Hello (1 Viewer)

[Ronda]

Hi Everyone,

We bought a motorhome 7 weeks ago and are shall we say "very green". The main reason i have signed up is for some advice.
We are (me,wife & 3 year old girl) travelling to france on the 19th August in our motorhome, we a travelling down from Huddersfield to Dover then across to Boulogne. We need to find a site which is has plenty to occupy our daughter and is close to the beach. Any recommendations would be greatly recieved.

If you think we are throwing ourselves in at the deepend with a trip to France so soon then you are right we must be wrong in the head!!!!!

Lee

 

[Carol]

Welcome to Fun I am sure you will have loads of advice soon :welcomefunster:

 

[Jim]

Hi Lee,

You couldnt be more right!

France and Motorhomes really go well together, for a start France is big and the roads are much less busy than our own. Secondly almost every town and even some of the smallest villages have an area set aside for motormes. These are called Aires and the vast majority of thes aires are free. You'll love it. Welcome to the Fun:thumb:

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[laneside]

laneside

Hi and welcome to fun.

You are nearly neighbours of ours only a bit of hill between us.

We are somewhat older than you having recently retired, we have just done an eight week trip to France and it really is a beautiful country that is very motorhome friendly
There could not be anything easier than the ferry crossing so much more pleasant than airport travel and once you disembark in France it is just so easy to adapt to driving on the opposite side so no problems there. You just would not believe how quiet the roads are compared with ours, big cities being the exception but very easy to avoid.

If you are wanting a flavour of France then you do not need to cover great distances especialy with a kiddy on board as both Normandy and especially Brittany are just as french and are very interesting indeed, especially the southern coast of Brittany.

At that date in August you are still in the busy season as far as campsites go so booking is advisable well beforehand.

If you want free or cheap camping then purchase the book called All The Aires but most are just parking areas for motorhomes and not much for a child to do.

A god book for campsites with all facilities including indoor pools etc that children love then the book ACSI is useful but at that time of the year you would be wise to budget around 40 euros per night. Lastly there is a book called French Passion whicn are private farms or similar that invite you to stay for one night or sometimes longer, it may be curtious to purchase a little of their own produce.

Finally take as nuch of your favourite food esentials as possible as it has now gone quite expensive over there.

If you require further info just ask on here plenty have more experience than we do but above all get out there and ENJOY

Cheers Alan and Lynda

 

[haganap]

Hi Lea and welcome to the fun,
We will be heading off about the same time as you, a few days earlier in fact.
Having travelled France extensively in both a caravan and a motorhome and having done so with young children, fire away/.

What are you looking for? sun, sea, sand, sangria?

quiet family vacation, aires? all singing and all dancing?

well I have great news for you, in a motorhome you can have several holidays in one, beach, and city, whatever your wish is you can have it.

So ask away again and let us know how far you want to travel. And no, we dont think your daft doing it green, other forums might tell you that but here we look at it like an adventure. the greener the better as long as you know how to bluff and blag if anything goes pete tong you will be fine. We have survived on the edge of our pants on numerous occasions, but my kids have been well versed on looking cute to get me out of sittuations.

look forward to your questions.:thumb:

 

[haganap]

just to add to alans post that was typed whilst I was inventing mine the ACSI book is great and you can investigate great sites from the book here Link Removed

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[Ambilkate]

Welcome

 

[lorger]

Hi Ronda

All i would say is go for it and enjoy yourself, we did France with caravan a couple of times then went to mh picked up mh on a monday left for France on the thursday and loved it even more in the mh.
Our daugther who is now 12 loves it also we normally got to an all singing all dancing site for a few days then aires for a few. So i would say buy the book all the aires about £20 i think we also used france passion which is £20 (last year) for that you get a book with all the site and a window sticker, the site a free to use and can range from a small holdings ,vineyards, resturants to farms when you turn up you would always ask the proprioter if its ok to stay as may be full and they will ask you to have a look round their produce. We have used a few and never had hardsell we stopped at vineyard and we dont drink wine but bought a bottle as present for my dad for about 6 euro then we stopped once at someones gardens 4 acre she grew everything and had 3 daugthers who kept sophie happy all night. Next morning we spent 13euro in her garden shop on jam and cider so well worth it 13 euro for nights site and goodies.

Sorry to go on but love France even though we are doing Italy this year

Gerry

 

[JJ]

Welcome Ronda... you'll have a brilliant time in France... many, many other motorhomers most of whom will be delighted to help if needed...

JJ

"You are on your own but never alone in a motorhome..." (JJ, July 4th 2010, 12.20am)

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[Ronda]

Hi Lea and welcome to the fun,
We will be heading off about the same time as you, a few days earlier in fact.
Having travelled France extensively in both a caravan and a motorhome and having done so with young children, fire away/.

What are you looking for? sun, sea, sand, sangria?

quiet family vacation, aires? all singing and all dancing?

well I have great news for you, in a motorhome you can have several holidays in one, beach, and city, whatever your wish is you can have it.

So ask away again and let us know how far you want to travel. And no, we dont think your daft doing it green, other forums might tell you that but here we look at it like an adventure. the greener the better as long as you know how to bluff and blag if anything goes pete tong you will be fine. We have survived on the edge of our pants on numerous occasions, but my kids have been well versed on looking cute to get me out of sittuations.

look forward to your questions.:thumb:

Thankyou all for your replies,

We are looking for plenty of activities for our 3 year old, we are happy with a nice stocked bar of cold beer but she needs lots of things to occupy her. We have looked at a couple of sites in Normandy but can you suggest somewhere else which maybe better within 3 hours of ferry port.

Lee

 

[chatter]

There is always Disney at Paris that you could take in for a couple of days and they have motorhome parking area i beleive.

Another good camping scheme is the camping cheque sites
http://www.campingcheque.co.uk/

They also have good sites and out of the main season offer discounts.

 

[ourcampersbeentrashed]

Hi and welcome to fun xxxx enjoy xxxxxxxxxx

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[haganap]

Thankyou all for your replies,

We are looking for plenty of activities for our 3 year old, we are happy with a nice stocked bar of cold beer but she needs lots of things to occupy her. We have looked at a couple of sites in Normandy but can you suggest somewhere else which maybe better within 3 hours of ferry port.

Lee

This is the place we most like to go to when starting our holiday http://www.la-croix-du-vieux-pont.com/

nice site that does coach trips to Paris, Disney and parc asterix. plenty to keep the kids amused including a great pool complex. loads of other kids with a good family feel and a very short walk in to town. We normally touch down here for a couple of days whilst deciding where we go next , about 3 hours from calais,. From here France is your oyster.