Short Breaks in France   

  Can you imagine that the reason for your holiday started about a thousand years ago. Not just a single incident but a whole series of events. Most of these were inconsequential, but one more than any other served to change the world. It was the day the Anglo Saxons started down the road to becoming English.

There has been an association between the English and the Normans for well over 1000 years.

Originally the Normans - Norsemen - Northmen came down from northern Europe - Scandinavia - and occupied that part of France we now know as Normandy.
These were the same Norsemen / Vikings who sailed across the North Sea (short breaks / activity holidays?) and raided the east coast of the British Isles before settling down in the country and integrating with the indigenous population. It is, therefore not surprising to learn that many Normans and Anglo Saxons were blood related. Nor, for this reason, is it so surprising that Edward the Confessor should promise the Crown of England to his cousin's son, William Duke of Normandy.
However, Harold Earl of Wessex and brother-in-law to Edward the Confessor took the Crown for himself when the old king died. An act which hastened William to gather his army and invade England in the year 1066, and ultimately earn the title 'William the Conqueror'.
So remarkable was this invasion that it could be considered as D-Day in reverse. William had a fleet of approximately 700 ships carrying not only tools, weapons and provisions but also 500 horses and 7,000 soldiers. And, like D-Day, was delayed by bad weather.
Nearly 1000 years later the Second World War saw the roles reversed when the English invaded Normandy to help release the Normans from German occupation.

The inscription above the Memorial at the British War Cemetery in Bayeux reads:-