where to stay in france?

[nothercules]

Never been to France before so no idea what to look for. Where is good but fairly close for travelling from Dover or Portsmouth? Dont want commercialised and not too expensive but good for kids and adults?

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Will you be taking a car? We went to France in the easter hols and stayed at two different places. Definitely needed a car where we went.

Thanks! Anywhere else?

Yes, we have a car. I am really looking for nice areas.

Loire Valley is good for food and for visiting casstles. Coupled with a Canvas Holiday style caravan or tent, could be possible in your price range.

Bordeaux area is very nice - lots to see and do, good beaches nearby, great wine.....

We stayed here for one night on our first night and it was lovely. The guy who owns it is English and he was very kind and helpful. He gave us lots of directions and recommendations of places to eat, visit etc. It is in the middle of nowhere but very peaceful. Very child friendly too. He has a trampoline in the garden, three goats, a pony and a dog.

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Book a Gite through www.gites-de-france.fr (in English).

...also Normandy it great if you don't want to travel far.

Go camping!! tent or mobile home, whatever you fancy! You'll have all the facilities you'll ever want plus company if you want it or peace n quiet if you'd ratehr have that! You can sail to western France from Portsmouth and I love Britany! We go every year and campoing is fantastic for the kids.

Have you checked out the prices of the ferry crossings from Portsmouth? if you want to travel in the summer then you are looking at around £500 (if not more!)

Try somewhere like Normandy as it's only a few hours from Calais, or somewhere on the coast like Berck, it's difficult tr recommend places unless we know what kind of holiday you're looking for?

Depends on how far you want to drive basically. We have family nr La Rochelle (South West) - it's a gorgeous area but nine hours drive from Dieppe, a bit further from Calais. The beaches along the Atlantic coast are great and the seafood is cheap and good. At Easter we wanted to go to France but really didn't want to drive far so we stayed in Normandy, just south of Dieppe, and had a great time in a very rural location. If you have children that don't demand constant organised entertainment we have found that houses with large gardens give everyone a good family holiday. Ours are 12, 7 and 3 and will happily spend hours making camps, playing hide and seek etc. but other children could be bored. A group of gites can be a good compromise with shared play facilities, sometimes a pool, and the possibility of playmates without the horrors of camping (no offence to people who like camping, just it's my personal idea of hell).