Summer Holidays: Jersey & Paris

We recently spent a week in Jersey and had a mix of super sunny days (and one afternoon of rain!) We went with my mum and dad and had a lovely relaxing break.

We stayed at Handpicked Hotels - L'Horizon Hotel & Spa which is right on the beach at St Brelade's Bay. Each room had a balcony which was great for people watching as well as catching some sun.  A couple of nights of high tides was fun to watch too.

Just along from the hotel was a lovely little shop called Fish n Beads and I picked up some really pretty hand-painted stones (a great little holiday souvenir).

We had a couple of days in St Helier - a lovely town with great duty free shopping!  I loved stopping by Feel Unique (where I bought Chanel's Le Blanc de Chanel) and de Gruchy's for my Tom Ford Scent (link).

On the Tuesday we had a very special lunch at Bohemia Bar & Restaurant which has one Michelin star and the kitchen is run by Steve Smith. The food was simply incredible - some of the best I've ever tasted.  Staff were friendly and chatty but still very professional. Definitely a dining experience I want to repeat!  We decided on the six course surprise tasting menu.  Here are some of my highlights:-

cep - potato - quail egg - sorrel

foie gras cream - sour cherry - duck salad - pistachios

lobster ravioli - sweetcorn - purslane - lobster sauce

our shared cheese selection

We also spent a lot of time on the beach, mainly walking about, a little bit of sunbathing and some time sitting on the hotel terrace with a bottle of wine or two and our kindles!  When the tide was out we walked over to the famous Old Smugglers Inn at Ouaisne Bay.

Jersey Potteries have two restaurants in the bay - CrabShack and Oyster Box and we enjoyed food from both. Sitting outside in the sun at CrabShack was such a simple pleasure!

We also had a trip to Jersey Lavender Farm which was really interesting and informative and we loved feeding the chicks!

We went back to St Helier's for another wander around and stopped by Relish Jersey, a fab deli with amazing grazing platters. 

We had an extra little mini break last week of 2 nights in Paris. I totally fell in love with the City and can't wait to go back. We stayed at Hidden Hotel (Sensation Room) which was really central, just a short hop to the Arc de Triomphe.

Each day we enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Lacombe Cafe Parisien (4.1 euros each). Will go back!

Stopping by for some Laduree Macarons was a must as was a visit to Sephora - I had a teeny spend (allowed in my spending ban).

I'm always keen to find roll-on perfumes (which I find harder to source in the UK) so I picked up one in Jimmy Choo (19.20 euros - £13.64) and a couple of Sephora branded bits - I could easily have spent a fortune as the shop was amazing (next time for sure!) The French Pharmacies had loads of cut price Caudalie too!

We found that most of the restaurants we had searched for were closed for the holidays but many were still open. We stopped by Brasserie Lorraine for dinner and shared a delicious Grand Marnier Souffle.

Another food highlight from Brasserie Le Franc Tireur was their yummy gratin savoyard a l'oignon et se croutons (French Onion Soup)

Some snaps from around Paris..

Have you been away on holiday this summer?