My favourite place on earth is an island called Île de Ré. It’s a small, beautiful island off the coast of France, where my grandparents own a gorgeous old house. In the entrance hall (where we leave our bags when we first arrive) there are black and white tiled floors, and at the end of the corridor there is a white door with a view of the patio and swimming pool. There are colourful potted flowers in between spherical olive trees, and lots of fresh herbs such as mint and rosemary in the corner. The house is so beautiful and historical.
When it is a nice day we like to go out with the dogs and walk around the streets past the houses surrounded by vibrant pink hollyhocks. These flowers really do add so much to the look of the island. Between the cobbled streets , the beautiful hollyhocks and the similarly coloured shutters, Île de Ré is truly my favourite place on earth.
You can tell that the history and architecture of the island haven’t changed much because you can still see most of the street names chiselled into a cornerstone of the houses in a fancy font.
Île de Ré is also a great place to ride a donkey! I realise this sounds rather bizarre with no context, but again I think it is something to do with the history of the island and how they used to get around. When I was around six years old, I rode an old, white (very small) donkey around the ramparts and it was quite an experience. Whilst Cadichon (the donkey) smelt awful and kept stopping at random points and refusing to go on, I’ve learnt to love that donkey. I check in the fields by the ramparts every summer for the grumpy little white donkey that I rode when I was six years old.
- Amelie Matthews
- : hi
- : youth_(12_–_18_as_of_31st_december_2019)
- : This is the first time this story has been published.