Few things in life are more French than a dispute animée about holidays. While the Spanish enjoy an easy relationship with mañana and the Italians savour il dolce far niente (sweet idleness), the French will incite a riot over any threat to their leisure time faster than you can say faire une pause.

It’s therefore little surprise to witness the ardourof government officials in condemning childfree resorts, a rare but growing feature of French holidaymaking. Saint-Delis in Normandy is but one hotel offering an ‘ever more exclusive and peaceful experience’ with ‘absolute relaxation’ for only €334 a night.

Much of this comes downstream of intellectual attempts to paint child-rearing as a quirky personal interest, rather than the only reason any of us are alive

The existence of such facilities has prompted Laurence Rossignol, a former families minister, to propose that adult-only venues should be banned. The Socialist party senator claimed that they ‘institutionalise and legitimise intolerance’, adding for good measure that ‘to not like children is to not like humanity itself’.

With rates of childlessness only climbing worldwide, it’s a debate that will only become more pertinent. France’s fertility rate is a mere 1.66 births per woman,........

© The Spectator