One thing you notice when you go camping in France is the number and quality of children’s play areas and play parks they have. Although UK towns, cities and villages generally have a number of play parks, they tend to be either small or filled with old, rusty or inadequate equipment. Our local play park is of a reasonable size but has not had any new equipment for many years.
We looked at the weather forecast for St Jean Day Monts and were greeted by the prospect of rain for only the second time during our family holiday in France. With three boys to entertain we decided to leave the campsite in search of something to see and do. The first place we visited was the Chateau at Noirmoutier-en-l’ile, just to the north of the campsite.
This year we decided to take the night ferry to France and we had booked to sail from Plymouth to Roscoff with Brittany Ferries as we only live half an hour from Plymouth. Our chosen campsite for two weeks was Le Clarys Plage in the Vendee and we decided to travel at night as we hoped that sleeping during the crossing would mean that no-one would feel seasick.
There are several major differences between driving in France and driving in the UK. Driving on the right’ is the most common difference but one that is often forgotten is the need to pay a toll on certain roads and autoroutes (or motorways) in France. Tolls are avoidable in Brittany but sadly unavoidable in many other regions of France.
One thing that never crosses your mind until it’s too late is Gadget Insurance. It’s now very common for people to own more than one gadget but do we ever think about getting them insured? We’ve heard various stories over the past year involving families travelling to France on holiday who’ve taken their gadgets with them…keeping the children entertained in the car.
There’s one danger that we’ve been hearing more about in recent years which is scary enough to anyone, let alone those of us with children and thats Carbon Monoxide Poisoning. A few sausages and burgers cooked on a portable BBQ can quite often provide the perfect family meal whilst camping in France however as with all type of cooking, portable BBQ’s can be more dangerous than you think.
