Eurocamp anyone?

[alexsmum]

We are considering doing this this summer-has anyone any experioence of it?
any views on northern brittainy?

god i hate being skint.

i want to be booking a fortnight in majorca or somewhere i know it will be hot and sunny, and not be trawling the internet for the cheapest way possible of getting a couple of weeks away.if we could afford to do the same camping holiday in august it'd be ok i'm sure but we can't.
sorry to whinge-we're lucky to be thinking of any holiday at all.

I second the Vendee - easily travellable to in a day & the weather is sooo much nicer. We have stayed as Les Genets (with Matthews) & Le Bois Masson (Haven/Sible). Even better, fab site is Les Charmettes in the Charente MAritime - just South of the Vendee. Again, you can do it in a day. The vans were in circles so children played in the middle bits, pitches were grass (Sandy on vendee), but had to drive to the beach - which is miles long!

milliways-where was your ferry crossing to?

bumping this for milliway

Best crossing for Charmettes (Charente) for us was Newhave Dieppe - but very difficult to get now. Last year (Vendee) we went out Portsmouth Cherbourg Fastcraft - Never again! Vomit Comet! & sooo boring for the kids. Have done same crossing on slow ferry & was fine, better still if go overnight, arrive early & arrive on campsite midday. Came back Caen Portsmouth Fastcraft which was not so choppy but still boring!

It took us about 4 hrs from Cherbourg to St Jean de Monts - and no tolls!

This year we are back to Dover/Calais as going all the way down South makes no difference & is cheapest/most frequent.

we looked at doing portsmouth -st malo and it adds about £500 onto price of holiday-realy expensive.only way we can really do it financially is to do dover-calais and drive.hence thinking brittainy is a sfars outh as we can go.

Noooo - by the time you have driven from DOver to Brittany, you could have cut across to the Vendee! Seriously, we did Dover Brittany & it was far too long! Would never do St Malo as kids would go mad - at least you can stop the car & get out etc!. Seriously, have you priced up with Matthews yet? They are sooo cheap!

Cut from the Matthews site

........PORTSMOUTH & PLYMOUTH CRUISE FERRY SPECIALS ......... THESE FERRIES ARE INCLUDED IN PRICE

Crossing & Arrival Day - Tuesday in each direction
Outward: Ex Portsmouth at 08:45 or Ex Plymouth at 13:00
Inward: ExCaen at 17:00 or Ex Roscoff at 12:00

LIMITED AVAILABILITY AT THESE PRICES - BOOK BY 7TH MARCH 2006

Arrival Date ........... 7 nights ...... 14 nights

23 or 30 May ......... £367 .......... £493
06 or 13 Jun .......... £337 .......... £413
20 Jun .................. £342 .......... £526
27 Jun .................. £391 .......... £655
04 Jul ................... £497 .......... £849
11 Jul ................... £542 .......... £946
18 Jul .................. £799 ........ £1,157
25 Jul ................... £941 ........ £1,221
01 or 08 Aug ......... £961 ........ £1,338
15 Aug .................. £944 ....... £1,304
22 Aug .................. £713 .......... £849
29 Aug .................. £399 .......... £593

CAMPSITES INCLUDED: Landudec, Baden, St. Gildas de Rhuys, St. Jean de Monts (Les Amiaux), St. Hilaire, Port Bourgenay, Tourtoirac & Torreilles Plage

OR AT A SUPPLEMENT OF £50 PER WEEK: Chateau des Ormes, Beg Meil, La Foret, St. Jean de Monts (Les Genets), La Tranche, Royan, Lacanau Ocean & Leon.

OR AT A SUPPLEMENT OF £70 PER WEEK: Benodet, Carnac, Quiberon, St. Jean de Monts (Clarys Plage) & Bretignolles.

Prices are per family for 7 or 14 nights in a Focus Mobile Home including the above specified sailings for two adults and up to three children in a standard height car. This offer is for new bookings only and cannot be combined with any other discounts or promotions. Availability on this offer is limited and must be booked by 31st March 2006. Standard brochure supplements apply to vehicles over 1.82m in height or with bikes on the rear, cabins or seats on board ship, insurance and damage waiver.
This offer is available on the following sites
Landudec - Camping du Bel-Air
St Jean de Monts - Camping Les Amiaux
Baden - Camping Mane Guernehue
Port Bourgenay - Camping Le Littoral
Torreilles Plage - Camping Les Dunes
St Gildas de Rhuys - Camping Le Menhir*
St Hilaire de Riez - Camping Le Bois Tordu
Tourtoirac - Camping Les Tourterelles *

Must say, our Aug hol was cheaper than these quoted because they do great deals for booking in Sept/Oct, & even more off for previous customers, so even if not this year, have a look at them for early booking for next year.

that is brilliant miili thanks!
we like the look of the st hiliare site.
are the mobile homes ok? not manky or anything?
to be honest we would have been happy to do the tent thing except for the toilet/bathroom issue.
would you really recommend matthews?

