A holiday home near Veulettes-sur-Mer

At Veulettes, the beach looks different in the morning and the afternoon. At high tide, the sea comes right up to the pebbles at the foot of the cliffs, and the strip of beach shrinks. At low tide, it goes a long way out and uncovers sand, then a rocky shelf full of pools. Over a week, it is the tides, far more than the weather, that decide the shape of each day.

The habit that changes everything: look up the tide times in the evening, while you plan the next day. Low tide late in the morning? Head off with buckets and wellies. High water in the afternoon? That is the time to swim, since you do not have to walk far to reach the water. The times shift from one day to the next, so no two days in the week are quite the same.

One detail that matters with children: pebbles are far easier in water shoes, especially at high tide, when you walk into the sea down the slope. Put a pair per person in the boot on day one and leave them there all week.

In July and August, the beach has lifeguards every day from 11 am to 7 pm. The bathing area is marked out, there is a floating raft for swimmers, a shower to rinse off the salt before getting back in the car, and a beach wheelchair so that people with reduced mobility can get into the sea.

Outside those hours and those two months, there are no lifeguards. With children, the simplest approach is to swim between 11 am and 7 pm and stay inside the marked area rather than off to one side. The Channel is cooler than the Mediterranean: little ones come out quickly, which is where the shower and a warm layer for the drive back come in.

Beyond that, safety comes down to one rule that applies along the whole coast: do not settle at the foot of the cliffs. The chalk is retreating and blocks can fall. Put your towels down nearer the water, keeping an eye on the rising tide.

When the tide is out, the rocky shelf appears at the foot of the cliffs. This is rock-pooling territory: lift the stones, check the pools, fill a bucket and empty it before you leave. Keep an eye on when the water comes back in, as it returns faster than you expect when your head is down among the rocks.

In summer, the tourist office runs free nature sessions on the rock shelf, which must be booked. The meeting point is in front of the casino, children are welcome from age 3 and wellies are compulsory. Book a session in the first few days of your stay: the children learn what is under their feet, and then go rock-pooling on their own with more confidence. Other outings for younger children are gathered in our guide to days out with kids.

Veulettes has one more particularity: this is where the Durdent flows into the sea. The river runs near the house, passes through Cany-Barville and ends its course here. The beach where you spend your afternoons is where the water from your valley arrives.

The drive is 6 km, or 10 minutes. Parking on the seafront is free, so there is no ticket to top up when a swim runs long. And since the property holds up to 4 cars behind its gate, the group can split up easily. Some stay on the pebbles, others go back to get lunch ready. Depending on the tide, here are four ways to organise the day.

In the evening, the seafront promenade is made for a walk along the water before sitting down at one of the terraces that line it. Places to eat facing the pebbles are listed on our page about things to do around the house. At the end of the promenade, the casino opens every day from 11 am, with gaming for over-18s only.

Then you drive back up in 10 minutes. The house has no sea view and is not by the water, and we would rather say so plainly. What you get instead, 10 minutes from Veulettes, is an enclosed hectare to hang out the swimsuits and rinse the spades, a terrace where the sand stays outside, and a big living space where the table and the bar fit everyone for dinner. To compare Veulettes with the other beaches on the coast, see our guide to the best beaches on the Alabaster Coast.

In high season, the house is let by the week with a 7-night minimum (Idylliq confirms which periods), and summer weeks are the first to go. If you are aiming for July or August, when the beach has lifeguards, check availability with Idylliq as soon as your leave is booked.