An adventure holiday not too far away

Warren Christmas takes a theme park driving tour to Charente-Maritime

It’s early on a summer’s morning and I’m in bedwear and flip-flops, making a short walk back to our mobile home from the campsite convenience store. We - my wife and three excitable boys - are on day five of a stay at a Siblu holiday village at Bonne Anse Plage, a small resort just north of Royan in Charente-Maritime. The boys have clocked hours and hours swimming and whizzing down water slides in the sun. And, given the choice, I suspect they’d happily do it all day, every day. But we decide to head out for some activities, including a trip to the excellent La Palmyre Zoo, just down the road, and Ile d’Oleron, France’s second largest island (after Corsica). Here we discover Plage de Gatseau, a beautiful stretch of beach with shallow water, which is almost deserted. It’s perfect. Glorious weather is helping. We’ve based ourselves half-way down France’s west coast to increase our chances of sunshine. Whenever we’ve driven down France, clouds seem to instantly disperse south of the Loire Valley. Of course, it’s a long way to travel with a car full of kids for a bit of sun - at least five hours direct from the Caen/Ouistreham ferry port, in fact. So we’d arranged a couple of detours to break-up the journeys - and hopefully create some unforgettable memories for the kids.

FUTURISTIC FUN FOR ALL THE FAMILY

On the way out, our chosen stop-off is Futuroscope. Set in glorious parkland and featuring some quirky architecture, it’s a relatively uncommercial theme park with an emphasis on 3D and 4D immersive attractions rather than rollercoasters or traditional rides. Arthur, The 4D Adventure, based on the Luc Besson movies, sees us tearing through a fairy-tale world on the back of a ladybird. The piece de resistance here, though, is Dances With Robots, a full-on ride in which you’re strapped into the palm of a giant robot hand, and then violently spun around and upside down in every direction, to a banging techno soundtrack. Rides aside, the parklands and playgrounds of Futuroscope are a great place for our young kids to hang out and play. But historical theme park Puy du Fou (pronounced ‘pwee dew foo’) - our chosen stop-off on the way home - would prove to be even better.

PROOF HISTORY CAN ALSO BE FUN

Arriving late afternoon, we check into La Citadelle, a hotel from the Middle Ages which actually dates all the way back to, er, May 2017. “Wow, they’ve made it look really old,” remarks Oscar, astutely. It’s all very serious and grown up - a long, long way from a Legoland Hotel. Entering the Grand Parc is a bit like setting foot on a giant movie set, with a cast of hundreds acting out set pieces from throughout the ages - in French, of course. Headsets are required for English commentary. We arrive just in time to catch the best attraction of the lot - Les Vikings. Set in a lakeside village, the 26-minute show begins with a sedate wedding but the scene erupts into chaos following a huge Viking raid. With fires, explosions and, well, plenty of surprises, it’s all very exciting. After seven nights away, 1,000 miles of driving and two overnight ferries, we arrive back in England on a Monday morning, happy but exhausted.