Eurocamp virgin - what do we need to take!

[nimbs]

Hi - just booked our holiday in France with Eurocamp - we've got one of their tents - but having not been camping since Ten Tors (800 years ago)I think we'll need a bit of guidance on what is essential to take!!

We're all so excited about it - will be our first overseas holiday with the kids - please tell me we won't regret it!

Thanks in advance

we always do eurocamp but this year doing venue camping as it is so much cheaper!
anyway, i always take a little box of food for first night in case, so cans tuna, pack pasta, pesto, washing up liquid, tea towel, sponge, etc
ooh matches are essential

coffee tea are expensive.

take a strong lidded box to use to store food in away from creepy crawlies. take a second cool box.

freezer blocks
sharp knife, peeler etc if you like yours their's aren't brill.

flipflops for shower
try local food, don't just use their version of normal stuff, eg explore in the supermarkets. try little neighbourhood places to eat.

eat Chi chis or crepes late at night with nutella, try the caramel nuts, go to the night markets and buy lots of tat. (we do this instead of pudding!)
talk to the locals t find out nice places
have a barbeque on teh beach or at least cook sausgaes on a camping gaz stove

buy melamine crockery in france - cheap and nice.

take scooters for your kids if they have them as all kids use them on campsite and they will want to be in with the rest of the kids!

scrabble, cards, citronella candles.
swingball is a good game and our kids always make friends by pitching it next to our tent.
Look in the rep's tent for other games/bats/balls.
have a great time!

Just back from De la Baie - fab campsite & the weather was pretty kind

Toilets and showers were very clean every time we went near them - you do need to take your own toilet roll and soap with you each time. The shop was very basic although you could order bread if you wanted for the next day. I expect that it is better stocked in the height of season.

The pool was heated so that our children were happy to play and slightly covered which meant that we could sit and watch them even when it was raining. Ours wear shortie wetsuits rather than swim suits and were in the pool for up to 3 hours at a time.

The beach just outside the campsite was lovely with very clear water. There were a few dead jellyfish around and you would want beach shoes for the rockpooling. Water is blardy cold. At low tide you can wlk right arcoss to Men Du or Carnac and cut the walk by a mile or so.

We had one meal at the site restaurant overlooking the beach. The fixed price 3 course meals were very tasty and fairly good value at E18.50 (E9.50 for kids 2 course). The creperies that is behind the tea place (up the steps) in Trinite was lovely too.

We visited Trinite and Carnac. Trinite is very pretty but full of yachting bods with prices to match their tastes in the clothes shops. The harbour wall has excellent crabbing for dcs but take your own crab lines as they do not sell them in the town.

Going in the opposite direction (towards Carnac plage) is a small Super U supermarkets with petrol that you can only pay for via card. If you keep following the road until you come to the roundabout with the Casino on it, there is the most amazing boulangerie. If offers woodfire oven cooked pizza as well as a huge variety of breads and pastries. Well worth the 10 minute drive for the quality.

Did the evening trainride from the campsite. It was ok but you couldn't really hear the commentary as everyone was talking. Essentially we paid 18 euros be be driven round for an hour looking at fields of stones (not my thing but dh enjoyed it)

Ebayaddict, thanks for such a helpful post, off to De la Baie in 5 days, really looking forward to it!

Just following this thread - we are just back from the Vendee and have also enjoyed La Baie in the past.
We find that if you take things that can keep kids amused while on your own plot but not annoying others so for example swingball is ideal.
Also I notice the bit about you saying tent dwellers get up late - very possibly because they've been kept up late by caravan dwellers ! Remember tenters dont usually have electric lights so dont tend to stay up much past nightfall as reading by a camping lantern is not that easy.
We have had five great Keycamp and Eurocamp holidays but this year we stayed at one of the best sites we've been to - La Garangeoire. However I must say that if you go on this type of holiday people usually tend to at least be friendly to others they pass as they walk back and forwards etc - so at the very least maybe shout a hello to your neighbours, but this year we found a lot of people were quite unfriendly - I'm not sure it it was an affect of credit crunch making people downsize to this type of holiday but not realising that we all need to at least get along when you are living next to each other. But it should be a great holiday for kids and hopefully they'll meet some others to get along with. Also on the La Baie campsite I would recommend the kids club run by the campsite themselves rather than the Keycamp/Eurocamp type - particularly for older kids as they did all sorts of good activities like treasure hunts in the woods and picnic on the beach etc and an interesting french game where they have three teams and each one hunts another in the woods - I forget the name. Well enjoy your holidays and a good website to see some of the sites we have enjoyed is at www.bestfrenchcampsites.com

Please don't laugh a my question but if you stay in a home in a camping village, do you not have your own toilet/shower?

Hi Always
A mobile home will normally have its own shower/toilet. A tent normally doesnt have its own shower toilet and you share communal facilities.

We have stayed on a site which had individual toilet/shower for each pitch - the campsite will normally trumpet these so if it isnt mentioned then the site probably just has communal facilities. This isnt always a bad thing as communal facilities will be cleaned regularly (on some sites many times each day).

You pays your money and takes your choice.

Having done both my preference now is for mobile homes as I am too old for night time trecks to the loo!