Have you ever fantasised about being James Bond? Go on, admit it. Maybe not the grappling with baddies bit and almost getting killed every five minutes, but certainly the lavish lifestyle, where money is no object.

If so, Deauville could be the perfect getaway destination for those keen to enjoy the 007 lifestyle for a day or two.

The upmarket coastal resort in Normandy, France, certainly has strong links with the suave British secret agent. The town’s casino is thought to be the inspiration for the film Casino Royale after author Ian Fleming played there as a young boy.

My wife and I are not massive Bond fans but the place is so far removed from reality, it’s hard to prevent yourself being caught up in it.

We arrived a couple of weeks before Christmas and the sight of the town’s lights as we drove in early in the morning only added to the sense we were on a film set.

The French do Christmas a lot better than us Brits. Where we go for garish and gaudy, they are experts at elegance and beauty.

When we booked into our hotel, the sense we’d somehow stepped into the lives of a couple of film stars for a few days only intensified.

Les Manoirs de Tourgéville is set in countryside a short drive outside Deauville and it’s easy to picture Bond seducing one of his many conquests there.

The hotel is part of the Groupe Floirat chain which boasts top-end establishments throughout France frequented by the rich and famous.

We genuinely had to pinch ourselves as we were shown around our room.

To say it was bigger than our first house is no exaggeration. It had three floors – that’s right, a three-storey hotel room.

Although it was massive, the hotel had cleverly avoided making it pretentious. The ground floor was a sitting room with a comfortable sofa, huge open fire and a large picture window looking out on the grounds.

Upstairs was a bathroom and separate changing room, with a balcony looking down on the sitting room, and in the loft was the bedroom with a truly enormous bed.

When you are staying in a room of such luxury it’s tempting to lock yourself away for a couple of days to make the most of it.

With a lovely swimming pool just down the corridor and a superb fine-dining restaurant, I could quite happily have done just that, but we were keen to explore the surrounding area.

And there’s plenty to explore. I wasn’t particularly impressed with Deauville but then any seaside resort feels a bit miserable during the winter months.

Its beautiful sandy beach stretches for miles and probably heaves with well-to-do tourists during the summer, but was deserted when we braved the icy winds for what turned out to be a very brief picnic.

Shopaholics would enjoy the streets lined with designer stores but, like most things in Deauville, just looking at the price tags was enough to make our eyes water.

The architecture is interesting, with some amazing hotels lining the seafront along with the casino – of James Bond fame – and a popular racecourse.

There is a wide selection of restaurants and cafes, too, but with a cup of tea on the first morning setting me back £4, we decided to select where we ate very carefully.

You’d require a second mortgage if you hung around in Deauville too long so we dashed up the coast to spend a chilled-out afternoon in the picturesque fishing town of Honfleur.

Once again it wasn’t cheap, but we were able to stretch to a bowl of chips and some beers as we whiled away a few hours sitting by the habour.

The perfect antidote to the extravagance of Deauville was a visit to one of the many D-Day beaches along the Normandy coast. There are plenty to choose from but we called in on the Pegasus museum on the way back to catch the ferry to Portsmouth from Caen.

The museum commemorates how the Allied forces took control of the Pegasus bridge with a daring night-time raid led by troops flying in on gliders.

It was the perfect way to end our stay and a reminder that the extravagance we enjoyed over the previous few days wouldn’t have been possible without some real life James Bonds.

* A triplex room at Les Manoirs de Tourgéville costs from 280 euros in low season to 400 euros in high season. Breakfast costs a further 20 euros. A Manor Room costs from 152 euros per night.

* For reservations please call 0033 231144868 or visit www.lesmanoirstourgeville.com

* Brittany Ferries operates a route from Portsmouth to Caen. Return trips start from £75 per person based on two people travelling with their car.

* For more information visit www.brittanyferries.com or call 0871 2441400