PALIN MITENK BLOG

By Simon Heptinstall

Living the high life: You can go up in the world at Key Camp


Traditional good-value camping and cottage holidays in France may be the best bet for many money-savvy travellers this summer.

Last year's credit crunch prompted many British families to take their holidays at home but this year we are prepared to travel a little further --although not too far.

The good news is that we don't have to go beyond France. Tour operators have plenty of special offers to lure us across the Channel.

A campsite or gite in rural France is still a great bargain, whatever the pound does against the euro.

The French Government Tourist Office in London is a sensible starting point for research. It has a special 'Affordable France' section on the website (www.uk.franceguide.com) to make it easier to find cut-price offers this year.

Bargain holidays are also advertised on the site of the Association of British Travel Organisers to France (www.holidayfrance.org.uk).

Camping Sleeping under canvas is the easiest way to reduce holiday costs. But in France camping isn't just for those who cannot afford anything else. Many wealthy French families go camping-crazy each summer - which is why the country has more than 10,000 campsites.

What is more, many of them are among the best located and equipped to be found anywhere in the world.

Eurocamp Eurocamp is one of the biggest camping tour operators in Europe and offers a huge range of reasonably priced holidays. You can choose between tents, mobile homes, chalets and holiday villages at sites from Picardy to Provence.

Good news for young families is that this year Eurocamp has introduced a collection of toddler-friendly campsites in Brittany, Vendée, Loire, Dordogne and Languedoc.

These 'Petit Paradis' parcs have pitches that are safe for babies and toddlers, with free baby equipment, plus essential extras such as bedrails and decking gates.

These sites also have a toddler pool, on-site laundry and all-terrain buggies for hire. Supervised play sessions are provided for those between six months and four years old. Free swimming lessons are available at some sites.

• Seven nights from June 4 at L'Atlantique Parc in Brittany, in a three-bedroom Superior tent sleeping up to eight, costs £396. Ferry crossings, fly-drive packages, rail travel and overnight stops cost extra (0844 406 0402, www.eurocamp.co.uk).
Keycamp Keycamp is one of Europe's biggest providers of mobile home holidays but it also has well-priced campsites and holiday parks.

Most intriguing of all, Keycamp operates tree houses in selected French sites. They have been so popular with British families that many more are being made available this year. It is an easy way of making your holiday feel special on a limited budget.

These unusual holiday homes perch in the tree canopy, about 15ft from the ground. At some sites, pre-bookable breakfasts at £8 a head can be delivered to the tree houses and hoisted up to the decked dining area with the aid of a pulley system.

• Seven nights in a tree house at La Forêt in St Julien-de-Landes, for a family of two adults and up to four children from 15 May, will cost £290 including return ferry crossings (0844 4060200, www.keycamp.co.uk).

Canvas Canvas was the first company to offer camping package holidays in Europe, and more than 40 years later it still has some good bargains.

New sites for 2010 include an exciting beachside park in the pine forests along France's Atlantic coast. Camping le Vieux Port, Messanges, stands between a sandy surfing beach and a huge water park.

And the new family-friendly site at Camping Parc de Fierbois in the Loire Valley will prove popular. It runs Canvas's FamilyExtra activity programme.

This involves activities such as yoga for toddlers, circus workshops, family Olympics and raft-building.

• Seven nights at Camping Parc de Fierbois costs from £537 for two adults and up to four children, arriving on May 31, staying in a two-bedroom mobile home and including return ferry crossing for a car and passengers (0870 192 1159, www.canvasholidays.co.uk).

The Caravan Club The Caravan Club was founded in 1907, 'to bring together those interested in van life as a pastime'. More than 100 years later, this British institution is Europe's premier touring organisation, representing the interests of a million caravanners and trailer tent owners.

The Club provides members with a wide choice of recommended locations, including 137 in France. Caravanning is another cost-effective way of holidaying, which is why last year's national belt-tightening saw membership rise by a quarter.

The Club has responded by overhauling its website to give a free searchable guide to hundreds of European sites including caravan-friendly routes to each one, a pitch availability search and notes of which Michelin map covers the local area (01342 326 944, www.caravanclub.co.uk).

French gites


Rural bliss: Gite d'etape accommodation can be the perfect escape for families planning a quiet break


A French gite or holiday cottage is another cost-effective way of enjoying the French lifestyle and exploring a region from your own base. They can range from self-catering studios for two people to a rambling chateau with a pool that will sleep several families.

Holiday home agencies have thousands of properties to rent this year so are offering plenty of special deals.

Brittany Ferries holidays Holidays offered include ferry travel, which makes budgeting easy. It means the breaks are extremely affordable too. For example, a week's getaway to a cottage in Brittany during Easter, including ferry crossings with a car and cabin each way, costs only £138 per person for a family of four.

Brittany Ferries also has a selection of apartments, chalets and holiday resorts in France, again including ferry travel.

• A week at the Grand Large chalet campsite near Benodet in southern Brittany during the Easter break costs £437 for a family of five travelling with their car (0871 244 1444, www.brittanyferries.com/holidays).

VFB
French specialist VFB was started in 1970 by Michael Bruce-Mitford and his French wife, Françoise Julien. The couple helped to pioneer self-catering across the Channel for many British holiday-goers.

The company may have been going for 40 years but it is still highly acclaimed --so much so that it was recently voted favourite tour operator by readers of Which? magazine.

VFB's 2010 brochure includes many cottages and villas with prices lower than last year. One week's property rental starts from just £160 for a small farmhouse in Auvergne.
It has also added a wide selection of tempting new properties, including a 13th Century manor house on a remote stretch of Brittany coast, from £490 a week, and an oak-beamed stone cottage in Dordogne, from £170 a week (01452 716 840, www.vfbholidays.co.uk).

Cottages4you This Lancashire-based holiday home agency is part of the giant American owned Holiday Cottages Group that includes brands such as Blakes.

Cottages4You alone has more than 2,400 holiday cottages, gites and villas available to rent across France this year.

• Special offers include seven nights at Easter in a property in the Vendée for four to six people, from £281 rental-only (0845 268 0760, www.cottages4 you.co.uk).


source: dailymail