About Bespoke France
Our story
Our story began in 2004, when our first daughter was born with a life-long condition affecting learning and development, together with a debilitating bowel condition... She was also diagnosed with a visual and hearing impairment from early on… but thanks to a helping hand from her little sister H. who came along 2 years later, our determination to give her the same very best chances and experiences, and above all, thanks to her willingness to fight in order to overcome any obstacle thrown in her way, L. has turned into a thriving (and very cheeky) little girl! L. and H. have really been our source of inspiration for the past few years and through our family story, we feel we can really understand the problems one can encounter as a parent, a friend of a disabled person or, if at all possible, as an individual with special needs…
We know France, French people, the French way of thinking and French business customs well…
I was born in the Pyrenees in the South West of France where I grew up and got the opportunity to travel all over France and Europe.
As a native, language and communication is obviously not
a problem, which has proven invaluable in building solid
trading relationships with our partners across the Channel.
We understand the travel and tourism industry…
I have inherited from my mother a passion for travel and for exploring places always that little bit further.
While studying tourism, followed by Business Administration and Translation at University, I acquired extensive work experience in the travel and tourism industry and associated sectors, from transport (Airbus Industries) to financial services (Thomas Cook UK)
After travelling extensively across North America and French Canada and working for a local travel agency in the Boston area (MA, USA) where my time was spent building packages to Paris, I returned to Europe and was offered a position with Thomas Cook UK in 1998… The rest is down to romance!
Since our daughters came along, we have experienced a few disastrous holidays, regularly ending up at the local surgery or more often than not at the Paediatric Unit of the local hospital…
"Surely this should not have happened… They did not have a clue… What a nightmare that was…" were some of the comments sticking inside our minds after getting back to the UK exhausted and in need of a holiday to recover from the holiday!
From the presence of steps to the impossibility to ring for attention… from the unawareness of some restaurant staff who drop a menu in front of you and leave you to it when your vision is badly impaired… from the impossibility to reach your table with a major buggy or wheelchair because not enough space is allowed to circulate… from non-fenced pools to uneven garden grounds… all these elements might appear as little details to the majority but, to a disabled person or an individual with reduced mobility, those could mean the difference between a comfortable stress-free holiday and a break from hell!
It is those past experiences which we have been drawing upon; also through many discussions with members of our family and friends, from wheelchair users to partially sighted individuals, we gradually came up with the Bespoke France concept: a tour operating business offering packages and tailor-made holidays to France, a nation we know very well, a country bursting with holidays and short breaks opportunities, to the extend we feel our customers do not always realise. Indeed, France has it ALL… and it is accessible whichever way you prefer to travel.
Our philosophy
"Where there is a will, there is a way" and this basically summarises the philosophy behind the company… Whether you have reduced mobility, whether you, one of your friend or someone in your travelling party has a visual or an auditory impairment or whether you would like to arrange a break for somebody who has a learning disability, is recovering after an accident or a stroke… everybody deserves a break, everybody deserves to get away in the best possible conditions and enjoy their holiday to the full…
Bespoke France is an independent family run business and each and every one of us is strongly committed to offer each and every one of you, the best experience, the best holiday you could wish for, from the booking stage to your return journey home. “Life is a journey, not a destination”, in other words, we are always on the go and never stop searching for new travel opportunities. This is the driving force behind what we do every single day. Once you tell us where you would like to go, and where you would like to stay, we will search for special events, exhibitions, festivals, local restaurants, boutiques, possible visits and activities so that you can really get to discover the area you have decided to visit and you can be sure all our suggestions are accessible to you and your party.
Whether you are planning to challenge yourself, relax, discover, and just enjoy, we will listen to your needs and will help you to reach your holiday dream. Please do not hesitate to contact us for any information or to discuss what does just hopping across the Channel could mean to YOU…
… because we understand what it is like to live with special needs…