Ditching technology is the recipe for a bonding family break in France
- ontargetmedia8
- Aug 19
- 4 min read
Josie Clarke and her children make a deal to ditch their phones and reconnect in other ways.
As any parent who has experienced the infamous post-GCSEs summer will know, trying to separate the newly-free teenager from their mobile phone will be met with howls of indignation as they launch into a whirl of socialising and associated demands for money and lifts.
As any of these parents will also know, tolerance for this lasts – at a stretch – about 48 hours. Something had to give in our household. We did a deal – leave your phone at home for a week’s holiday with the family and we’ll consider letting you go to Reading Festival.
To ease the separation, we decided to try a new holiday destination, the surf village of Moliets-et-Maa on France’s south-west Atlantic coast.
Moliets, an hour’s drive north of Biarritz, is a teen-friendly adventure paradise for all the family, offering surfing, a spectacular swimming beach pounded by Atlantic waves, canoeing and a myriad of land-based activities ranging from golf to tree-top adventure parks to e-biking across a network of dedicated cycle paths.
The idea of Moliets is to ditch the car and use bikes to get around, and so we do – our first stop the lively promenade leading to the beach, lined with restaurants and surf shops and heaving with young people carrying their boards rather than their phones. “It’s actually quite cool here,” the teenager says.
The beach itself is a vast expanse of glorious white sand which stretches to waves high and forceful enough to make you grateful for the team of surf life-savers keeping a watchful eye over the crowds, whistles at the ready. This is no tepid Mediterranean bath but without a doubt the biggest surf any of us had ever experienced and an invigorating adventure.
Just a little further along, a host of surf schools allow complete novices to learn on waves substantial enough to provide the all-important speed.
Donning wetsuits, we all spend a morning learning to balance on the board and paddle our hands “only three times – one, two, three!” before “taking the speed”, our instructor sending only the occasional Gallic head shake of exasperation in our direction.
We had no idea surfing was such a full-body workout and so a long lunch to recover is in order. Moliets makes the most of its local produce in its array of eateries, ranging from surf cafes to top-end restaurants. Fortunately, the recent French GSCE study leant itself to translating the menus, as there was happily not a word of English in sight. We all make our way through huge bowls of steamed mussels, small, sweet and locally harvested.
The following day we tear ourselves away from the beach for some inland adventures, starting at the Adrenaline Parc – a series of tree-top agility courses and zip-lining featuring the opportunity to zoom between the upper branches on skateboards and bikes.
The afternoon has us back on the water, but this time for a two-hour seven kilometre paddle down the La Palue river in inland Saint-Michel-Escalus. The route, which we opt to take in double canoes, looks idyllic and is certainly breathtakingly beautiful, meandering as it does through a protected area of the Landes forest.
Ready for a mother-daughter bonding experience basking in the calm of our digital detox, we set off down what immediately reveals itself to be a fairly fast-flowing river featuring submerged trees and overhanging brambles. The following hour is spent furiously arguing about who is responsible for us ending up wedged in the bank or finding ourselves facing backwards, culminating with my daughter threatening that she is “actually getting out of this boat”.
As a smiling German family calmly glide past us, we agree to simply stop speaking to each other at all, and make the rest of the journey taking deep breaths and listening to the birdsong.
A calming cycle trip back to our accommodation at Villas La Clairière aux Chevreuils does wonders. We decide to dine at home on oysters, followed by more mussels, bought from Poissonnerie Chez Vincent in nearby Leon and cooked on a hotplate helpfully included in our villa’s kitchen, accompanied by fresh, crusty baguette and washed down with wine.
While we cook, the kids lark around in the pool, laugh about surviving the canoe trip while sunbathing and – with not so much as a word about their phones – start reading their books.
The villas are positioned next to the Moliets Golf Course, with cycle paths connecting the two, and our last day sees me and my daughter – by now speaking to each other again – taking a beginners’ lesson at the driving range while husband and son – both keen golfers – try the family-friendly nine hole course, which provides just the right amount of challenge for more experienced juniors and a lot of fun for both of them.
Moliets is one of several courses in the region to be ranked in the European Top 100, with a layout set among the pine forests and along the coast, with the sea air ensuring we develop quite an appetite by dinner time.
Our last meal is at Un Singe En Hiver, on the edge of the village square and well-known not just for its celebration of local produce but for its cocktails, friendly staff and live music, making reservations a must.
After a long meal and as the evening cools slightly, we hop back on our bikes and cycle to the beach, which is already dotted with people who have arrived with pizzas and wine to catch the sunset. We sit and watch as the blaze of orange sinks and dips below the horizon, the roar of waves in the distance.
“Can I have your phone,” my daughter asks, grin on her face. “Just to take a photo.”
