French campsite recommendations please?

[MumofBoys79]

Partner and I are going to take the plunge and book a camping trip in France for next summer.

Does anyone have experience of a great French campsite that is: -

• Mid France, so we get better weather than UK, but not too far to drive.
• Has a good swimming pool to excite a 6 and 9 year old.
• Nice, pretty pitches
• A tempting kids club where there's likely to be other English speaking kids.
• In a nice location/near the coast or scenery.

I realise I am asking for a lot here. We'll probably get the Eurotunnel as we're outer London, and it's much cheaper than the ferry.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions x

Parc de Fierbois, Les Bois du Bardelet and St Avit Loisirs

I haven't been to these sites, but I know a lot of English speaking people go to La Garangeoire in the Vendee and there is also Les Alicourts in the Eastern Loire The Vendee is a long way from the Eurotunnel.

We did an overnight stop at Les Alicourts last year: large pitches, great pools, loads of activities onsite, lovely showers/loo blocks (heated floors!), generally top-notch facilities, but it depends what you want - it's not my idea of camping (too busy, too big, too many organised activities and just didn't feel French enough): it was also extremely cold overnight at the end of August.

I can't really offer any other alternatives, as we've tended to go a lot further south and want more low-key camping, but if you want good weather, you do need to venture further than mid-France. Have a look at Castels and possibly Yelloh Village: les Alicourts is part of Sandaya, so maybe worth a look too, but the sites do tend to be very big. I would avoid Capfun sites unless you want crowded sites, a lot of enforced entertainment, noisy evenings with music/foam parties etc.

I've not been here, but it gets very good reviews and is only a couple of hours drive from Calais: www.la-croix-du-vieux-pont.com/en/ . You could combine with a trip to Disney/Parc Asterix or even go into Paris for a couple of days.

Have a look at the Yelloh campsites. Lots of options, and I think will have everything you are looking for.

Look at Yelloh or Cap Fun campsites, they're usually pretty good for kids.

La Garangeoire

Chateau des Marais or Parc du Val de Loire are both great. One is Sandaya, one is Yelloh.

Stay away from bloody croix du vieux point. It’s horrid!

We went to camping Latlantique near Fouesnant a few years ago. My DC are v unsociable so afraid not sure about kids club (they were 11 and 8 at the time) but it was walking/cycling/short drive distance to gorgeous beaches (beg meil And benodet were nearest) and the water park at the campsite was great.
www.sunelia.com/en/atlantic/france/brittany/finisteres/latlantique.html

Possibly not as far south as you were thinking though....

We have also stayed at l'atlantique. Had a great time - very clean. We were there towards the end of august and there was a big local festival (country fair type thing).

We went from Portsmouth on the fast Cat ferry.

We have had really good experiences with the Siblu sites in the Vendee, clean tidy vans, swimming pools and kids clubs

Thanks everyone, I'm really, really grateful for all the suggestions and am going to spend some time later, looking through them all.

I'd say we were willing to drive upto around 8 hrs from Calais

I don't mind cold evenings but I do like warm days!

I can't give specific ideas but have spent some time researching and I think you need to go to the Dordogne area to get nearer to guaranteeing good weather. We went to the vendee a couple of years ago and wouldn't actually recommend it, we found if the weather wasn't beach weather there wasn't much to do, the towns don't have that nice cultural vibe and the surrounding countryside isn't that pretty. We ended up moving on to the Loire where at least if weather not great you have chateau and lots of beautiful countryside and interesting historic towns to visit. Our plan next time is to stop in the Loire and continue down to the Dordogne. I had childhood camping holidays in France and remember staying near sarlat and it was the best holiday

Camping Le capeyrou is on my list, it looks fab

Can also highly recommend this one

www.yellohvillage.co.uk/camping/le_fayolan

The lake is just gorgeous.

There’s a nice one near sarlat called La Palombiere.

Second Les Alicourts, spent a few weeks there when the kids were little. Packed schedule, good parks, pools and a lake, kids clubs - the lot. But there isn't much to do around it without hopping into the car.

And Les Valades. Not been to either but they look good and might give you something to go on! I am dreaming of a France holiday now!

Prob too far for you but we have had very positive experiences with Yelloh villages. The best one is Serignan Plage. Too far to drive really but convenient for Beziers airport if that’s an option!

Thanks everyone!

Faithinature1, I think you might have a point re the weather and we're leaning towards the Dordogne. Will check out Camping Le Capeyrou, thanks.

@MumofBoys79 Head a bit further south to the Ardeche, at Vallon Pont 'Arc - there are two campsites next to each other, Mondial and L'Ardechois. Both really lovely, with river access direct from the sites and good pools. Twenty minute walk into the village for restaurants etc. We've stayed at both, Mondial several times and then L'Ardechois when we left it too late to book one year. Weather has always been great, beautiful scenery and there are lots of things to do/visit in the surrounding area.

It's more than an 8 hour drive but you can stop enroute quite reasonably in hotels. We stop on the outskirts of Dijon on the way down after getting an early ferry. Coming back we've stopped at various places, Annecy is gorgeous, Beaune has an interesting hospital museum and nice square, Reims has a cathedral where they project a light show onto the outside every night, Lille is okay for a stopover too. Make the journey part of the holiday and the distance and drive become less of an issue.

We went to St Avit de Loisirs (think that's it)in the Dordogne when our DC were that age and they enjoyed it so much we went back the following year which is something we never do! Great swimming pools with slides and lazy river type thing if I remember rightly. We went with Eurocamp so there were kids clubs and activities if they are in to that kind of thing. There was also a small theme park with a waterpark not too far away which they loved.

Thanks for that FrauleinSchweiger, that's sounds like what we're looking for.

We've decided to go for it and drive to the Dordogne and spend about ten days there.

My kids really want to go back to Noutmoutier near Nantes, no kids clubs as such but surf/ sport things to sign up for. I assumed we were super lucky with the weather in June but the locals assured us it’s very reliably warm and sunny.