After my excursion to lovely Cambremer yesterday I decided to stay near the villa in the evening. I ate at a nearby brasserie that’s always quite busy – Le Drakkar – but the meal wasn’t very interesting. Afterwards, I headed the hundred metres or so up to the beach where I was surprised to see some racehorses being loaded into horse boxes. I say surprised because I’d heard that the famous Deauville racehorses were exercised along the beach early in the morning, but unless you are keen enough to see them to get up at dawn, then you’d miss out on this sight.

I’m not really a horse person yet I was genuinely quite excited to see some of these lovely, graceful creatures up close – though not enough to get up at dawn! I’d either missed the main event or dawn is the only time to see them running properly. However, a few more were making their way back from the shore.

It was low tide and to say the sea was miles out is probably not an exaggeration but I could see two more horses being ridden along the edge of the sand with a dog following.

I’ve discovered a new cafe nearby in Place Morny that sells good coffee and has a free fast wifi connection. I had an aperitif there yesterday evening and decided to try Le Morny’s Cafe for breakfast today. It’s a friendly place and it was a good Le Petit Dejeuner Complet for €10.50. You have a nice view across Place Morny and the market area too.

The weather is pretty bad today so with umbrella up I decided to visit Villa Strassburger, Deauville’s grandest mansion built by the Rothschilds.

I’d seen in my guide book that there are guided tours in July and August and guessed it might not be open today. It wasn’t but it was good to explore another part of town and I discovered the famous Hippodrome racecourse and polo ground was very close.

I could see more horses coming out to exercise and that was quite fun. Perhaps I could become a horse person after all!

Walking back I passed through a shopping area full of posh shops. If you like your designer labels and have plenty of money, then you’ll have a great time here: Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, Hermes etc. they’re all here. Tucked behind Deauville’s swankiest hotel, the Normandy Barriere and its casino. No, the Single Gourmet Traveller didn’t stop to shop!