[lagerstarfish]

Looking to have a family holiday at the end of August

either one or two weeks

me, wife, one year old, three year old and 12 year old

budget of £1.5K for travel and accommodation - self catering food costs on top

wife not keen on camping - especially with a one year old - static caravans and chalets are acceptable

since I am out of action climbing wise, this is a good opportunity to have a non-climbing holidy

we like easy cycling - flatish trails suitable for a man recovering from a broken ankle with a child on the back

we like the beach

we like swimming

we like fishing (not essential)

we like food/cooking/barbecues, especially seafood

would rather not travel/drive for more than one long day - willing to reconsider if people know better or have ace ideas of where to stop off

Ideas so far have been - gite in Northern France for two weeks (plenty in the sub £500/week range) - chalet camping on sites with pools/activities in Northern France for two weeks - one week on a Haven site in Cornwall/Devon (shit idea) - I go on a sofa surfing drink and drugs bender and give the rest of the family a couple of weeks of peace (not acceptable, apparently)

Thinking of places like this http://www.camping-levaldetrie.fr/homegb/page_homegb.htm
reasonable distance from good beaches and enough stuff to keep kids happy on site - also looking at Eurocamp...

Good gites are all well and good, but there's less chance of the kids making friends

Any of you lot got some better ideas?

Cheers

[andy popp]

Brittany surely? Ticks all the boxes. I went to a Eurocamp at Carnac with mine a couple of years ago and it was very good, great site, fabulous beaches - some of the best sea swimming I've ever had and a massive nostalgia kick for me from childhood holidays. But I'm struck this year just how fucking expensive Eurocamp is. This year I have a gite on outskirsts of Fontainbleau itself from late July, a grand for two weeks and easy striking distance of Paris (critical for 14 year old daughter).

[Oldmanmatt]

http://www.ile-noirmoutier.com/

This was the place we spent the first two weeks of our summer Euro tour, when I was a kid (70's and early 80's).
My sister visited around 5 years back and says it hasn't changed very much.

It's a little paradise.

Lots of cycling, very flat.

Used to spend hours, with the Breton nets, fishing for Flatties and scallops.

We used to stay in the Municipal campsite and it was still there when my sis went.

The island is ringed by miles of golden beaches and dunes, the Chateaux is a real medieval castle and the campsite is under those spreading pines.

Tide goes out for miles and we spent hours hunting shells and octopus in the tide pools.

Famous for it's oysters.

Short trip across the bridge (or causeway at low tide) and Brittany is there for the taking.

[tomtom]

Brittany surely? Ticks all the boxes. I went to a Eurocamp at Carnac with mine a couple of years ago and it was very good, great site, fabulous beaches - some of the best sea swimming I've ever had and a massive nostalgia kick for me from childhood holidays. But I'm struck this year just how fucking expensive Eurocamp is. This year I have a gite on outskirsts of Fontainbleau itself from late July, a grand for two weeks and easy striking distance of Paris (critical for 14 year old daughter).

Brittany 2 summers ago was ace. Well reccomended. If you go the week after French hols finish prices drop by 30-50%.. Could get 2 gites in diff parts? Ferry can be a bit pricey £250-400 depending on what route/times.. Happy to give more info.. We found some top places in n and e Brittany..

[fatdoc]

Brittany, google pont de la torche campsite. Book direct, I prefer the night ferry to st Malo. Every year for years... Get a bodyboard, eat well and love life. You will not be disappointed, total recommendation.

[Jim]

I think this place ticks all the boxes:
http://www.yellohvillage.co.uk/camping/le_ranolien
was quite a while ago when I went (before I had kids) plus there is some climbing there if you fancy it

[slackline]

Sixth ( ) vote for Brittany, had a lovely week camping there last year.

The peninsula of Queberon is very nice & we spent a couple of nights there as its close to Carnac which has some of the larger collections of menhirs.  We then went further up the west coast and stayed near Telgruc-sur-mer.

Highly recommend , langoustine starter, yellow pollack w/mustard main and cheese board for desert, at about €20, bargain!  That said food was good pretty much everywhere we ate, crepes in particular were delicious.


Kids would no doubt love the Oceanopolis aquarium in Brest which is one of the better aquariums I've been round in my time.

Don't miss the lovely fortified town of Dinan either, beautiful.

We went early in June as it tied in with wifes half-term break, most places were pretty empty and as with fatdoc took the ferry overnight to St Malo (highly recommend booking early to get cabins, we didn't and had a shitty nights sleep).

Some snaps

[Oldmanmatt]

Uh, Slackers?
That would be six votes for Brittany, as all the locations recommended so far are Breton.
Having traveled a fair bit of the planet, it is (if you catch the weather right) superb and if you like sea food? Well, probably nowhere better.

