les-Roses on Wednesday (30 minutes), Saint-Valery on Friday (20 minutes) and Fécamp on Saturday (25 minutes), keeping the other mornings for the beach. The full market calendar around the house is on our page about things to do nearby.

Saint-Valery is a harbour town, with the bustle that goes with it. Staying 15 km away, you enjoy it at the times that suit you, then come back to the quiet: 4 parking spaces behind the gate, one hectare of enclosed grounds to end the day, and a house with character that once belonged to a local shipowner, which suits anyone fond of harbours.

Saint-Valery also combines well with its neighbours to the east. Veules-les-Roses and Sotteville-sur-Mer are 30 minutes from the house, and we set out the loop of all three villages in one day on our Veules-les-Roses page. Saint-Valery, being closer, fits naturally as the last stop before heading home. In the other direction, Fécamp is 25 minutes away: both harbours fit into the same week, but it is best not to do them on the same day if you want to keep time for the beach.

If you are coming for the summer Sunday markets or the Paluel festival in mid-August, aim for the high-season weeks, which are let for a minimum of 7 nights and go early. Book this holiday home near Saint-Valery-en-Caux through Idylliq, who can tell you about availability and the periods concerned.