This short travel film sees filmmaker Eric Hall and his family on holiday in northern France, travelling by ferry and car to Paris and Beauvais. The film opens with a sign for William Denny & Co, a Scottish shipbuilding firm which built cross-channel ferries. A black car reverses onto a ferry and Mary Hall, the filmmaker’s wife, and their son walk around the deck. Eric Hall, the filmmaker, looks into the camera. A harbour arm is seen from the moving ferry. A street sign for the Rue...

This short travel film sees filmmaker Eric Hall and his family on holiday in northern France, travelling by ferry and car to Paris and Beauvais. The film opens with a sign for William Denny & Co, a Scottish shipbuilding firm which built cross-channel ferries. A black car reverses onto a ferry and Mary Hall, the filmmaker’s wife, and their son walk around the deck. Eric Hall, the filmmaker, looks into the camera. A harbour arm is seen from the moving ferry. A street sign for the Rue Victor Hugo, possibly in Dunkirk, is shown. Several buildings are in the process of construction, with men working on the roofs and shovelling gravel. People walk and cycle along the streets nearby. Outside the town, next to their parked car, the Halls’ son makes tea on a small camping stove by the side of the road. He cuts up a baguette and afterwards, he and his mother wash the dishes in a small basin balanced on a log. A large palace is seen from a distance, across neat gardens. Mrs Hall and her son chat and look at the view. At the base of the Eiffel Tower, cars drive past and people wander around. The neo-classical columns of the Roman Catholic church La Madeleine can be seen from the end of a tree-lined street. The roads around the Arc de Triomphe are busy with traffic and two young men on racing bicycles can be seen cycling underneath. The rooftops of Paris are seen from a moving lift, presumably to the top of the Eiffel Tower. From the top there is an impressive view over the River Seine and the Halls’ son looks at the details through a telescope. At an Esso petrol station outside the city, the family have their car filled up. A man goes past on a small tricycle pulled by a horse, behind which a cart is attached. The Halls pull over to the side of a country road and Mrs Hall picks flowers. Title – Beauvais The cathedral is seen from outside and two children play in a quiet street. Mrs Hall waves to the camera from an upstairs window of a large hotel. She and her son exit downstairs into the garden, where they sit in the sun on wooden garden furniture. Eric and Mary Hall walk through a metalwork gate and sit on a bench outside the building.  Views of Beauvais are seen over the River Thérain and from a low stone bridge. A man in uniform directs traffic from a small plinth in the centre of a busy roundabout. A further view of the river is followed by the twin spires of a church building and the Hotel du Monarque.  The Halls have a picnic spread out on a blanket under trees by the side of a road. The son has a sandwich while Mrs Hall eats from a plate with a knife and fork.  On a long, straight country road lined with trees, a large horse drawn cart goes past with a man and a little girl riding on the back. A woman pushes a barrow with two large milk churns. A sign is seen indicating La Bazoge, La Mans and La Route. Children play in the sea and on a pebble beach, while a fisherman sits by a small boat and knots rope. A castle can be seen on a nearby hillside and other fishermen untangle their nets. Elegant white buildings line the promenade by the seafront.  Cathedral spires are visible behind a busy shopping street and the building is seen from several different angles. A courtyard has a stone archway and a man stands behind an easel painting the scene. The film ends with the details of stone carvings and insignia, presumably on the cathedral walls.