Saturday 25 May 2013

Removals to France – Most Fascinating Beaches in France

France is a land of contrasts – bustling cities and rolling countryside, majestic Alpine scenery and stunning beaches – so if your main reason for seeking removals to France to live near the coast and if its beach life you're after, you certainly won’t be disappointed. In France, there are plenty of fascinating and picturesque beaches to explore.  They're great for seaside walks, relaxing and recharging your batteries and, of course, they're great for getting a tan too.

If you're looking for a professional removals company to assist you with your removals to France, look no further; Hamiltons provide a removals service that is second to none. We have been providing removals to France for over twenty years now and have built a reputation based on reliability and dedication to customer service. We offer full and part load removals and secure storage. We'll do all the packing and unpacking for you if you want and we even offer a cleaning service to professionally clean the home you are vacating to save you the bother. When it comes to removals, whether they are domestic removals or commercial removals, we go the extra mile and that is what puts us above all the rest.

In this article, we will be taking a look at some of the prettiest and most interesting beaches in France – one of them could be near to your new home.

Removals to France – click here to find out more about our removals to France service.

Dune of Pyla

This is the tallest sand dune in Europe. They say it’s big enough to be seen from space! From the top, you are presented with an amazing view of the Atlantic Coast and the Bay of Arcachon. Convenient parking (€4) and a staircase have made access and ascension easy and along the way you can pick up ice creams and other beach goodies. You do need to be relatively fit to take on the climb but its well worth the effort.

D-Day Beaches, Normandy 

There are 5 beaches here that will forever be remembered for the part they played in WWII: Sword Beach, Juno Beach, Gold Beach, Omaha Beach and Utah Beach. All of them have memorials in place to those that lost their lives there. The best time to visit the area is June 6th, the anniversary of the D-Day landings. Numerous memorial ceremonies mark the occasion and the church bells ring in every town along the coast.

Côte Sauvage, Poitou-Charentes

Wild, unspoiled and rugged, it’s not called the Savage Coast for nothing. This is the ideal place to learn to surf. There are plenty of surf shops and surf schools along this 30km stretch where you can get all the gear you need and learn to use it properly too. Go to Bonne Anse Bay with the kids, they'll love the water park with its slides and amusements. Do bear in mind though, that the roads around here get pretty busy especially over summer weekends.

Pointe de la torche Brittany

This is another great place to sunbathe and surf out of so surf shops, creperies and ice cream parlours abound here. Swimmers though should be aware of the strong tidal currents and warned away from the area around La Torche. You'll see that some fencing has been erected here; this, together with the plant life that has been put in place, is helping to protect the sand dunes. Hikers will love here too. There are a number of quality circular trails and a lovely coastal path that crosses the harbours of Loctudy, Lesconil and Le Guilvinec.

Rondinara Beach Corsica

Rondinara Beach is, quite simply, beautiful. It has been photographed many times for use on picture postcards, its turquoise waters contrasting so vividly with its soft white-sanded fringe. The naturally crescent shaped bay, which is flanked by dark green pines, forms part of a protected nature reserve. The sea is calm and shallow and the sands slope gently into the water making it very safe and an ideal play beach for children. Access has been made easy via a long and occasionally narrow road, which has recently been resurfaced.

Plage de Notre Dame, Île de Porquerolles, Provence Alpes, Cote d’Azur

Plage de Notre-Dame is a gorgeous eucalyptus and pine backed fringe of white sand on the northeastern side of Porquerolle. The island is typical of the unspoilt French Riviera. Mountain bikes are the preferred mode of transport here and there are plenty of bike friendly, sandy paths leading to the beach. The al-fresco restaurants with menus consisting mainly of locally caught fresh fish are in great demand but bear in mind there is no beachside café; it’s far too picturesque a place to allow such a thing.

Plage de Pamperlonne – Cote d’Azure – Saint Tropez
Known as Tahiti Beach, Plage de Pamperlonne is both beautiful and expensive. This is not the place to go if you are watching the pennies; but then, that's part of the attraction. It appeals to the well healed; there's an upmarket clubhouse and the long white sanded beach never gets too crowded. Here, culture, couture and cuisine are blended perfectly with glamour and sophistication; but Pamperlonne is more that: it is also a wonderful nature reserve.

L'Île de Riou, Marseille 

Riou is the largest of the islands that go to make up the Marseilles archipelago. It’s great for diving, swimming, snorkelling and scuba; if you love interesting underwater landscapes, you'll love it here. Though there are many beaches in Marseilles, none are as lovely as L’Île de Riou. Covering quite a large area, there is a lot to see and do on the island and it has many unspoilt areas. On land, there're great accommodation and entertainment facilities but it’s not overly commercialised, unlike some other parts of the Riviera.

Paloma Plage, French Riviera,

Variously described as the most beautiful place on the French Rivieria and the ultimate Côte d'Azur experience, if one of your favourite pastimes is celebrity watching, you won’t be disappointed here. Despite being so popular with the Jet Set, the beach is open to the public but the local hoteliers are no fools, they charge up to 20 Euros for the use of their beds and a small fortune for their food and drink knowing that the scenery and their patronage will make it all seem worthwhile.

About Hamiltons Removals

At Hamiltons Removals, we have been offering our removals to France service for over 20 years now. We are proud of the reputation that we have built up in that time: a reputation for excellence in service and quality. Give us the job of taking care of your European removal and you can rest assured it will be handled in an exemplary and professional manner.

Removals to France – click here to find out more about our removals to France service or click here for a free European removals quote.

