self-catering in Brittany - any recommendations please?

[bean612]

Okay, so clearly we are completely mad (I've been reading the family holidays thread in discussions of the day), but we're contemplating a holiday in northern France with DD (1.5) this summer.

Ignoring the fact that we probably should have booked ages ago, could anyone recommend a company/website - or even better, specific place? We were thinking Brittany, so near the beach, and of course the cheaper the better.

DD is very active, wants to be busy all the time, so being near kid-friendly sights would be a massive bonus (even if we take ALL her toys and books, she'll still be bored after the first half-hour of the holiday).

Self-catering would be best from a financial point of view, though maybe walking distance from cheap restaurants too. I'm not asking too much, am I?

I've been obsessing about these for weeks.

The mobile homes look lovely and are self catering.

We stayed here last year. One of the best self-catering places we have ever stayed in.

I have to go wipe a bottom right now, but will be back to tell you about it later if you like.

They also have 2 parcs in south brittany too.

Ooh, they both look nice! Will investigate further, thank you. PrettyCandles - yes, if you have time, would love to hear more about it (the owners sound v friendly)...

Bean, Brittany is lovely but can I just say food shopping is really expensive in France compared to here, and ime there is no such thing as a cheap restaurant. But then it depends on what you consider cheap I guess.

There was a thread around here a month or so ago along these lines.

Will try and find it later.

Ahh, the joys and duties of motherhood

Right, La Villa Fleurie:

We went with 8yo, 6yo, and 2yo. The owners are lovely. He's British, she's French, speaks perfect English, has no children but is totally chilled about ours (took them to visit neighbour's donkey and pony, allowed them to help her in the vegetable garden, etc). Garden really is as they describe: absolutely marvelous! Very big, lots of toys, hammock, patio, chicken run, safe water feature. You can go into the chicken run (as long as you remember to shut the gate!) and the vegetable garden (just don't pick without permission). House has stairgates and is not cluttered with knick-knacks for the dc to break. Windows have shutters so you can get the rooms properly dark. Rooms are large and comfortable.

I don't think you would walk into Evran, but one of you could certainly nip in by car for fresh croissants for breakfast. Brilliant local restaurnats, and the local cider is lovely, especially if you let it age a little in the bottle.

Location was splendid: masses to do within easy car-journey's reach. I think the furthest we drove was to Mont St Michel (a very good day out, but heaving. I should like to go again off-season.) The aquarium at St Malo is excellent. The beaches at St Cast and St Jacqut were lovely.

I can't remember what else we did, but it was one of the best SC holidays we have had - partly because the villa is (a) so comfortable, and (b) so well-situated that getting to places is nto a hassle.

Monty I know what you mean about restaurants, I suppose I just mean that it would be good to have the option as a treat on a night or two. Food shopping, though - really? Was thinking fruit and veg from markets, basic groceries from supermarkets. I lived in France for a while and it always seemed cheaper than here (though it was nearly 15 years ago!)

Would be great if you could find the thread though, thank you.

We did most of our food shopping in Evran. Didn't find it particularly expensive. Perhaps because we don't tend to use much convenience food? With us it's usually either cook-from-scratch, or eat out.

One of our best meals out was pancakes (our dc like crepes, they didn't take to the galettes at all) at a classic Bar-Tabac, zinc countertop and all. It was also the cheapest! And our worst meals were all the ones at restaurants near tourist attractions.

Which reminds me: this was the best outing of all!

And Medreac was where we ate the pancakes.

Found it

Don't want to be negative, because as I say Brittany is lovely, I just wanted to forewarn you.

This is us - if you're thinking about South Brittany, I'm happy to tell you what I would recommend re things to do/where to go etc ( we have 2 DS's, 8 & 19 months) I think the problem you would have self-catering in a gite or similar would be there may not be anyone for your DD to play with - unless you were on a complex, whereas on a campsite she would have plenty of options. I love living here and think it's ace for children btw!!

We've been here with two young children and would throughly recommend it. Really comfortable, with UK TV - CBeebies was very useful near bedtime! Could walk to two beaches, and only 5 min walk or so to the town's shops, market and supermarket. Took our children to the local restaurants no problem. House came with stairgates, travel cot, high chair etc. We found Brittany great, as it has loads of great beaches but is not too hot that you have to worry about the heat with your children. I'd recommend taking some food with you to keep costs down, eg tins of baked beans!

PrettyCandles, don't know if you're watching this (probably not) but if you are, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for recommending La Villa Fleurie. We were going to go with another family but in the end they couldn't do our dates, so I emailed the owner to say sorry, we couldn't confirm after all and explained why. I got an email from her this morning and before I opened it was expecting just a 'Oh well, sorry about that'. Instead, she had correctly guessed that we couldn't afford the place on our own, and said she could offer us a (very good) reduced rate if we wanted to come just the three of us. What a lovely, lovely woman!