Is Camping Les Abberts child friendly?

YES, it accepts children & has a playground View all facilities

Does Camping Les Abberts have a swimming pool?

YES, there is a pool on site View all facilities

Where is the nearest shop to Camping Les Abberts?

There is a shop within 1 mile View all facilities

1 Reviews of Camping Les Abberts , Ares, Aquitaine Campsite. Review score 6/10

Date of Visit: August 2016

Unit: Tent

Reviewer: TeriDD

1 review from this member

We stayed at this 3 star site for a week, family of 2 adults and 2 children, having had the previous week in the Dordogne area.

PROs

This quiet campsite is located within 5/10 mins of the small town of Ares where you’ll find a medium size Carrefour supermarket, 2 restaurants, 2 boulangeries and a pizza take-away. The relatively small campsite is in a residential area with about half the pitches taken up with touring tents/caravans/motorhomes. We had a large pitch over looking the field with high hedges on 2 sides although there was no shade whatsoever so the heat in the tent got so much that the corks on our wine blew. While we were there the temperature reached 37 C so shade would have been very welcomed. The campsite rents fridges for 40 Euro per week but we managed to get by with our powered cool box and freezer/ice blocks. We could freeze the ice blocks at the campsite snack bar free of charge. You could also buy fresh bread and croissants in peak season at the snack bar too.

Their new swimming pool area was good and very clean and our children loved the 3 small water slides. The toddler pool was excellent.

There are great beaches nearby. We went to Grand Cohort which was 10 mins drive away. There was free parking and the beach had lifeguards in attendance. Within 30 mins drive of Ares you can reach the vineyards of the Medoc wine region which are worth a visit.

One day we went into Bordeaux. Rather than driving into the city we took the train from Marchprime (20 mins drive away). The 22min train ride was very efficient and took us to the city centre. There was free parking at Marchprime.

CONs

English wasn’t widely spoken by staff but between their limited English and our school French we got by. We were totally okay with this but felt that we would have know a lot more or given more information about the site if we were fluent French speakers. For example, we were not given any leaflets to tell you about the campsite and my husband had to ask for a map of the site as nothing was given to us on check-in. We had to ask about using the pool (wristbands) and where to put rubbish etc. However there were lots of notices in the toilet block regarding rules which were in French and English. One of them explained that the sink and shower cubicles were locked between 11pm and 7am. They failed to mention that some of the toilet cubicles would be too. One morning at 8am there were only 3 toilets available as one had been messed in and the rest were still locked.

One issue we had was about the opening times of the car barrier. We weren’t told about the times nor saw any notice. We found out the hard way when we returned at 11. 05pm to find that it had shut 5 mins before. We parked our car outside the reception (exempt of ‘no parking’ signs) as there was plenty of room for a car which wouldn’t obstruct the barriers in any way. At midnight we found the office lady/owner wandering around the site looking for us. There were only 2 UK families on site so it should have be easy to identify the car owner. She asked us to move the car; something to do with ‘security’. We told her that we’d do it in 5 mins as we were half way to the toilet block. Within minutes a very angry man came looking for us and threatened to get a tow truck to remove our car if we hadn’t done so in 5 mins. My husband did so immediately only to be shouted and pointed at that he was a ‘stupid boy’ (too much Dad’s Army??) for where we had parked. It transpires that the campsite had nightparking on the roadside which we were unaware of. Had we know about this or the barrier times we would have adhered to the rules. Unsurprisingly the staff were unable to understand us when we tried to explain this.

We thought that there would be a few activities for the children, as depicted on the website, but we didn’t see any of them and we weren’t made aware of anything going on. There was a small, new climbing frame for children up to 8yrs old.

Although the office and swimming pool area are new and well thought out it is in complete contrast to the archaic toilet block or ‘sanitares’. Rumour has it that the building will be replaced in the next year or so. The toilets and showers are now unisex as the women’s area has been shut off. However some toilet cubicles displayed both the ‘men’ and ‘women’ signs on the doors whereas 2 of them showed that they were only for men. I wrongly assumed that they’d have a urinal in them but they didn’t. The washing up area, ‘urinor’ (chemical toilet disposal?), foot washing basins, laundry sinks, washing machine (only 1 working), showers, toilets and sinks were in the same building which you had to walk up 5 steep tiled steps. People would wash their hands in the washing up sinks as they were adjacent to the toilets and closer than some of the wash basins – argh! The toilets didn’t have loo paper nor seats/lids. No soap or sanitizer was provided. A hook in the toilet cubicle would have been handy as you had to put your toilet roll and toiletries bag on the floor so we made sure that everything was put into a plastic bag. Apparently the lack of toilet seats was down to ‘hygiene regulations’ although it was unclear whose. We know that the neighbouring site did not have the same ‘restriction’. The only saving grace was that the toilets etc were clean and our thigh muscles had a good work out from all the squatting!

There were no water standpipes around the pitches so we had to go to the toilet block for water. Some campers were more prepared and had taken water carriers.

This campsite has great potential once it renovates the shower block and makes sure that guests are given a small pamphlet explaining the sites rules etc. In the meantime, if you choose to stay in one of their mobile homes (with a private bathroom) I’m sure that you’ll have a great holiday.

Reviews of Camping Les Abberts

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