a French euro style camp…

*sniggers*

This ^^

We flew into La Rochelle, did a week on Ile de Re (fab wee place) and a week about an hour or two up the coast. Great holiday, kids about 7 and 5 at the time. 👍

Yep, we’re currently 5 days into a 2 week stay at St Avit Loisars near la Bugue in southern France.

We went to a different one just south of Orlean last 2 years but decided we needed a change.

We have two girls (7 + 11) who’d happily spend 8 hours per day in the pool/waterpark but we usually drag them out to something cultural every 3rd day. It is an easy holiday which our kids love. I can see us doing it for another couple of years whilst they still love it.

We take the bikes and I nip out on the road bike early in the mornings.

I spent a very pleasant fortnight camping on Ile de Re. The kids loved it.

Did it for the first time this year…..  the kids, 8 and 10 loved it while the tattoo/football shirt index is extremely low.

Have fun

Just done ten nights at a Eurocamp Le Pin Parasol at La Chapelle- Hermier which is a bit further north. But the 2 kids 15 and 4 loved it. 4 pools, water slides, couple of onsite parks and restaurants and a even a couple of fun singletrack loops around the Lac du Juanay. Got press ganged into it but as family holidays go, pretty good

As a kid, went most years in France from about 5 to early teens (couple of UK camping trips in between), and the last few were in caravans rather than the default Eurocamp green tents. Loved it, kids club most mornings then afternoons of swimming, riding bikes about or doing other stuff on site alternated with trips out to see or do things. My parents liked not carting a load of camping gear down and getting a nice mix of relaxing and active family time.

A couple of times we split between two sites for a week each, sometimes it would be further south and we’d stop over in a hotel and have a day out before pressing on.

My own kids are coming up to the age where it would make sense, my parents are retired and have a motorhome so thinking about trying a week or two within a few hours drive of Calais where we can all go away next year.

i’ve talked the wife into heading somewhere else best year with a bit more to do in the surrounding area (thinking the Dordogne with rivers and gorges) even though the campsite will probably not be a patch on this one, which will be hard to beat.

wobbli, we stayed here: http://la-parenthese-camping-les-ormes.com in July for a couple of weeks. Just over the border from Dordogneshire in Lot et Garonne. It’s independently run by two families rather than a Eurocamp type affair. Choice of self-pitch, cabins or Safari type tents (with proper beds) on wooden decks with varying levels of comfort and pricing. Was a very good site. Cool Camping has a pretty good report on it.

EDIT: took my road bike – plenty of nice cycling on rolling terrain and some lovely shady descents into and through little river valleys – best between 0700 and 1000ish while sun is still low and anything at the side of the road provides shade.

We had our first experience of eurocamp a few weeks ago. Stayed at Les Alicourts near centre of France for 2 weeks. OK, we were lucky with the incredible weather, but we left thinking it was one of the best holidays we done as a family. We have 2 kids (10+2), so waterpark+swimming pool were essential. The regular footy games kept my lad happy, and the play park+water kept my little girl happy. Took our bikes, to make it easy to get around and did a few cycle rides too.

We’ll be doing these for a few more years, just varying the resorts.

Yeah I did that recently in the Black Forest.

Oooh, I had a few rides in the BF around 5 years ago while on holidays there. The roads were so lovely. Swoopy and smoooooth. 🙂

Speaking of Cols, I bagged a KOM on a short climb close to our campsite in France- was delighted until I looked and realised no one else had ridden it (on Strava anyway). Ever.

geezer, if you want, drop me an email next year before you go and I can give you the lowdown on La Parenthèse – it’s a lovely site. We’re almost definitely going back. But if you need some tips etc on the site and local area, I’ll happily advise.

Deadly Darcy:  thanks for the recommendation, will definately look into it.

forgot to say on my original post, although i’ve Nothing against Eurocamp the company, unless you think you will make use of their services then you’re better off just booking direct with the campsite. It’s a lot cheaper, often their chalet’s / static vans are better and you can get your choice of pitch if you book early enough. We booked 2 weeks at our current site, just a pitch as we’re in a campervan and chose our own pitch and it came in a lot cheaper than booking a static through Eurocamp…I mean like less than half.

we’re at Les Alicourts in the Loir. Thoroughly recommend if you just want somewhere to plant yourself for 2 weeks as the campsite is great. Like I said for us (me really) the surrounding area is a bit bland, but lots of big chateau’s to go around if that is your bag. We did a couple on our first trip here, but for us if you’ve seen one big chateau you’ve seen them all. Planning a trip out to Chartres during this holiday as it looked interesting during this TdF coverage.