Wednesday 22 May 2013

Removals to France – Explore the Country’s Most Ancient Sites When You Move Here

If you require removals to France, the Pompeii Exhibition in the British Museum, may well be a source of inspiration. This exhibition – and many others like it – has created a revived interest in ancient history and, just like Italy and Pompeii, France has more than its fair share of ancient sites to visit. Some of these sites are of particular significance; there is evidence, for example, of one of the earliest uses of fire in Europe. Archaeological digs across the country prove in fact that removals to France are not a recent phenomenon at all, but that people have been moving to and from the country for centuries.

At Hamiltons removals, we offer a part or full load French removals service, which is tailored to your specific requirements. We have a state-of-the-art, secure storage facility for use when awaiting containers and we offer a full packing and unpacking service. We can even have the home or office you are vacating professionally cleaned. We've looked at every aspect of the removals process and perfected our services to give you complete satisfaction and peace of mind.

If you need a quotation for your own removals to France and are looking for a removals company with a reputation for providing great customer service at very competitive rates, contact Hamiltons Removals today. We are a member of the trade association BAR (British Association of Removers), The Road Haulage Association and are BS EN ISO 9001:2000 registered.

We have prepared this blog post to look at some of the best-known and most ancient sites in France. We'll look at what happened there, what has been found there and what there is for you to see now. Enjoy.

Removals to France –  click here to find out more about our removals to France service.

Chauvet Cave

The Chauvet Cave can be found in the Ardèche Gorge, Near Vallon in southern France. It is one of the most significant prehistoric art sites in Europe and shows cave art known to be of Palaeolithic origin.  Discovered in 1994, the cave paintings depicting mammoths, rhinoceroses, lions, panthers, bears, horses and bison are of extremely high quality, vivid in colour and highly detailed. The public are not allowed access to the cave itself for fear of damaging the artwork but a modern installation at the site displays pictures of the artwork which can be purchased in postcard and poster form and a high quality coffee table book has been produced with full colour photographs and artists impressions. A replica of the cave is due to open nearby in 2014.

Glanum 

Located 1 km south of St.Rémy in southern France, Glanum was a fortified town founded in the 6th century. It later fell to the Romans but was abandoned after the collapse of their Empire. Preserved now, it is particularly well known for two Roman monuments: a mausoleum and what is, reputedly, the oldest triumphal arch in France. Entrance to the site (at time of writing) is €7.50 per person but that'd be money well spent. On entrance you're given a free information leaflet that is backed up by information boards throughout the site, written in both French and English. Parking and disabled access is easy with a car park located not far from the entrance and ramps and wheelchair friendly pathways in place around most, if not all, of the site.

Glozel

Situated just south of Vichy in France, the site at Glozel has been causing trouble ever since it was first discovered in 1924. It has since been dubbed "the most controversial site of the 20th century". This is because opinion is divided in archaeological circles as to whether the artefacts discovered here are genuine or not. One school of thought dates the items to Neolithic times yet another, equally well respected opinion is that they are fakes. The problems lie in the fact that there are large variations in the results from carbon dating tests and also that, over time, the writings here have been added to and altered like constantly evolving ancient graffiti. Interestingly, there is evidence here of an early form of short hand, where vowels are omitted because they are audible in the consonant sound as in the case of b(e), c(e), d(e), (e)f and (e)s etc.

Grotte du Vallonnet

Discovered in 1958, Cave Vallonnet is located in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin in the Alpes-Maritimes region of France. From the outside, it looks like a small triangular aperture in limestone rock but soon opens into a large chamber. Discoveries made here include fossil bones and carved chopping tools. Four years later, and during the following ten years, after the site had received official recognition and preservation, excavations began in earnest and thousands of bones, from all sorts of animals, were uncovered. There is also an impressive collection of stalagmites and stalactites, typical of limestone rock. Currently closed to the public, if you're in the area its well worth taking a look around, even if it is just to imagine what life must've been like here for prehistoric man.

Lascaux

The caves at Lascaux are famed for their Palaeolithic cave art. Located near to the village of Montignac, in the department of Dordogne in France, these caves – along with those at Chauvet – are among the most impressive and well-known artistic creations of Palaeolithic Man. Unusually, here at Lascaux, there is a pictorial representation of Man; most of the cave art dated to this time is of animals and of dangerous ones at that. It is generally accepted that these pictures served as a warning to other humans, to be wary of this animal. Another school of thought suggests that these paintings served as a primitive menu, indicating that the pictured animals were either good to eat or whose skins would make for good clothing.

A guided tour of the cave takes about 40 minutes. You can buy tickets at the Tourist Office in Montignac during the summer season and, in the off-season, you can buy them on site. Ticket prices for Lascaux II and other cultural attractions in the area can also be found at the Tourist Office. It may be difficult to get tickets for same-day tours during the peak season, as visitors are limited to 2000 per day. Free parking and the use of picnic tables make a visit to the caves at Lascaux extremely worthwhile.

Terra Amata


Found on the slopes of Mount Boron in Nice, this open-air site was discovered in 1966. There is evidence of a settlement of huts and, inside each of the huts, a central fire. These are among the earliest examples of the domestic use of fire. Others include the Menez Dregan in the Finistere in France, Beeches Pit in Suffolk, England, and Vertesszollos in Hungary. Clues to this domestication come from low stone walls and beach pebbles placed to the northwest of the fires, sheltering them from strong winds. Also discovered on site was evidence of tools fashioned from beach stones. There is a small but interesting museum on site displaying some of the cutting tools found and artists’ impressions of the way the site would have looked 400,000 years ago.

About Hamiltons


With over 20 years in the removals business, Hamiltons Removals have built up an enviable reputation for quality of service and reliability. Visit our site for the latest currency information or to get a quick quote for your domestic move or fill out the online questionnaire for a more detailed one. Take a look or print off our online brochure and give us a call on 0845 003 8259. We look forward to helping you with your removals to France.

Removals to France –  click here to find out more about our removals to France service or click here for a free European removals quote.