Right have booked the holiday!!!!!
Need lots of information about camping in france now! what do i take? what are the focus mobile homes like?

bumping this !

Glad you have booked...exciting once you can plan isn't it???

Things I would take....an old, throwaway towel to use as a floor mat in the shower room. I found the floors got very wet and this was helpful.

If your kids are like mine expect stuff they wear to get trashed....I never did get the clothes clean. I take old stuff and get some el cheapo tee shirts and shorts from Asdas and expect to bin them at the end ....but ar a few quid for two I figue they don't owe me!

Take torches...exciting for the kids. I take a £1 tube of glow sticks for the kids to have at night.

Where are you going?????

we are going to st hilaire de riez-le bois tordu(?)
we got it off that matthews website.have you any experience of them?

I don;t know the site but St Hilaire ifs fab

There is a lot to do in the vendee. Have a shufti at this webste

angela bird's guide to the vendee

Sites in France are very good, with lots of facilities....good pools etc

have you used matthews at all mb?

I haven't but they are considered to be good, and much better price than keycamp etc. My best mate used them secveral times.

The site is also used by Keycamp, so you will get all the same facilities (poss not the kids club????not sure) at a fraction of the price.

The coast is magnificent. Gently shelving, rock pools for the kids, spotlessly clean.

We are going back for the 4th time this year to the Vendee. We have always had excellent weather. Very French, lovely markets etc

When are you going?

we are going the first week in june,during half term.i am so excited!
it sounds really lovely.i haven't really been to france before-just to paris for a short trip,so this is new territory for me.I have also never stayed in a caravan-so again an adventure!
the boys are happy as long as they have a swimming pool and some other little boys to run around with.Hopefully this will be good for them and we just want to sit and read with anice glass of wine...soaking up the sun(hopefully!)

Don't worry, the Focus if fine. My first reaction from outside was that it was VERY small (we had previously stayed in top of the range huge vans), but once we had got everything packed away in cupboards, under beds etc it was fine - & deffo better than a tent!

The shower worked very well, The beds were clean & comfortable. The bedroom windows all had fitted insect nets & blackout blinds, as well as cutains, so could leave window open at night with net shut.

You get a full size family fridge with small freezer compartment + cooker with gas hob (no microwave). We hired a BBQ but it was tiny! Next time with Matthews we will take our own portable one! Remember to take BBQ tools!

They even provide a rotary clothes line - take pegs as their ones are sun dried & snap!

Enjoy!

And if you possibly can - go here!

If you watch the videos you'll get some idea, but the falcons were breathtaking & the Gladiators just amazing. The colliseum they have built to sit in has to be seen to be believed, & if you have boys they will love the blood that spurts everywhere quite graphically!

looks great milliways but don't think we would be able to go as ds2 is only 2 and very noisy/fidgety.
have you stayed at that site at all?

No, we stayed a bit further up at Les Genets, but drove up & down whole area. A drive to the lkarge town of St Jean will only take 10 mins? Worth it for the market. My impression was that St Hilaire was a very small town, & we didn't look at it's beach, but I should imagine it is a great as that a few miles along! The coast is great. We cycled some days and went to less busy beaches along the coast - plenty of space for everyone.

Your kids will be spoilt for ice-cream! 100's of flavours everywhere!

We drove across to Nourmoutier, only accesible a few hours a day by car, or there is a proper bridge if you are boring! Went to the aquarium - small but ok.

There is a good water Park just by our campsite - lots of slides etc - our kids loved it. We also did canoeing & high ropes but mine are older!

Of course, you could just sunbathe & swim!

Hi!Milliways Sorry, couldn't got back on thread last night. We are going to Hippocampe (opposite to La Sirene) late August 25th or something like that until the 6th September I think it is. Is that when you will be there? I've never met anyone from MS before!! The horseriding is free for adults (which seems strange!!) but you have to pay for the kids (ie. small kids). If yours are over `12 I think they are classed as adults. Do you have boys or girls? I have 3, by eldest boy is 11 and is football mad so he spends most of his time playing football and entering the tournaments. The staff are brilliant with the kids and they all get a medal (cost£1 to enter) and a small prize depending on where they come! There is also volleyball, tennis, boules, archery (which is great fun) crazy golf ... all free... the tournaments are a small fee to enter like £1.
You must go to the shows as I think they are really great fun and free! Just make sure you get there early. There are loads of things to do and I can cat you on the best places to go - if you like the sea. We found a great cove which only the locals go to and it is totally unspoilt.!

For younger ones go
here

It is a castle, but they have set up a treasure trail set in 4 different parts of the world at 4 different times. You have to solve little puzzles and each bit adds to sovling a riddle at the end. It finished up with a trip to the cellars with Indiana Jones music while you solve the riddle. At the end the kids all get a 'gold' medal from a big chest for being exploreres!

Great fun day out. Pleanty of room to picnic. The grounds are beautiful and the treasure trail keeps the kids entertained for 1-2 hours!

First rate. My two 8 and a very young 5, loved it