Splash-down in France for the second time

Eleven staff from Linden Grove and the Garden Day Programme piled into the minibus and set off for the second time to Upper Normandy in France for a ‘works outing’ to the Grandcourt Chateau.

Sam, Vincent and Joe report from the autoroute…

And here we are again… on the road to an extremely peaceful and mesmerising destination. The mission, to bring harmony within a team of hard-working individuals. The plan, sharing some valuable time together in an idilic place and worry as least as possible.

The chateau is exactly the way we left it last year. Even more inviting. The balance of activities meant there was something for everyone and there was a whole load of swimming (well, plenty of larking about in the pool water), croquet, table tennis, badminton and Vincent’s circuit training class. All in the garden. We had a barbecue the first two nights lovingly prepared by Sandra and Adrian. On the first night a few of us went to view the old World War Two installations from where SS troops launched the V1 rockets at our beloved London – the rotten swines.

There was a trip to another coastal military installation the next day with a much longer drive than anticipated but it provided an opportunity to bop our heads to some soulful reggae in the minibus. We celebrated a big birthday milestone in the evening, after which Love Island divided the party once again. (You’d be surprised at the following it had at Linden!)

The weather was glorious from beginning to end and the sun shone upon us all. Simon did a great job behind the wheel of the minibus which turned into a marathon.

To mark the last day, we all went for a meal together, taking a leisurely ride up the funicular with an ice-cream. One last look over the French Normandy beach and it was already time to come home.

We definitely cannot wait to repeat the experience next year!