France passion , free campsites., (1 Viewer)

Feb 16, 2013
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i know this has been aired many times, but worth a new heads up, as there has been a few threads about campsite costs lately but no mention of these very good free sites , if you are new to France travel, these are free secure sites much like britstops here , we used them quite a lot when we started going to France, and always found them excellent, and can throughly reccomend them.
https://www.france-passion.com/en/
 
May 24, 2014
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Thirdied that......some super sites in the book we have used.

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suavecarve

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i think i will quarterize it. Great facilities and one of the reasons i changed my motorhome to take a motorbike as i can leave the van all day in a well secure place, go out and come back ............................. for nothing
 
Sep 21, 2016
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We can fifth that stayed on a cider farm and sampled their produce

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Jan 27, 2013
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French Passion? Okay I suppose but do they have your best interests at heart?

Who wants to drive to a town or village centre and then follow written instructions? Well that's often the arrangement because it suits the the publisher to not allow the destinations to become common knowledge?

Have you added an extra 30 minutes to ŷour journey navigating the one way system only to take the road out of town that you came in on? I have several times and stayed on goat (cheese) swarming with flies, and arrived at Passion spots filled with lorries and farm equipment.

GPS Coordinates OF THE ACTUAL SPOT RATHER THAN THE VILLAGE is it too much to ask?
 

TJBi

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French Passion? Okay I suppose but do they have your best interests at heart?

Who wants to drive to a town or village centre and then follow written instructions? Well that's often the arrangement because it suits the the publisher to not allow the destinations to become common knowledge?

Have you added an extra 30 minutes to ŷour journey navigating the one way system only to take the road out of town that you came in on? I have several times and stayed on goat (cheese) swarming with flies, and arrived at Passion spots filled with lorries and farm equipment.

GPS Coordinates OF THE ACTUAL SPOT RATHER THAN THE VILLAGE is it too much to ask?

I think you'll find that the coordinates are supplied by the hosts, not France Passion themselves. Usually the GPS coordinates are quite accurate, though I have encountered one that was a few hundred metres out an another that was, as you describe, in the village centre from which the location was signposted, rather than the location itself. Seldom an issue if you research your selected location beforehand, for example using the Google Maps satellite view.
I've found France Passion hosts consistently welcoming and many of the locations have been superb.
 
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Feb 16, 2013
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French Passion? Okay I suppose but do they have your best interests at heart?

Who wants to drive to a town or village centre and then follow written instructions? Well that's often the arrangement because it suits the the publisher to not allow the destinations to become common knowledge?

Have you added an extra 30 minutes to ŷour journey navigating the one way system only to take the road out of town that you came in on? I have several times and stayed on goat (cheese) swarming with flies, and arrived at Passion spots filled with lorries and farm equipment.

GPS Coordinates OF THE ACTUAL SPOT RATHER THAN THE VILLAGE is it too much to ask?
I think you may have a book that was a couple of years old as now they put the exact coordinates in the book and can get you right to the gate.
All excellent but we don't now use them as they can prove dear if you avail yourself of the facility's, but for anyone new to France they are unbeatable for meeting genuine French people and genuine farms and stuff

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Feb 26, 2012
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I'll second that - they are mostly excellent. Even stayed at a prune museum a couple of years ago!
Been there, done that. We have used several from a stud/riding stables, honey farm, some cheese producers and just a few vineyards.
Buy now for new book coming out in March.
 

spitfire

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They are excellent but if you are polite and buy their goods as a thank you they often work out more expensive than a municipale sites . We paid 16 euro for a chicken once and I know we ate the chicken but a tad enpensive .
 
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I've been a member off and on for a few years, but have not recently rejoined as we've only used the system twice - both at the same vineyard between Carcassone and Beziere, near the Midi Canal. Nice wine there, if a bit dearer than supermarket stuff. Now my French is a little better, I might consider looking it again. It's very French, which is the whole point I suppose. If you do not speak French it can be a little awkward. By and large they are in difficult to find locations, so my tendency is to give it a miss if it is a bit too much out of the way.

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TJBi

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<snip> It's very French, <snip>

Hardly surprising! Just as Brit Stops tend to be very British, I would think.

