Just wondering if anyone has camped in central France and could recommend where they stayed. Looking for somewhere for late August with a heated pool and decent amenities and on site or local activities and not more than 6-7 hours drive from Calais.

Have found somewhere right down near Marseille but it's a very long drive in one hit with 3 children plus i'm not so keen on being close to Marseille. So looking for suggestions no more than about half way down France.

 

First off, you'll not need a heated pool in August.

I know of two decent sites, small but with nice bar/restaurants, decent facilities, both with nice pools and a river you can bathe in too, but not a humungous river, more like a decent stream.

Camping Maisonneuve, in the Dordogne, would be ideal: http://www.campingmaisonneuve.com/ca...-dordogne.html, nice area, loads to see, 10 miles from Sarlat la Caneda, decent restaurants nearby too.

On the other side of the country you have Camping Gervanne: http://www.gervanne-camping.com/cont...tre-camping/1/, not as much to see, but on the Drome river and nice pool.

Enjoy.

 

Thanks, i'll have a read through they look good.

 

Your route to Maisonneuve is A16>A28>A154>N154>A10>A71>A20, then roads along the Dordogne valley, can be done in about ten hours, but I'd overnight, decent site at Nouans le Fuzeliers halfway down the A71, about half the journey.
http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/de...sp?revid=10590

Of the above, A28, N154 and A20 are all free, about 2/3 of the distance, maybe 3/4.


HTH

 

Cheers that one might actually do for the whole week not just overnight as it's much closer!

 

Well, yes....but Maisonneuve is lovely, well worth the journey.

 

+1 for the Dordogne! My parents took me there camping for a couple of weeks when I was 11 and I loved it! Plenty to do for the kids and also a stunningly beautiful place for the parents! Certainly a family holiday that I've never forgotten! We took the ferry Portsmouth to Caen, stayed couple of nights in Bayeux and visited the Normandy beaches. Then drove on to St Jean de Monts on the West coast where we stayed for a few nights and a bit of a beach holiday, before heading to the Dordogne region staying directly on the Vézere river. The route back we did in 1 hit to Caen, via Le Mans; I remember driving along the Mulsanne straight, then overnight on the ferry!

 

The only parts of France worth visiting that would be doable within 6-7 hours drive from Calais are going to be the south Brittany coast, the Loire valley, or the Vosges. I can vouch for the Vosges being absolutely stunning in terms of countryside and scenery (and also very good for any outdoor activity imaginable), but weather in the second half of August is likely to be a bit unpredictable, seeing as it's in the mountains. On that basis, somewhere at lower altitude would probably be the safer bet.

 

Can se why you chose August , theyre not prepared visitors much before that

We stayed end june last year ( that hottest week of the year ) only Normandy and the toilet blocks were closed for refurb , there were only hardy Britishers there - in their camper vans

 

Beginning of July until August 15th is their peak time. Then the country is filled with the Dutch, loads of English and the french all drive around in camper vans.

Me, I prefer June and September

 

Thanks for the replies. Having seen the chaos at Dover it's put me right off if that's what's to come over the Summer! Going to look at camping in Guernsey as an alternative.

 

Have a look at Pembrookshire, we generally go to St Davids and rough it at white sands bay which only has shower and toilets, but there's a few fancy camp sites around for the less hardy.

We generally go Mackerel fishing off the head (ish 4 mile round trip) and body boarding in the bay, (cheap wet suit from decathalon recommended) there's also plenty of other stuff to see and do, boat trips etc but we just like hiking, bouldering and BBQ ing the fish we catch and a few trips to the local pubs along the coast and the odd pint of ale of an evening.

 

That's a good windsurfing beach , been there about 20 years ago

The crossing here Newhaven dieppe , doesn't have those queues yet

 

We stayed here a few years ago when we went to Euro Disney.

http://www.eurocamp.co.uk/campsites/...ataglance.html

A very nice place and the reviews on trip adviser back that up.

 

I realise ^^ theres lots entertainment , but 62 quid a night to shove up your tent on a bit grass...!

 

That's the price for the use of one of their large classic tents....To be fair, we didn't slum in a tent..

 

None of that should affect you if you go over on the tunnel. Security there has always been tighter than on the ferries, so they're already setup for the extra checks that they've just brought in at Dover.

That said, it's not unheard of for there to be delays on the tunnel too at various times, for various reasons.

 

if youre coming from opp norf it must be same roads down though , same traffic hold ups ?

 

The 11A exit off the M20 to get on Eurotunnel at Folkestone is a good 10 miles away from Dover ferry port, so the worst you're going to see there is slightly heavier traffic on the motorway.

Easy enough to check this in real-time though, as there's a live traffic cam right on top of that exit:
http://www.motorwaycameras.co.uk/vie...6&cameraid=982

(looks a hell of a lot clearer than the pictures I saw on the news from Dover)

 

Brexit does seem to have dramatically affected "fee movement of peoples" faster than anyone could have anticipated

 

Either that or expect trade barriers

Still how much do we buy off the frogs

 

Apart from all our energy