The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
French connection
Robin ventures to Brittany and Paris with his family and finds they never disappoint
Why you can never grow tired of visiting Paris and Brittany.
There are myriad reasons that France has remained the world’s favourite holiday spot for as long as I can remember. I discovered a sweep of them when I returned this summer to its wild Atlantic coast and then headed for Paris with my young family for their first French adventure.
Over the years I’ve stayed at a number of holiday camps dotted around the Med and have often been disappointed. Our base near the Atlantic in Brittany, La Grande Metairie, though, is a holiday camp for people who don’t normally like holiday camps. It’s spacious, beautifully set amid thick forests, had a restaurant worthy of France and a trio of swimming pools that ensured there was always plenty of space for everyone.
We booked through Scottish company Canvas Holidays (www.canvasholidays. co.uk). This year they added 29 more upmarket mobile homes to their stock at La Grande Metairie. Ours came with a terrace that included a large hot tub. It made for a lovely end to the evening when the children were safely in bed after another day bashing around the kids’ club, high wires course and sports complex.
As this was the first year you can book these new non-Canvas AMAC mobile homes, it was a bit of hassle getting access to the kids’ club at first and we didn’t get the services of the Canvas on-site rep. I’ve spoken to Canvas since the trip and they’ve assured me these are just teething problems that will be sorted out in time for this great park re-opening next April.
You could have spent the whole week on site and we met perfectly content people who did. I wanted to explore southern Brittany more and was instantly impressed.
Right outside the site are the worldfamous Carnac Stones. The standing stones (or menhirs here) stretch out
as far as the eye can see. Normally you cannot get beyond the protective fences, but we booked a tour through the La Maison des Megalithes (menhirscarnac.fr), which let us walk among the stones.
Carnac is a popular resort in its own right. Its wide beach fronts shallow waters, ideal for families when the surf is not up and there are lifeguards too in a section. On one calm day we also rented out kayaks from the Yacht Club Carnac, which was a great way to explore the coastline. They can book English-speaking guides too.
Pushing beyond Carnac we discovered another gem in Saint-Goustan.
This is chocolate box Brittany, the quintessential cute village lined with pretty houses and a boat-bobbled harbour, where you can enjoy fresh seafood at a waterfront restaurant. We tucked in at newcomer Billig. It was great value with a traditional Breton galette followed by a crepe and a glass of cider for only €12. Note that in Brittany galettes are the savoury ones made with buckwheat flour and crepes are the sweet variety.
Breton seafood alone is worth coming to France for. I’m reluctant to admit it as a Scotsman, but it really is up there with anything from Scotland’s west coast. My highlight on this trip was Maison Quintin. Here we met the lovely family behind the business who are now in their third generation. They farm the oysters right in the waters outside the restaurant terrace and filter it in the tanks you can buy shellfish to take away from. We tucked into a heaving platter of shellfish laden with langoustines, crevettes, sea snails and oysters.
Continuing south we enjoyed a mini city break with a night in Nantes. The old capital of Brittany has teasing historical legacies, most strikingly in the form of the Chateau des Ducs de Bretagne. We also explored the old medieval quarter’s maze of streets before seeking out the famous elephant of Nantes.
I’ve never seen anything quite like this 12m high mechanical elephant. It is the star attraction at the Les Machines de l’île. Don’t miss the chance to go for an amble around in it. You can also take a ride on a 42m high carousel and check out the workshops where these weird and wonderful machines are forged.
Pushing on, we vaulted north-east to Paris. It was easy in a country with Europe’s best railway network. Our TGV shot us there in just over two hours at speeds of over 300km/ph. A first-class ticket for a family of four came in under £100 too, which gave us a bit of privacy and spared the rest of the passengers my over-excited girls.
Daddy was excited too as this was the first time I had taken them to Paris. Like London, it is a city you just cannot get bored with. A good base is essential in this sprawling city and we had that at the Millennium Hotel Paris Opera (www. millenniumhotels.com), a great value four-star at the heart of Haussmann’s grand boulevards, which is currently being revamped. You could get a double room for just over £100 a night when we stayed. Its Haussmann Brasserie covered all the classics like French onion soup, steak frites and crème brulee, which was handy staying in one night after a long day sightseeing.
The best way for me to see Paris is on foot. I suggest starting your explorations where it all began on the Ile de la Cite, where Roman Paris first took shape. Here we admired the grand façade of Notre Dame Cathedral, which stands proud despite the serious fire it suffered earlier this year. It is closed for the foreseeable future. Locally, we found numerous designs for its reconstruction, including a plan for an outdoor rooftop swimming pool.
On the western tip of the Ile de la Cite lies “McKelvie Point”. It’s a great wee spot I have visited in the 20-plus trips I’ve made to Paris. You can sit here dangling your feet by the river enjoying the millionaire views for free. The tour boat passengers will gaze back at you wondering how you got here. Look out for the steps just near the Pont Neuf.
My girls were not about to leave Paris without us visiting Disneyland. I have to admit my expectations were low, but we all loved it. It is hard not to get caught up in that famous Disney magic with all the smiling and helpful staff throughout both parks ensuring you have a great time. Also helpful were our FASTPASS tickets, which really cut queuing times, and the fact we spent a night at the Disneyland Hotel right at the heart of the park.
You can just visit either Disneyland Park or Walt Disney Studios Park, but I recommend covering both.
The former is more centred around all the characters kids love and the latter is more about the rich legacy of Disney films. Both are peppered with attractions and rides. The variety is impressive, everything from toddlerfriendly storybook affairs, through to thrilling white knuckle rides like Hyperspace Mountain and the frankly terrifying Tower of Terror, where you plummet 13 floors in a lift in the dark.
We also tried staying off site, enjoying a quieter space to relax in and less busy restaurants. Our base was Les Villages Nature (www.lesvillagesnature. com/gb-en), a Center Parcs experience within easy reach of Disney. Here thrill rides are replaced by shady trees, duck dotted lakes and waterfront restaurants serving healthy fare.
Staying off site also allowed us to try out extra activities. There was a huge waterpark and a shady forest adventure park, which were both included and proved handy in the melting heat. There were myriad paid activities too, from an indoor climbing adventure through to canoeing and beekeeping.
You could rent bikes at Les Villages Nature to explore the tentacles of this green oasis. Cycling around the lake with the myriad attractions of Disney and Paris on our doorstep it was easy to see why France remains the world’s number one tourist destination. Ryanair fly into Nantes from Edinburgh (www.ryanair.com), while easyJet (www.easyjet.com) service Paris from Edinburgh.