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I have been trawling the internet for info on bell tents to add to my collections, also for informations on woodburning stoves,  and then, by accident I came accross the campsite links on the DeWaard site - and Im left something speachless !

Now I have know that the French have been doing the organised camping thing for ages and yes we too in my homeland  - they take it a lot more seriously than we UK in living seem to do - but some of these sites look amazing !!!   better facilities - Electric and water and even waste points to all pitches are standards - better value pricing - Im just taken away by it all - 

Are french site really that good ?   they look pretty impressive to me !

Victor

I've had a look at the Dewaard site out of curiousity, and the campsites they link to are just typical of middle to upper-range French campsites!  There are some which are even more luxurious, believe me! 

We choose to go out of season, (usually the end of May/early June and again in late August/early September) and usually choose sites from the Camping Cheque, ACSI Card or Touring Cheques.  Any of those sites will cost less than 15 euros per night for pitch, car and caravan, awning, two people and electricity.  Not all French sites have full facilities to all pitches, but many have to some pitches.  Some even have private bathroom units for each pitch! You can also find really nice municipal sites in many small French villages and towns, and these can be really good value - and are often adjacent to the municipal swimming pool.  Some of these are fantastic for overnight stops - usually being in the middle of the village, within walking distance of the shops.

Choose your area and your site carefully.  There are some areas of France which have a big British presence, so if that's what you want you'll find them.  There are some lovely sites, run by British couples, such as Floydfan's - which is highly recommended by most people who go there.  On the other hand there are sites where you may be the only British on site.  In May last year we were on a lovely site (Bastide en Ardeche) using Touring Cheques - and out of 250 pitches only about 10 were occupied on our first day - increasing after a day or two to no more than 40 units on site.  We were the only British couple, and some days we had the pool completely to ourselves.

I love inland France - the Tarn/Jonte/Dourbie Gorges, the Cevennes, the Ardeche, Provence and parts of the Loire and Burgundy, but we also like the Languedoc for some of the beaches and the fishing villages where you can buy your fish direct from the boat. 

Try it, I'm sure that like many of us you'll soon be hooked.  The only downside is that recently we've become used to a good euro/pound exchange rate and over the last year or more that's dropped significantly so things are now more expensive.  Fuel has also gone up significantly in France - at one time you could make a real saving over prices here.  A tip, though, buy your fuel in supermarkets rather than service stations - it can be up to 20 centimes a litre less in the supermarket. 

However, even with all this, it's still possible to have a fantastic holiday on a very low budget - I know we did in August/September this year!

Quote: Originally posted by Laurent on 11/11/2009

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The French campsites on the Dewaard site will(I guess)have been approved by the Dutch camping club who send inspectors to look at them.

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One of the ACSI (Card) sites we tried to stay on last year was really dreadful.  If it did have any toilet paper in the loos in was in the wet puddles on the floor of the old 'Nissan Hut' where the toilet block was sited.  Fortunately reception was unmanned, so we just had a look around and drove back out again - followed by a Dutch couple who had followed us in, and obviously also decided not to stay.  I was surprised that it was still in this year's guide.

One of the famous stories about French campsites was Dave Gilmour (from Pink Floyd) making his way across a campsite with toilet roll clasped in hand!  I'm sure it's mentioned on this forum somewhere.

Quote: Originally posted by Laurent on 11/11/2009

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If you look on the Dutch version of the ACSI website it says summat about inspectors, I think If you want your campsite to go in the Dutch guide its got to have bog paper i'nt bog so obviously not all French campsites pass the test, but I imagine the many Dutch owned ones do.

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Here's the original thread - Dave Gilmour is one of us!!! 

Isn't this where some youngster says, "Pink what?"

I'd just add that not only are most French sites really good but there are so many of them that if you do come up against a bad one (or on a bad day) you can easily move on to somewhere better ......