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Hurrah - we are off to France...

3 replies

MummyPigsFatTummy · 07/08/2012 10:35

...In September. Booked at Domaine de Mathevies in the Dordogne. Please come and share all your lovely reviews of this site (fingers crossed) and, particularly, tales of how much fun toddlers have there - it was the pictures of all the small children which drew us in.

We are staying in a cabin, so a bit of a cheat, and whilst I know I am going to spend the week wishing I had our lovely bell tent, I will just have to console myself with lots of warm nighttime trips to the loo...

OP posts:
QuenelleOJersey2012 · 07/08/2012 11:09

Hi Mummy. I'm very Envy. We were there at the beginning of June and had a fabulous stay.

The toddlers do indeed have a great time. The place is perfect for them. There are loads of ride-ons provided that they can take around the site, sandpits, a treehouse, play area and an indoor playroom which is just off the bar (very handy!).

DS is 3yo and absolutely loved the freedom he had. He is 3yo and made friends with a Dutch girl of the same age. He would fall out of our tent in the morning and wander up the little hill to their tent for breakfast. They were often seen running around holding hands, bless them. We also took it in turns with her parents to watch them in the playroom (often from the bar with a Wine). One evening they took DS to their tent and fed him crepes with nutella while DH and I had dinner at our tent.

The couple who run the site are really nice. You'll see them around a lot to chat to. The food at the bar is very good. Quite expensive though so we didn't eat there often. We got takeaway frites and salad one evening to have with an omelette we made at our tent which was a really easy and delicious meal. But the frites were ?5 so not cheap. Would highly recommend the homemade houmous at ?2 for plenty for two though. The whole bar/playroom/terrace area is really nice for mixing with the other campers while your children climb in the treehouse and run around in front of you. It's all very friendly and informal.

The Dutch people we befriended left their 3 and 1yos asleep in the tent while they had dinner at the bar. I guess they just feel the site is very safe because they weren't the only ones who did it, although it's not something we would feel comfortable doing.

There didn't appear to be any curfew on noise from the bar. A couple of nights there was dance music going on until about 1am. It didn't disturb us, and I assume quite common on the continent, as opposed to the 10pm absolute silence you usually get in UK campsites. Some of the cabins are at the other end of the site so if you're in one of them you're not so likely to hear it anyway.

The facilities are all very modern and clean. Nothing to complain about there.

The only thing that really dampened our stay was the weather. We had a fair bit of rain and some heavy thunderstorms. We came home from one day out expecting our tarp and table/chairs to be all over the campsite after a big storm but a lovely couple from the motorhome opposite had run over and put it all in our tent for us. Typically, the weather started to improve as our stay was coming to an end. In hindsight we should have gone a few weeks later, early June is just a little too early.

The only other observation I had is that it's not the most French of experiences IYSWIM. There are loads of Brits in the Dordogne area anyway and with the owners being Australian and most of the campers being British or Dutch, you don't hear a lot of French spoken around the site.

I hope you have a brilliant time. I'm sure your children will. Let me know if you have any other questions.

MummyPigsFatTummy · 07/08/2012 11:23

Oh wow, thanks, Quenelle - what a fab review. Now I really can't wait. Sounds like DD will love it and fingers crossed she will make a little friend or two like your DS (quite like the idea of keeping an eye on them with a Wine - it would certainly make a nice change from clambering up and down on soft play which has been this summer's experience).

TBH, I am not too worried about the French-ness this year. Normally we like to avoid very British areas if we can but with DD at this age, easy communication is probably going to be more important than an authentic French experience. Although if she came back with a smattering of Dutch, that would be quite fun...

Sorry to hear you didn't have great weather - having had a few soakings and a mud bath at Forgewood a few weeks ago, we are desperate for a bit of consistent sunshine, but we will just have to wait and see, and pack waterproofs I guess.

Grin
OP posts:
QuenelleOJersey2012 · 07/08/2012 11:49

We only had one day of constant rain. There ended up quite a crowd of us in the bar watching Holland play in the European Cup while the DC all hung out in the playroom. DS just happened to be wearing an orange tshirt that day so was very popular with the Dutch Smile

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