Why bother with northern France? Why not go to Cornwall and save the ferry fare? Talk me into it....

[Orinoco]

Message withdrawn

Message withdrawn

when we went to the south of france as children (from yorkshire!), we put the car on the train once we'd crossed the channel, & it whizzed us there overnight. very exciting, & popular with my parents i should imagine.

lol - don't think dh would go for that either. So do people do the tent/caravan thing on a site, or rent a cottage?
We had a cottage in rural Ireland last year which was fab, but we had company. Think it'll just be us this year and more likely to meet people on a site.

Message withdrawn

Tiny map showing Vendee - it's the region south of Brittany - beautiful beaches!

Oooh - I'm getting all excited now - think I'm gonna go on a wee tour of French holiday sites now.............might start a new thread for helpful suggestions - don't mean to hijack your thread orinoco!

hoxty, motorail through France costs about £1000 these days

omg - won't be taking that option then! Going to start with Brittany then.

Argeles is lovely, down in the Languedoc area. We drove down and stopped off in a Comfort Inn, near Dijon. Cost us £40 for a family room (it was actually 2 rooms separated by an arch, with a double bed and bunk beds). There are lots of service stations with play areas for stopping off at on the way

omg jan

We are dedicated Cornwall lovers, but decided we wanted to go abroad last year so that dsd (10) and dd (2) could experience it. We went to Fouesnant in Brittany and had a fantastic time. We know Cornwall really well, and it was nice to be able to explore somewhere new. We opted for Brittany because we thought it would be less of a drive for our first trip, but someone at work goes to the Vendee and her drive from Cherbourg took about the same time and she ended up much further south.

We would recommend the campsite we were at (Camping L'Atlantique) but it wasn't within walking distance of the town. We booked through matthews holidays - on a recommendation by Milliways on a thread last year! Their website has a forum where others recommend and ask questions about their campsites.

I would leave the caravan behind and rent a gite in Normandy (or Brittany) through www.gites-de-france.fr. The website is in english, go for a property graded 3 "ears of corn" of above.

Brittany - better food, better weather, bigger,better & emptier beaches and more of them, good cultural & language exposure for kids

Depends where in N France you're talking, I think. Agree that Brittany is wonderful. Normandy is not so good and nor is the area around Calais imo. I would definitely choose Cornwall over Normandy unless you are a keen 2nd world war historian or something. The scenery and food are awful- or were 7 years ago. Mind you it was November and it did rain and rain and rain and rain. Still, totally untempted to return though would go almost anywhere else in France like a shot.

Normandy, calvados, cidre, cheeses, french bread, croissants for breakfast. Pate, cheese and yummy french bread for lunch, womderful meals out for a fraction of the price. Terrific history in the region. The area round Bayeux has some wonderful beaches.

There is a great campsite at St Aubin, Normandy
Camping la Cote de Nacre and you can walk to the town and beach....would need a buggy for the little one.

The campsite has an indoor and outdoor pool and all mod cons

If you would drive a bit futher the Vendee has a similar climate to the south of france. We have been there three times over three years and it has never rained on us in the Vendee! Hexed myself now!

It is the atlantic seaboard south of Britaney. Beautiful beaches

Maybe it was the out of seasonness that ruined it for us, mb? The basics were ok foodwise but the restaurant food was crap- horrible overcooked meats, chicken or fish smothered with rich cream and apple sauces- bleerh. Partner and I are fairly good cooks and get very grumpy if we pay for food that is worse than what we can cook for ourselves, especially in la belle France.

ah, therein lies the problem. I am a lardy arsed pig who is rather ford of the heavy Normandy specilities

The seafood patters are rather scrummy too...had a fab one at Honfleur....chilled Poomeux to start, seafood with white wine, mixed assiet for pudding.....bliss!

I just love France, and dare I say it , the French!

Off there ahain this year and will stop in Normany on the way home. We have 4 night outside Disney booked and 9 on a campsite in the vendee, a nigh in a farmhouse b and b on the way home....I'm counting the days.

Oh I am lardy too, don't worry! Love seafood and cheese and wouldn't mind something yummy with a creamy sauce at all at all. I think all the good restaurants might have closed for the winter or something. We ended up running away to Paris because we got so tired of driving about in the rain and eating bad food!

Brittany is FAB!!! Love it love it!! We stayed in a gorgeous camp site a couple of years ago - ds was2.5 and dd was 1.5 and the camp site was just right for them. It's in baden - bit of a drive from the sea but the camp site is 5 mins from the village which had a restauarant, lovely butchers and bakers, PO and tourist office. The pool area was fantastic - the kids pool was just right with a wee slide in it and the main pool shelved very gently from the side so they could just toddle in and out at leisure and we could swim with them round the pool. Thhre was also a separate adult pool. Food at the restaurnt/takeaway was excellent and they wwer very friendly. Local towns fab - little train trips round them (nearest one is Auray which had fantastic kids clothes and shoe shops!!), Vannes is nearest big town. The site ahd 3 fishing lakes and a field neear them with 5 donkes in it. Loads of ducks by the lakes and a couple of wee goats in their own mini field! kids loved it. Excellent play areas.

I wouldn' go for a gite or villa with young kids persoanlly as the company and facilities you get on a camp site make the holiday!! My bf went to a villa and hated it (kids 5 and 3) as she was on pool alert for her 2 the entire time from the moment they first woke up. The kids got bored - the pool was deep all over so no paddling and they required full on adult entertainment constantly! At the cam site they make friends and are entertained! While mummy samples local bread, cheese and wine obviously!

Been to St Jean de Monts year before which was lovely - going back there this year - Camping Acapulco supposed to bewithin walking distance of a beach. Went to Le Guilvenic last year but camp site (village la plage) kids pool was poor but only 2 mins from beach so we had a brilliant holiday.

Try out the Matthews holidays dscussion forum, just post a question and you'll get loads of info.

We like the overnight ferry with cabin I ahve to say. Mini disco for kids (wine for mummy!)and full nights sleep - wake up and it's a couple of hours to the site!

You can use your tesco clubcard vouchers to pay for some ferry routes so worth looking in to - worth 4 x their value as deals!
Bonnes vacances!

I had a crap time the last time we went to Brittany and that was because it pissed down with rain, and I mean real 'stair rods', for 10 days out of the 12 we were there....awful. But I will freely admit that in good weather it is fab. So I think the weather migh have been partly to blame SM.

We went to Normandy in August and it was fab. Had a terrific meal overlooking the sea....loads of yummy fish dishes...dd tried her first fish soup and no-one batted an eyelid at two kids eating out in somewhere that wasn't the Dreaded MacDoos. We have tended to stay there for a few days at each end of the hols and love it. The Bayeux tapestry is well woth a visit and there are loads of WW2 museums to satisfy dh and ds

Wine, bread and cheese.Sigh!

Cornwall is nice but France way, way better IMO. Food to die for in northern France. And the whole cultural difference aspect - I'd choose France every time!

Yes- the Beyeux tapestry is amazing, you're right. Forgot about that! We went to some nice markets too. I think the weather really was the killer, now you mention it. It was a weird spot as well- nothing but farms and the farmers didn't seem to like walkers, tthe one time we ventured out (in the rain!).

I love french markets, trying out my dreadful school girl french, asking whar cheeses are good, buying local jams and pates. Fab!

Brittany for me, I loathe Cornwall with a passion!