Winter seaside. Dead destinations waiting for the summer hordes, even in all their high season radiance, these places are still just living on former glory. Their decay makes them beautiful. It is that part on the French coast between Dieppe and Le Touquet, traditional and ancestral family holiday homes. A few photos of a recent sojourn in a land where time stood still. (A pilgrimage back to a part of France I haven’t been for over 40 years)

A road trip to the Baie de Somme on France’s Channel coast, it feels like driving through that Don Henley classic, “Boys of Summer”. The winter sun shines pale yellow in the ice blue skies, I’ve git my Wayfarers on, and I love this place, as I crunch around on the steep stony pebble beach, by the shuttered up holiday houses. 

There are a few signs of life. There are a few winter tourists, up on the coast for the mid-February school holidays, daytrippers, dog-walkers, beachcombers and photographers in search of slow, stylish sad  decline. Iconic holiday havens that have become the stuff of photo opportunity.

Here we go. From Le Cayeux sur Mer to Le Treport. Nearest big town is Abeville. We are on the coast of the Picardy region, we are in the estuary of the Somme river.

A quick look at the local fishing industry. Mullet, herring and a few shrimps.

Heading to Le Tréport for iconic coloured houses from La Belle Époque. All in need of some TLC