Is there a good way to start the new year? Celebrate midnight in style, and you wake up with a headache and a mess to tidy up, and at least one resolution broken in the first twenty-four hours. This year, with guests to entertain, we decided the headaches had to be ignored. And the mess: we decided to leave it behind.

But where to go? New Years Day was both a Sunday and a bank holiday. Northern France was closed for business. Not a museum or a restaurant to be visited. There were many small children in our party, so a walk in the forest wouldn’t be easy. That left the beach. Perfect.

I like beaches best in the dead of winter. Preferably stony, with the wind whipping salt through my hair, and a moody slate-grey sea. I am not the bikini type: for one thing, my skin fries in the…

Each year Les Sapins de Noël des Créateurs (roughly: Christmas Trees of the Designers) sees big names in fashion, design and architecture creating their own take on the traditional Christmas tree.

The complete list for this year’s event reads like a who’s who of the creative industry:

Ali Mahdavi, Christian Ghion, Damien Da Rocha, Diane von Furstenberg, Dior, Dsquared2, Elie Saab, Esmod, Hervé Van der Straeten, India Mahdavi, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Jean-Claude Jitrois, Jean-Jacques Ory, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Les Garçons, the House of Lesage, Louis-Marie de Castelbajac, Louis Vuitton, Magnum with Chantal Thomass, Maison Martin Margiela, Mathilde Ecotais, Maxime Simoëns, Olivia Putman, Patrice Keep, Philippe Soussan, Pierre Hermé, Rachid Khimoune, El Salvador Dali perfume, Smalto, Sonia Rykiel, Stella McCartney, Tsarina with Manoush and Wooyoungmi.

The “trees” will then be put on display at the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild from 3-9 December before being auctioned off at a benefit gala to…