Painting & Drawing in France with Steve & Michaela

Painting & Drawing in France

Dominique, our art tutor was amazing! We had a great time learning how to paint. Our subjects were a still life of fruit and flowers and everyone did a great 

job. Well done all!

We visited the 5th largest equestrian centre in the world where they can cater for up to eight hundred horses at a time. We enjoyed afternoon coffee and ice cream while watching the horses in the arena. 

We took a steam train journey through the beautiful French countryside to St Vallerie, a beautiful seaside town on the bay of the Somme. We spent a couple of hours there wandering around the ancient town and shops before heading along the coast to Etaples to visit the war grave cemetery. 

We all found it very moving as we wandered amongst the thousands of headstones of the soldiers who fought in the 1st and 2nd World Wars. We then went to the war museum where we spent the afternoon amongst tens of thousands of pieces of war memorabilia including armoured vehicles and tanks.

During our holiday we had a few of Steve’s famous BBQ’s. Delicious!

We played games in the garden late into the evening.

We went to Etaples famous street market and enjoyed wandering the streets buying gifts and souvenirs. We sat outside a bistro and had coffee whilst taking in the hustle and bustle of a typical French market scene. 

In Boulogne we visited the Sealife Centre. We had such a fantastic time in Europe’s largest marine-life centre. We particularly enjoyed the shark viewing area and the penguins too.

Another day, we visited the Blockhause, this was a fortress built by the Germans during World War 2 to launch an attack on the UK with V1 and V2 rockets. We spent the morning there exploring the site and enjoying a guided tour through time.