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Hi - hoping for some advice from you wise people. Basic questions I know but  please bear with me!

This year we're sticking safe in Wales. Next year we are planning a trip to France, and I'm already getting worried! Some of my concerns....

My tent is an Icarus 600 - will we roast in it? If I get a cotton tent I don't think everything will fit in the car.

Or should we do a eurocamp style holiday - but sooooo expensive (we're teacher with 2 kids, can only go peak season) and maybe a bit too butlins for us.

Hubby has never driven abroad, so need to be not too many hours drive from ferry. Where would be good to stay?

When is the cheapest time to book?

I'm sure there will be more questions but that will do for now.

Thanks! Kate

Okay.

Your tent will be fine. See the thread "new tent for France" that is further down this page...or maybe on page 2 by now. You won't be in it during the day, so won't roast. The tents cool down pretty fast at night and as long as you have ventilation you'll be fine.

Eurocamp -expensive in peak season. I wouldn't bother. You can get some great deals for half term though, so always worth looking if you want to go away then. Last year we got a week in a static in Holland (lovely in May) for white week for £200. Including the ferry.

Driving. See the "driving in France" sticky at the top, and the "France for first timers". It's a doddle compared to UK driving, seriously.

Location. Up to you really. Do you want beach, scenery, rivers, gorges, wine tasting? Give us an idea and we can give you more of a clue. How good are your kids at travelling? Our first France trip (with kids that were 2,5 and 6) was to the Dordogne, about 3/4 of the way down on the West of France inland. Two days to get there and we were in a tent so overnighted in a cheap hotel. Rivers, castles, streams to play in. We're going back this year as they are now 7,10 and 11 and want to kayak down the Dordogne.

Loire is an easy days drive with nice chateaux and rolling countryside and lots of places to visit -zoos and so on. Weather is less reliable than further South but often very nice in August.

Vendee is the seaside bit of France down the West coast. Very popular and lots of big, all singing all dancing busy sites. Like marmite, you either love it or hate it.

Brittany. Seaside. Cornwall in France really. We've never bothered as it's a long drive from Calais and we prefer to head South for better weather, but it's again very popular and meant to be lovely.

I wouldn't recommend the Med in the height of the Summer season, it's chockablock and a blooming long way.

Booking. Depends on the site. If it's a busy popular one, then asap. Booking for the next year generally starts at the end of the season, but some sites will book in advance of that. Book your crossing as soon as they become available as prices go up as it gets neaerer. Booking for Summer 2012 will generally open in October-ish. 

Hope that helps for a start.

Quote: Originally posted by exessexmum on 02/7/2011

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I wouldn't recommend the Med in the height of the Summer season, it's chockablock and a blooming long way.

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LOL I love it when teachers say they are limited to peak times - I've got kids and am also limited to peak times :).

However, no dig intend I assure you.

I'm not a camper, so cannot help with the tent / campsite recomendations; but I often drive abroad.  In France it's really easy, just stick to the speed limits, take your time and enjoy the holiday.  If you can invest in a European SatNav then it's even easier.  The cheapest crossing is normally Dover / Dunkirk with Norfolk Line but we prefer the extra cost of the Chunnel - it just seems quicker and more flexible.   The Portsouth routes all take around 5 hours or so which can be expensive time on a boat :) but you avoid four hours of driving and 22 € of tolls each way - to get into the North West of France (Normandy - we love it). 

Very large echo here!! Just go for it. Driving in France is very much more a relaxing experience for me than in the UK.  Not a tentee person, I'm afraid, but I do have a 8m twin axle caravan and 4x4 to tank along in.  That's an experience on the M5 in summer; believe me!  Only tip I would say is for the first few days, to think ahead as you drive along. After that easy.

If everything won't fit in the car, why not think about a little trailer? 

As to where in France?  We do Brittany and Normandy every year.  Camping du Letty in Brittany.  For Disneyland, try camping quartre vents.

As an experience, France is a slower pace of life, more polite (more correct in dealings with other people, beware), generally a good thing to do!  Hope that helps?

Hi Kate

I can only echo what everyone else has said - we were new to camping two years ago, but just got fed up of sitting in the UK int he rain and paying a small fortune to entertain the kids every day.  We decided, after a very wet & windy week on the Isle of Wight that enough was enough, bought a tent and all the equipment and started planning the next year's holiday.

We'd never camped before, but decided to drive all the way down through France to Spain and back again.  Driving in France is so much easier than here, and French motorways are a doddle.  We're also in the Midlands, and did an early morning crossing from Dover to Calais (cheapest!) and then drove to the Pays-de-la-Loire region on the first day - camped for two nights so we'd have a full day of R&R on site, and then packed up and drove to a lovely walled town int he very bottom left corner of France.  Again, two nights camping and then on throught the mountain pass into Spain, where we cheated a bit and had a house for a week in Alcossebre.

On the way back we camped for two nights near Mazamet, in the Midi-Pyrenees, and then back up to the Loire where we stayed for three nights as the campsite had loads of activities for the kids to do.  Throughout we had lovely weather, and camping in France was an absolute pleasure.  So much so that last year we camped for a whole week just south of La Rochelle, and are heading back to Spain this year.

I'd say just go for it, you won't look back.  We booked all of our campsites direct with the owners, no problems, and we've got a Vango Albany 600 so your tent will be fine.