Oh, yeah.
The Plymouth - Roscoff (and it's a beautiful town) crossing is almost a mini cruise if you do the overnighter with a cabin and puts you right into the heart of Brittany.
Might be a bit of a ball ache on this side if coming down from the north. Though a straight run down the M5 must be better than trying to get to P'smth or S'mpton or Dover.

[tomtom]

Weymouth/Poole. Condor were the cheapest last year.. C.50% cheaper than Brittany ferries..

[lagerstarfish]

cheers

it's taken me a while to research all that

comparing £numbers now

[SA Chris]

Has anyone mentioned Brittany?

[Jim]

It's supposed to be good

[lagerstarfish]

fuck me that ferry is expensive on the weeks that we're limited to

Calais ferry and Picardie/Pas de  Calais coast might win with Mrs St. Arfish due to cost and time spent travelling

I've heard that Brittany is nice as well

[SamT]

Northumberland???

Beaches - tick
Castles - tick
soft play - tick
fish and chips - tick
(sea) fishing - tick
sneaky bouldering/soloing - tick
generally loads of holiday cottages for not much money - tick.
flat ish for cycling- tick

weather.....hmmm .

[SA Chris]

It's a good option.

However if you want to go to another country, Dumfries and / or Galloway is nice too, and ticks all the appropriate boxes. Pembrokeshire is also a good option.

[fatkid2000]

We're having this debate at home currently.

We only have a 2 year old to take - who hates being in the car for more than about an hour - despite food and DVD bribes.

My wife was recommended North Norfolk by some friends she worked with. ?Wells on the Water?

We'd prefer Brittany but with a 2 year who screams all the way there and a wife who gets sea-sick just at the thought of going on a long ferry crossing, I'm more inclined to stay in the UK. Cornwall / Devon seems stupidily expensive!

[SA Chris]

Remind me where you are based? Liverpool? Not sure you will get to Norfolk in an hour? You could get to Northumberland in the same time. A bit more to it than Norfolk, but depends what you want to do.

[Duma]

Pembroke is a less ruined cornwall. Cardigan is a nice little town, mwnt beach is lovely: , this caravan site is just a few hundred yards away, dunno what it's like though. The other side of fishguard, this pub is nice. The coastal quarries at Abereiddi are worth a look too. dunno prices compared to cornwall tho. FK2K, have you tried leaving about the childs bedtime? mine sleeps pretty well in the car.

[Duma]

Oh, and there's some good looking easy bouldering in the preseli hills mentioned in grimers book...

[T_B]

I stayed in Wells-next-to-the-sea a couple of years ago on a family get-together. Also, my wife's from Norfolk, so I've been to quite a few spots on the N Norfolk coastline. Personally, I find it very dull. If you do go though, I recommend The Lifeboat Inn in Thornham, which is a great food pub (massive roaring fire in winter).

What about Northern Spain? A week on the beach and a week in the Picos. I had an amazing holiday there as a kid (going back later this summer, tho sans famille  )

[rich d]

We went to Norfolk last "summer" and the place is shit. Wells on the sea is pretty, but there really wasn't much to do at all. The pubs when the grandparents baby sat were rubbish, overpriced and full of twats, the best thing we did was go crabbing off cromer pier (and that was fairly shit).

[fatkid2000]

I'll inform the wife that Norfolk is off.

The problem with my boy is that he's rather rubbish at sleeping. We've tried travelling at night / bedtime etc & almost to the second after an hour of travel he's wide awake. To enable us to get some sleep at home - we resorted to but an enormous bed.

I wouldn't mind Spain - but my Dad has a place there near Valencia and the wife will refuse to go, as our holiday will get gatecrashed and my wife doesn't get on with my Dad.

Brittany may be just get booked and the wife told where she's going.

[SA Chris]

We get an hour of travel time too, any time after mid morning and he's asleep within ten minutes, but that's it for the journey. After that it's frequent stops and Peppa Pig on repeat on DVD.

[slackline]

Genuine question not having any screaming devils bundle(s) of joy myself....

Do you stick them in the back on their own whilst you both ride up front, or does one of you sit in the back to keep them entertained/quiet?

[fatkid2000]

Genuine question not having any screaming devils bundle(s) of joy myself....

Do you stick them in the back on their own whilst you both ride up front, or does one of you sit in the back to keep them entertained/quiet?

Tried it - both the wife and me have sat with him. Makes zero difference.

Went to London at the weekend and it was horrendous on the way home. Maybe I'll buy some of those noise cancelling head-phones. The weird thing is my boy is obsessed by cars - except when confined to his car seat.