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Hi all

   Been looking through lots of sites in France and not able to get agreement on a good site from all the family, so hope you all can help.

Right what we are looking for. We all love the out doors bit of wild foraging fishing rock pooling for snacks all that type of thing. We don’t want to be held back by to many rules. For example we like to walk find a good place to set up for dinner, may be have a very small fire to cook on if conditions allow not essential though.

Has anybody got any suggestions i can check out.

Much appreciated in advance.

Rock pools means Brittany rather than the sandy west coast, camp fires means a farm site and rules out the south of France where forest fires are such a danger. Foraging for shell fish means the walk out from Carantec to the Ile Callot at low tide - the French take garden spades and forks and full size buckets rather than children's toys.

A possible site in the area for all that would be La Ferme de Croas Men - details and review scores or 10 out of 10 here on the Camp Site Search button.

Berriow Thanks for the reply had a look at the site and have put it forward to the family.

Still looking but no one can agree on a site just yet. Dont think we will be going at this rate.

Thanks again

Andy - what sort of area are you looking at?  Have you thought what else you're looking for apart from a particular sort of campsite.  If the area suits you the site itself may not be so important - there may be so many walks, places to picnic, wild food to forage, fantastic picnic spots where you can use a take-away barbecue, wildlife to watch, and so on, that you might be just as happy on 'Site Bog Standard' instead of 'Site Wild Bushcraft'. 

If you haven't been to France, camping, yet, then you might be surprised how few 'rules' some sites have - and even the most regulated are still generally more laid back than in this country.  As Berriow says sites in the south don't allow charcoal barbecues or campfires generally, but that's a sensible way of avoiding forest fires, and in particularly dry years this may apply to other areas too.  However, we've been on sites with communal barbecue areas, and that can be great fun.  Last year were on one site in the Lot area with a communal fire pit where the hot coals were scooped out into troughs and everyone barbecued over the coals! 

Hi Val A

I don’t suppose the campsite  is that important. We use the small cl or cs sites in this country as we hate the large commercial sites. We find the smaller sites have more like minded people on them. So No the site is not that important but as we were planning on a two to three week stay a little more than very basic would be nice.

We are torn between beach (rock pools and small coves not long stretches of open sand) and forest walks so a combination of the two would be fantastic, but we are realistic and a compromise will do.

Only been to France when i was young so not sure on the rules and how laid back it is. Totaly agree with the restrictions on camp fires in some areas. Hope this helps a bit.

Many Thanks Andy

Our friends went to a site at Port l'Epine in Brittany, and stayed on a site with beach access, cove type beaches, mussels on the rocks, fishing from the shore - but it's a site suited to younger children.  How old are yours?  Other friends, caravanning in France for the first time, wanted 'wild' but with familiarity, and chose Camping Pors Peron, right on the end of the 'Lands End' of Brittany. 

I think you might find quite a difference between many French campsites and the larger commercial sites in Britain - we do anyway.  Outside the four or five weeks of peak season (mid-July to mid-August) even the larger sites are much quieter, and more laid back so if you are free to go at any time during the school holidays then later rather than earlier is best.

Which sites have you looked at and rejected?  And in what areas?

Thanks all for the helpfull advice.

I have looked at Camping Pors Peron and it sounds ok Val A do you know what the local area is like for walking. Does the costal path run for some distance and are the coves accessible from the path.

Sorry for so many questions just trying to see if it will do us for 3 weeks.

Hi Andy - there's lot of information on the reviews on this website.  Take a look at them, there are a lot to read through, and this may answer many of your questions.

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/reviews.asp?revid=7883