France service stop recommendations

[GreatGooglyMoogly]

We are travelling from Calais to Brittany (and back again a week later) with a 3 and 6 year old. Are there any good service stops along the way, especially any with playgrounds? TIA.

I can't suggest any particular ones as we just stop as and when we need them. However I just wanted to say that there are generally 2 sorts of places to stop:

-the service station with the usual shop, cafe(s), toilets and small outdoor seating or picnic area

• a "greener" type of stop that just has toilets but usually a large grassy area for children to run around and stretch their legs, picnic tables etc. Obviously if you stop here you need to already have your food as there's no shop.

I don't recall seeing any playgrounds TBH but then again a lot of our stops down to the Vendee were "quick! Go to the loo and then we're heading straight off!" type of stops

There are some with playgrounds especially on the toll roads (even the odd one with free bouncy castles, balloons etc.) which they sometimes tell you about on a temporary sign near the proper service station sign. I cannot for the life of me tell you which ones these are (as did the route last year), but we found the picnic stops very good for running/stretching legs etc.

We stopped last week at one just West of Rouen that was quite big - had a big shop, restaurant etc. Not sure about a playground, but I would be surprised if there weren't one. They did have a bouncy castle and children's entertainment 'animations'.