Western France with a toddler

[mumtoone]

We are planning to go on holiday with our 2 year old in the summer. I want to go to France and I am looking at the Vendee in particular as its not too far but hopefully warmer than Brittany/Normandy. Do any of you have any recommendations of places to stay or things to do. I am looking for self catering accomodation.

mumtoone - we have been to the vendee 3 years on the trott with 2 dd's since the youngest was 1.
We went with Select France and also Carissma - both very good - they both specialise in mobile homes in camp sites in the Vendee. Take a look at their websites...
the mobile homes were fab - very new and modern...
campsites excellent - with pools (one had an indoor pool) - some are near villages most near fab beaches...
can give you more info if you are interested...
Early June is a good time to go if you can avoid school hols as everything is open, but not high season so quite quiet.

We stayed in the Vendee with Keycamp in a very nice mobile home near St Jean de Monts which is a very child friendly area. One of the nice things about the camping/mobile home sites in that region are the pools which often have slides and fountains to amuse the children as well as playgrounds and Kids Clubs if you want them. There is stacks to do in the Vendee with children - waterparks, small 'amusement parks' etc.
La Baule is also a nice area to stay; further north than the Vendee but a beautiful seaside town nevertheless - we stayed in a Pierre & Vacances self catering two bed apartment which was nice and very close to the long sandy beach. To be honest we had better weather there in early July than in the Vendee in August when it rained just about every day until lunchtime.
Do a search on this forum for 'vendee' and you will get back loads of ideas.

The Vendee is fab and is a lot warmer/dier than Brittainy and normandy. We have been there three times and are going back this yeat.

Campsites in France are first rate, I can recomend a few if you are interested. Canvas Holidays are good, as are Keycamp. Get Angila Birds guide to the vendee....if you google she has a great website

Oh, if you fancy trying brittany we stayed in a fantastic campsite 2 years ago - absolutely brilliant for he kids. (weather no beter , no worse han the Vendee). DS was 2.5 and dd was 1.3, they adored it! It was in Baden - Camping Mane Guernehue. Very quiet area, campsite had he best pool complex we've seen with 1 pool for adults only, 1 large pool which shelved very gently for a long time and had 'islands' in the deeper bit and a toddlers pool as well as slides etc. The kids adored it and were able to toddle in and out as they pleased. We went in Sept and weather was great - best bit was they were dismantling the tents etc for kids club so we were allowed to use all the stuff!! Site had lots of play areas including little tykes climbing frames etc at the pool bar/restauarant - let you have a pleasant meal out! Food was brilliant esp pizza! There was a bouncy castle just down from the pool and there were 3 fishing lakes where ducks hung out! There was also a field with 5 donkeys next to the lakes and a fenced in area with goats in it!(All near the French camping area so no pongs for us!) How exciting was all that! Had to drive to a beach but they were lovely, great boat trips and all the local towns had mini trains to take you round them. We did them all.... Auray the nearest town had gorgeous shops, especially kids shops and loads of hypermarkets. Baden itself is a short walk away from the site, has a PO (don't charge o cash travelers cheques), bakers (yum!) butchers (FAB) tourist info - very useful, and a pub/resturant. Very laid back and friendly. MY BF went last JUne and weather was very hot. I'd definately recommend it and we'll go back. Just trying different sites out!Going back to St Jean de MOnts this June - Camping Acapulco is a new site for us. We went with French Life / Camping Life cos you can use your Tesco vouchers for 4 x their value against your holiday! I'd also recommend the overnight ferry to St malo as the kids were so easy! Had pizza in portsmouth,boarded, let them shriek about the bunk beds, took them to the play area then the live band in the bar/entertainment area (only dancers were toddlers!!) where we had a tipple (french prices - yeah!!)while they exhausted themselves disco dancing (HEY!) then full nights sleep, fresh croissants in St malo for breakfast and shortish drive to site. Expensive but worth it with a toddler or (especially if you use Tesco vouchers!!). Don't get the ST Malo day time express - they call it the VOmit Comit. Nightmare. We went through all emergency clothing and then I had to be escorted to the car deck to raid the suitcases. Not funny. I was among the minority ofpassengers not vomiting. A longer drive in France is preferable.

Get a mobile home - we get a 3 bed cos there's notmuch price differenec out of season and he extra room is handy. A portabeel DVD player is also handy in case of rain - and helps give you a lie in!!
Oh, I've waffled, sorry just love the site but dh never went camping in France when he was a kid and wants to try them all!!

scuse typos!