Advise needed for virgin overseas tourers
Hi all, we have finally decided to take the plunge and take our passion wagon over to France having never toured before on the continent.
Sadly we have noticed the sites in France seem to only cater for families and huge in size, does anyone of you experienced French tourers know of any smaller, intimate sites, mainly for adults, in the U.K. We prefer CL's and would like to seek the same on the west coast of France.
Can anyone of you kind folk point us in the right direction for a couple with a French bulldog in tow?
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Not actually true that all sites in France are huge. There are sites of all shapes and sizes from a few pitches in an orchard upwards. I suggest you buy a copy of the Club's Touring France site guide which lists a selection of small as well as large sites, and scour the small ads in the monthly Club magazine where British expats living over there often advertise. None are exact copies of CLs as French law requires even small sites to have high standards, and Adult Only is a concept that hasn't caught on over there - so just go in term time when children will be at school if you want to avoid younger people.
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In addition to Eurotraveller's advice, above, I'd suggest you have a look at the Bienvenue a la Ferme website (click for link). You can search by region, and select those things which are essential for you - bearing in mind that to be a registered campsite in France you have to have a toilet block, showers, abd waste disposal for WC.
Even some of the small farm sites might have a 'restaurant' where you can eat with the owners, or a bar which serves their own wine or cider, and even a pool, sometimes exclusively for campers, sometimes shared with the owners.
You will perhaps need to understand some French to get the best from the website - or use Google to translate the page for you.
Many of the sites will then have their own website, so you can look up further details and see if it interests you.
I have to say that though we stay on what you might term 'large family sites' (we like a pool, bar and restaurant) in low season they can be peaceful havens, not at all like a British site of the same size. We have been on a site, at the end of May, which had 250 pitches. Ten of them were occupied, and for the whole week we were there we had the pool to ourselves!
Travel outside the school holidays and you will find mostly child-free sites.
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I can't agree more with Valda. We've been on a glorious site in the middle of August with swimming pool And bar and only 8 units on site. French sites , even by the sea only tend to be packed from the second week in July until late August. Starting to empty from the 15th August.
Sites inland, except for the large expensive chain ones are rarely full.
Commercial sites I. France have an entirely different clientele and atmosphere to those in the UK.
When we toured regularly we deliberately chose a variety of sites, very occasionally a big one belonging to a chain where Brits congregate, wherever possible a municipal one near to a town or village. Each was a different experience.
Our usual criteria were on-site fishing for my OH ,a swimming pool for me, a village with bakery within walking distance. All or most achieved most of the time!
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I can't agree more with Valda. We've been on a glorious site in the middle of August with swimming pool And bar and only 8 units on site. French sites , even by the sea only tend to be packed from the second week in July until late August. Starting to empty from the 15th August.
Sites inland, except for the large expensive chain ones are rarely full.
Commercial sites I. France have an entirely different clientele and atmosphere to those in the UK.
When we toured regularly we deliberately chose a variety of sites, very occasionally a big one belonging to a chain where Brits congregate, wherever possible a municipal one near to a town or village. Each was a different experience.
Our usual criteria were on-site fishing for my OH ,a swimming pool for me, a village with bakery within walking distance. All or most achieved most of the time!
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Good morning Towic, Here's just one example for you of how you might do it.
Cross the channel from Newhaven to Dieppe - you get 20% discount if you are over 60 and it shortens the driving to the west coast. Drive 190 miles and pause in the Loire valley near Blois at Camping Rural de Chatillon. Google will find it for you. It's a big CL - a mixture of garden and orchard across the lane from Madame Delaboissiere's cottage. All immaculate. She speaks good French.
When you are ready push on to the west coast and you can find the sort of big site with no people which Val describes. This photo was at La Palombiere at Les Mathes where we were in June and September. Sites there at that time of year are just like Crissy describes.
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We too mainly use CLs in this country but as others have said it is different over there. In May this year we stayed on a 49 pitch site in the Lot and the most on site was a couple of nights when there were four of us. In September we stayed on a slightly bigger site in the Jura and at worst again there were four of us.
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I think Jenny makes a good point about how sites are totally different out of season. I am always a bit uncertain when posters ask about CL style sites in Europe, do they want tiny sites or do they want quiet sites. The latter is easy to find. It will also depend where you want to go. If you want to be at or near a popular resort that generally is where you will find the largest sites will all the facilities. There are still lots of Municipal Campsites in France and they vary in size a lot and if you use the ones away from the main touring routes they can be very peaceful. French sites tend to be busier in May and June (quiet compared to July/August) but still far from full. In September far less busy and you can often find only a handful of units on site.
David
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We too have travelled France fairly comprehensively and never found them too overcrowded even though we are almost exclusively CL lovers. Have you seen the Clubs 'Travelling France' directory - reviews of over 3500 sites. Also perhaps have a look at ukcampsite.co.uk and change the destination country to France - lots in there to investigate.
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There are also many very good municipal sites in France, their website is www.camping-municipal.org.We have used many of them over the years and the standard nowadays is very high.
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The problem if you only use UK Club sites is that it is difficult to imagine anything in between a full site and a CL. As has been mentioned above, most continental sites sit somewhere between the two. If I was starting from scratch I think that I would try the municipal sites in France. Many are now franchised but still retain the same style of simplicity and functionality and are usually in good locations close to town or village centres.
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As other posters have said out of season sites are not full & are quiet even though they may be large sites. Bear in mind many sites in France start closing mid/late Sept. Ile de Re sites on the west coast I would say are probably best booked in advance even out of season if towing as they can be busy.
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Like many of the responders we have been touring in France for many years and lived there for 6 years. Agree many of the sites in the popular holiday areas can be large and busy in the peak season. However, you seem to be a couple (well three if you count the dog!) and can probably go out of season. This I would strongly recommend. If you get the CC book for France and join ACSI you should be able to find numerous sites that will meet your needs. If you could let us know the areas which appeal to you (beach, mountains, vineyards etc) and/or how far you want to travel you will receive detailed advice from the contributors to this forum. Planning is all part of the fun but of season there is no need to book sites in advance.
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