I've stayed on a snail farm, oyster farm, donkey farm, goat farm, dairy farm, semi-wild boar farm, fish farm, small meat processor (saucisson, pâté, etc.), ostrich farms, numerous vineyards, fruit & veg farms, at motorhomers' homes and on their land, at a company fabricating steelwork for roof frames...
All truly excellent, and the produce always excellent and often competitively priced against supermarkets, but these overnight stops are not, as the thread title misleadingly suggests, campsites.
 

ceejayt

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In my experience I have never felt in any way compelled to buy anything but occasionally do. Same with Britstops. Even a 16 Euro chicken is a fairly cheap overnight stop
 

icantremember

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I tried French passion without much success ... but there again I also tried a dozen oysters and only one of those worked.:wink::france:

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Ricardoe

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i think i will quarterize it. Great facilities and one of the reasons i changed my motorhome to take a motorbike as i can leave the van all day in a well secure place, go out and come back ............................. for nothing
I would love to put my sinis 125 trail bike on the back of our Hymer 544.Do you think its feasible?
 
Feb 26, 2012
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Frankie and I have been unlucky with our France Passion site efforts.

We have visited two of them with a view to staying a night or two, but neither were very nice and so we went elsewhere.

Just saying

JJ :cool:
But the whole ethos of the system is for a single overnight, max 24hr, stop over.
That is what you are agreeing to when you sign up.

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suavecarve

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I would love to put my sinis 125 trail bike on the back of our Hymer 544.Do you think its feasible?
I had a carioca 625 with huge overhang and just didnt even bother looking at the weights. Took a good look at the weights and how much you can take. i only have a payload of 600 kgs and 100 kgs of motorbike probably 40 kgs of battery, up to 140 kgs for 2 of us then water of 100 kgs doesnt leave an awful lot to take on holiday but we are going to do it !
 

JJ

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But the whole ethos of the system is for a single overnight, max 24hr, stop over.
That is what you are agreeing to when you sign up.

I don't understand!

We didn't like the two places we had a look at so we didn't stay... we didn't agree to anything... nor did we sign up for anything.

Just saying

JJ :cool:
 

sedge

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In theory, JJ, you join when you buy the book/maps/co-ordinees - same as you do when you buy a Britstops book.

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EX51SSS

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In theory, JJ, you join when you buy the book/maps/co-ordinees - same as you do when you buy a Britstops book.
In practice too but nobody including JJ is obliged to stay at a place if they didn't like it. As Brit Stops and France Passion are similar in that regard, the book/maps/co-ordinates tell you where the places are. You go along, even if you phone ahead for a place and when you get there, you don't, for some reason, you are not comfortable or happy with the place, nowhere does it say that you have to stay. We've stayed with both and been happy with the areas but if we weren't then I'd drive away.
 
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We tried it one year, couldn't find the first place and found the second but no sign of where to park and nobody around ( we waited for quite a while) so we went to a free Aire, never bothered again.
 
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We tried it one year, couldn't find the first place and found the second but no sign of where to park and nobody around ( we waited for quite a while) so we went to a free Aire, never bothered again.
I only suggested it , because we like it , although as some say , like britstops it can be dear if you buy the stuff, but they are not pushy at all, and most just like to meet you, and as to nobody around , well that's a bonus, just park up and you won't have to buy anything at all(y).
And as to them being in out of the way areas, yes most are, but they are easy to find now as the exact coords are in the new books , they weren't a couple of years ago, also as I said , I'm not pushing them as we ourselves don't use them much now, we mostly use Aires.
BUT, as I said for anyone new to touring France it really is ideal, mostly free, and secure, meet real French, what's to lose

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IMG_0035.JPG

This is the very first one we used, never saw a soul, and this was just off the road, but look the other way and it was a large orchad and garden,
 
May 29, 2015
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We have used them for the last 3 or 4 years. Normally very happy with what we find. Usually bought the produce ( ok generally wine, beer etc ) but not always and found people friendly and helpful, does help being fairly fluent in French. Done ostrich farms, vineyards, chateaux, micro breweries etc. Great way of meeting the locals.
2 occasions not over happy with the surroundings so moved on.
Have enrolled again this year
 
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Feb 16, 2013
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Don't know if anyone has been to the buffalo farm, don't know where it is but it's a good one if you see it in the book. We went and they had campfires and stuff, buffalo burgers and all sorts, but it was a couple of years ago, might have changed now.

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