Holiday review: France with Pierre & Vacances

We've not been back long from our holiday in France. We went courtesy of Pierre & Vacances Holidays to test the childfriendliness of a couple of their resorts. Their holiday villages are designed for families and allow you to self-cater while also enjoying the facilities on site. Pierre & Vacances manage a range of resorts and properties across France and a few other European countries too. They also run ski holidays.

I wrote two blog posts while we were there with a very dodgy internet connection, so this post summarises the whole experience.

For our first stop we stayed at Belle Dune in Normandy. This is less than an hour's drive from Calais so it keeps the journey quite short if you're sailing from Dover. The only problem with being so near to Britain is that you usually experience the British weather too. The sun didn't shine very much for us but that wasn't a problem because there was lots to do in the village.

View from our house at Belle Dune

Belle Dune is a car-free resort which means you can get around everywhere easily on a bike. The slight downside is that you have to park the car a fair walk from where you're staying so it can take a while to load and unload. You also have to watch out for exuberant children on bikes who might expect you to leap out of their way. But we loved getting about on bikes and it felt like a really safe environment to do it in.

Our house at Belle Dune

There's a great swimming pool at Belle Dune, Aquaclub, and there's also a children's farm and children's playground. There are lots of other activities which you can book both on and off site, including water sports, riding and walking. The nearest beach is at Quend which is beautifully wide and sandy. You can cycle there in about twenty minutes on cycle paths or it's a short drive.

Reception building and Belle Dune village centre

Quend has touristy shops and places to eat, it felt a little bit down at heel even though it was lively. The best place we managed to find some lunch to takeaway was a kebab van, the nice patisseries and boulangeries seemed to be missing. It wasn't something I expected in the country of haute cuisine, but there was a nice restaurant in the holiday village which we ate at a few times and was very childfriendly.

We weren't short of things to do at Belle Dune and overall it felt very peaceful. Most of the people staying had children with them but it was still nice and quiet.

Houses at Belle Dune

After five days at Belle Dune we drove nearly 400 miles to Port Bourgenay in Southern Brittany. The drive was worth it for some sunshine. Port Bourgenay is much larger than Belle Dune but the resort is very spread out. It's easiest to get about on bike, and you can park a bit nearer to your accommodation than at Belle Dune.

Houses (and sunshine!) at Port Bourgenay

Port Bourgenay is centred around an attractive village square which has a shop, a few places to eat and drink and a boulangerie. The square hosts events such as markets and exercise classes. Personally I wouldn't be brave enough to do a workout in front of everyone else but lot of people did! There are two outdoor pool areas which the children loved. The water was unheated so it wasn't worth trying to swim much before 2pm. However we did it every afternoon. There's also a children's playground and mini farm and lots of other activities. The resort is built around a golf course.

Village centre, Port Bourgenay

The marina at Port Bourgenay is quite pretty and beautiful Veillon beach is a short drive or cycle away. We didn't make it there as the children were happy in the resort.

Pierre & Vacances Holiday villages have a very French feel to them. Lots of French people holiday with them so you really feel you're in France even though you're staying in a resort. Because the resorts are very French you don't get a kettle in the accommodation (boiling water for the baby's bottles took a while on the electric hob) and the showers are handheld. I missed having a washing machine, without young children you can manage to get by. But we had to make several visits to the launderette and there were a few issues with dryers being out of order and used by housekeeping staff and nowhere to get notes changed into coins.

The lake at Port Bourgenay

We stayed in two bedroomed houses and there are apartments available too. Each house has a semi-private patio with outdoor seating and a larger shared garden area. This worked well as many of the children played together. The houses were a reasonable size but we found the kitchenette area very small for preparing meals. When we arrived the accommodation was clean and towels and bed sheets are provided. You can also request a baby kit which consists of a cot, highchair, pushchair, changing mat and baby bath.

One of the pool areas at Port Bourgenay

There were a few safety issues: the house in Belle Dune backed onto a lake which wasn't fenced so we had to keep rushing out to grab our daredevil children when they tried to climb in. The window in the boys' bedroom in Port Bourgenay was able to be fully opened by them and low enough for them to climb on the windowsill. We had a nasty moment discovering one of them on the windowsill of the open window at 7am on the first day. There's a lot of attention paid to child safety in this country and there's a slightly different attitude in France. It's something you might have to be prepared for. We didn't find the staff overly helpful and that's a cultural issue too, French customer service doesn't have the best reputation!

But these are niggles and overall we had a great time with Pierre & Vacances, their resorts are a brilliant place to take the children and ours will get even more from holidays with them when they're a bit older too. All the resorts run children's clubs which we didn't use but many other people did and they have a wide range of activities to keep children entertained. And that's the thing when holidaying with children: if they're entertained and happy then usually you are too!