Le Pré Marin

Big and busy as it might be, don't dismiss Dieppe (half an hour's drive) as the place to arrive and leave from, or the town where you go for the supermarkets. It's a pleasant town to wander about, especially for its lively Saturday markets where you can encounter buckets of live snails and whole wild boar. Above the town in the Château Musée you can see how Renoir, Pissarro, Sickert and a whole host of other big-name artists were influenced by this port town and its coastline. The arty crowd were also drawn to Veules-les-Roses, a five-minute drive away, for its beetling cliffs and pebble beach; these days it's a popular spot for watersports. Heading up the coast in the Dieppe direction, Hautot-sur-Mer is the number one spot for horse trekking through the countryside and gallops along the sands. Fécamp (45 minutes) is the starting point for the Route du Lin (Linen Route) cycle path, taking in textile history and some of Upper Normandy's finest scenery over its 80-kilometre route, and it's also home to Woody Park and its tree climbing and bungee jumping opportunities. In the town meanwhile, you can poke round the palace of the Dukes of Normandy and sample the wares spiritual and spirituous at the Benedictine distillery. An hour away and well worth the trip are the alabaster white cliffs and rock arches of Etretat: bring your easel and make like Monet or just take a walk round.