Kids on board: a family surfing trip to France’s wild Atlantic coast

With vast empty beaches, reliable waves and pine forests, the Gironde, near Bordeaux, is perfect for an exhilarating but relaxing holiday

On a sloping patch of sandy beach, the sun low but still warm and bright in the sky, my husband and I sit watching our sons playing in the waves. There are few other people around as they spin and jump, dive under the crests and try to bodysurf. Mostly they just wrestle each other in the bubbling foam.

The eldest is 13, so inevitably he and his 11-year-old brother play together less than they did, but they’re never as happy a double act as when they’re messing about in the ocean. Especially when the waves are punchy and powerful, as they are today in Montalivet, a small resort in the Gironde department, also known by its full name Vendays-Montalivet, on France’s Atlantic coast.