Wednesday found Rosie, Molly and I wandering around Fontenay-le-Comte in the vain hope of finding Molly a new coat. The zip on her current one had broken this week; though, to be fair, she has had the coat for two years so we can’t really complain. As any Mum will tell you, two years worth of wear from a growing teenager is a real bonus!

We left Foussais in good spirits, but also with a feeling of dread. Given that finding a coat which Molly would actually like would be nigh-on-impossible, plus it is now the end of coat-buying season (swimsuits anyone…?) and our favourite (and reasonably-priced) sports shop Koodza had closed it’s doors, the ending could have been predicted.

Molly decided she would like a ski jacket, narrowing our chances even further. She did find some ski jackets in Intersport that she liked but the budget didn’t quite stretch to the price on the tag! After two hours we returned home empty-handed, apart from three pairs of bargain jeans.

So, Molly then spent another hour and a half trawling the Internet. She found plenty of ski jackets, but they were either the wrong size, unavailable to send to France, or, if they did send to France, the delivery charge was ridiculous.

After persevering, Molly googled “cheap ski jacket France”. Among the usual rubbish, she stumbled across the site Mountain Warehouse. Here we found a large choice of sports clothes and all at very reasonable prices. Within minutes, the choice was made and the order placed.

The order was made at 8.30pm on Wednesday night and the jacket arrived on Friday at 1.30pm. What great service! Molly is delighted with her jacket – the original price tag says “£99″, but we only paid £24.99 and £6.99 for delivery to France by DHL.

So, if you are struggling to find reasonably-priced sports, camping and general outdoor gear over here, we would heartedly recommend this site.

Find Mountain Warehouse on the web at www.mountainwarehouse.com. They have a Facebook Page (and so do we!)