h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My family came to this campsite every year for about 5 years when I was a teenager. I haven't been back there for about 12 years so I don't know how much it has changed but it was an ideal camping holiday destination then.

The site was large with grassy plots separated by hedges and connifers - the smell of fir trees will always remind me of holidays because of this. It was very popular with the french (especially in August) so did wonders for my language skills. Some distance from the beach, the site had two large pools that were watched over by lifeguards. The facilities were good and clean. You could bring your own tent, hire one through Keycamp or Eurocamp or one of those sorts of company. You could also hire large static caravans. In our final year there we went in a camper van and found that the pitches had all the hook-ups for water and electricity.

There was a little club house type thing called Doux Dingues for the teens that had arcade machines and table football. The site felt very safe and my parents were happy to let my brother and I go off and do our own thing most of the time.

The main attraction for the area were the amazing menhirs(sp?) just by the site. They are rows and rows of ancient standing stones, that stretched for what seemed like miles. Nobody knows who put them there, or why.

When we used to go you could get amoungst the stones and it was a regular meeting place at night, to get away from the adults. We even witnessed some sort of druid-type ritual there. I have heard since that tourists aren't allowed to crawl all over them nowadays, which is probably a good thing - and there is a visitor centre that possibly has a little more information about them.

There were a few decent restaurants within walking distance of the site (although as we were camping we mainly ate barbecued stuff or fresh bread and cheese from the camp shop) and there was a good restaurant and takeaway on site.

I had many very happy times there, I hope it is still as nice a place as it was then.

As a brief aside, there is a site about 2 miles outside of Honfleur in Normandy, France, that I visited last year. I can't remember the name of it sadly but it was lovely and clean with good access to beuatiful Honfleur, well worth a visit.

k