To Vernon

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We headed to a little village near Vernon today on the way to see Monet’s Garden tomorrow. We broke the journey at Abbeville, a beautiful old medieval town. We found the Jardin d’Emonville which is the grounds of an old priory house famous for its rare and exotic trees. It has been turned into a public library and gardens and has a small pond on one side and a larger one downhill on the other. Em had a great time playing under the trees and watching the ducklings on the lake.

We wandered into the centre of town and found a large plaza with two water fountains which make patterned displays. Then we walked to the 17^th century Cathedral of St Vulfran which is a really great example of gothic architecture. It was heavily damaged during WW2 and has had a lot of restoration done but much is still to be finished. We bought a picnic lunch and went back to the gardens to eat and feed the ducks.

We headed off to find our accommodation which turned out to be a really lovely B&B with a thatched roof and friendly host. We drove into the nearby town to find some dinner but since the restaurants don’t open until too late, we ended up with pizza and icecream. We found another little playground on a small island in the river and a nice French lady gave Em some bread to feed the ducks here too.

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