France

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Any top tips on where to visit in France with 4 children, ages 11 to 6 in July? We would like predictable very good weather, access to a heated swimming pool near self catering accommodation and good food nearby. It does not need to be near a beach. My husband thought if it was off the A16, which goes on to the A26, A5, A31, A6, A7, A9 the travelling form the UK would be easier!! Having a few places of interest nearby would be good but not essential. We went to Puy du Fou a few years ago and still rave about it. Nothing has compare since. The children are interested in history and having fun! The parents aim is to recharge our batteries!!
Any ideas would be useful. Thank you

Normandy

Normandy is gorgeous, & can have fantastic weather, but it's not as predictable as further south.

History? Loire Valley chateaux? (SW of Paris)

Are you looking for s/c accom with a pool on site? Small complex maybe?

Has anyone been to Nice, Montpellier, Nimes, Aix-en-Provence or Marseille etc to suggest a few cities in the south of France?

Haven't been to any of those cities recently, but have been to Perpignan area (western end of Med) & loved it. Lots of history there too - Carcassonne & Cathar castles - vineyards, beautiful country & beaches, Canal du Midi (to the E), Pyrenees (to the W)

How are you travelling?

By car -it has a DVD player so the children are happy as long as we feed them on route! They ofter complain when we stop for fuel!

Oh, OK - well organised!

We are in NW England, about 1000 miles from SW France; we have been doing the trip in 2 legs, via eurotunnel, with an overnight in Paris which is almost exactly halfway for us.

It is extremely hot down there in the summer, I'm not sure you'd need a heated pool? (but then we've rented gites without a pool so I'm not really qualified to comment on that!)

Something like \link{http://www.cottages4you.co.uk/sites/cottages4you/pages/PropertyDetails_C.aspx?QS=3E0F3DCD-882D-4738-9E61-B90EA3C005F2~C~W12986~4A68~64~GBP~5~14~07-16-2011~A~N~1~DA92898E-09F5-47C4-F1C8-18B743665C21~12372~0~4~N~N~N~N~N\this?} £2K+ for 2 weeks, on a complex with lots of facilities but within walking distance of a village with shops. (I searched for something for 4 people for 2 weeks, there are smaller ones)

Thanks for the suggestions. We had not thought of going via the tunnel. The link was useful. We may try to find something that is not on a complex to see if it was cheaper. Have you stayed anywhere - location or accommodation that you would recommend?

Vendee for Puy du Fou.

We stayed in Vendee a few years ago. It was ok as a location but i certainly would not rave about it.
However the highlight of any of our holidays so far was Puy du Fou. We all absolutely adore it.

Any more suggestions for locations with better weather and more to see and do would be good?

Any suggestions of any activity or experience that can compare to Puy du Fou either in France or elsewhere would be very much appreciated?

well you could look for somewhere to stay near \link{http://www.languedoc-france.info/030101_carcassonne.htm\Carcassonne} - it's not theme-park-ish, like Puy du Fou, but is a completely amazing medieval city & also well placed for visiting the rest of the region

\link{http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/France/Languedoc-Roussillon/r351.htm\have a rummage on holiday-rentals}

I have been going to the Poitou Charentes region with my 2 children (now aged 5 and 6) for 5 years now and love it. It's about an hour away from Puy du Fou if you still wanted to go, but there is also Futuroscope if you fancied that. Otherwise we always go to Ile D'Aix for the day - it is a traffic free island and you can cycle all around it, stopping at the lovely beaches and restaurants - you hire the bikes and they have all sorts for all ages including the buggy things for small kiddies. Apart from that, we have been to La Rochelle and its amazing aquarium and lovely port, monkey park where you walk through all the monkeys (kids like it), day trip to the beach, Cognac which is a beautiful town and has the most amazing park with massive inflatables for the kids to play on, Green Venice - rowing down all these little rivers, stunning, Palmyre Zoo - the list is a little endless as you can tell. We have always stayed here, and the weather has been lovely every year. We drive down with the kids (and also DVDs in the back) going via Eurotunnel - if you happen to shop at Tesco, you can use the Clubcard Vouchers to pay for your crossing, so it feels like you are getting it free every year! I hope this helps, but PM me if you need any more advice.

The Vendee is a bit dull by the coast, but the beaches are great. If you go inland a bit, particularly in the South Vendee, the villages and the country side are alot more interesting, and you can still get to the lovely beaches.

The puy du Fou has put on a couple of new shows in the last 2 years so would be worth a second visit. We recently went to Futuroscope which we all loved. From the south Vendee you can get to both attractions in about an hour.