House to rent near the sea in Normandy

Six kilometres from the house, Veulettes-sur-Mer has a long pebble beach below the cliffs that uncovers sand at low tide. The seafront promenade lines its terraces up facing the sea, and parking there is free.

In July and August, swimming is supervised every day from 11am to 7pm in a marked zone, with a floating raft, a shower and a beach wheelchair for people with reduced mobility. At low tide, the rocky shelf becomes the children's playground for rock-pooling.

Petites Dalles is ten minutes away, Veules-les-Roses and its beach tucked between two cliffs half an hour, Fécamp twenty-five minutes, Étretat forty-five. The same chalk cliffs and pebbles run all along the coast, but each village has its own character: the seaside resort of Veulettes, the flowering valley of Veules, the fishing port of Fécamp.

Because you sleep better. No traffic under the windows, no parking space to hunt for, and a hectare of enclosed grounds where the children play while the adults stay on the terrace. Go down to the beach whenever you like, and be back in ten minutes.

And when summer turns hot, the Normandy coast stays cool. During the heatwaves that hit France this summer, our guests spent their days between the beach and the garden, and their nights without air conditioning.