Camping near Blue Flag Beaches in France

Our favourite beach near Nevez which has won again !

The blue flag eco-labelled beach awards have been announced for 2012.

The awards are voluntary but winning beaches are found to have :

• quality bathing waters,
• good waste management, and have,
• made efforts with environmental protection as well as environmental education. 

 Winning Beaches can fly the recognisable blue pendant flag during the summer. 

In France, 377 beaches and 87 marinas have gained an award this year, with 15 new winning beaches this year. New awards have gone to 8 beaches on the Atlantic Coast and one on the English Channel.

Languedoc-Roussillon is still at the top of the labeled regions with 28 communities winning awards, followed by Cote d'Azur with 19, Pays de Loire with 15 and Basse-Normandie  with 15.

Some beaches which were commended for gaining awards for a continuous 25 years are : "Le Grand-Village-Plage" (Charente-Maritime), "Villeneuve-les-Maguelone" (Hérault), "Argelès" (Eastern Pyrenees) and "La Londe-les-Maures" (Var). We have campsites near Argelès on the Mediterranean listed at http://www.bestfrenchcampsites.com

To gain a blue flag award, bathing waters should be found to be classified as "Excellent" when tested at least five times over the season. The results should be displayed on the beaches.

You can check the beaches in France that have won awards at :
http://www.blueflag.org/Menu/Awarded+sites/2011/Northern+Hemisphere/France

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Travelling with Preschool Children and Under 5s

If you would like to try camping abroad for the first time with young children of pre-school age then you will be lucky to be able to take advantage of quieter campsites as well as "more competitive" (ie cheaper !) prices in the May and June period. Eurocamp offers lots to appeal to the Under 5s.

Different campsites offer slightly different facilities but you can check it all out on the Eurocamp website.

There are a variety of different Kids Clubs available at the different campsites and these clubs are tailored to your children's age range and run by Children's Club Couriers.

If you have an active toddler then they will enjoy Tumble Tots for under 5's which is available at the following parcs from late May until early July :

In Brittany

Benodet - Pointe St Gilles  (Eurocamp link for this campsite)  (Keycamp link)
Beg-Meil - L'Atlantique  (Eurocamp link)  (Keycamp link)
Nevez - Les Deux Fontaines  (Eurocamp link)  (Keycamp link)
Carnac - La Grande Metairie  (Eurocamp link)  (Keycamp link)

In the Vendee

St Jean-de-Monts - Le Clarys-Plage  (Eurocamp link)  (Keycamp link)
St Julien-des-Landes - La Garangeoire  (Eurocamp link)  (Keycamp link)
St Jean-de-Monts - La Yole  (Eurocamp link)  (Keycamp link)

Keycamp and Eurocamp offer kids clubs at most sites. The particular clubs which are offered differ at each site so please check the Eurocamp and Keycamp websites for details. Under 5s will enjoy either the Mini Fun Station for under 5's or a Leo's Fun Station for 4-6 years.  (Some of these Kids Club sessions for Under 5s may be free during the Low Season - check when booking !)

At the Mini Fun Station the children will be offered a variety of sports, games and craft activities as well as themed sessions, for example a Pirate party ! There will also be things such as sand and water play and activity mats to keep toddlers busy !

Keycamp have also now teamed up with the STA (Swimming Teachers' Association) providing toddler swimming lessons on selected parcs so a great opportunity for youngsters to learn to swim !

Keycamp have also identified 21 Mini World parcs and Eurocamp have identified over 55 sites which are "Toddler Friendly Parcs" which are particularly suited to young families with toddlers, with lots of free activities, safe play areas and useful features such as

• Toddler safe pitches - on quieter roads and with flatter ground and far away from lakes and rivers (although these can still be present).
• All-terrain buggies and toddler trucks hire
• Children's pools for toddlers only
• Decking gates which can be fitted onto all decked accommodation on Mini World parcs.
• Bed rails - available on all parcs to ensure no bumps in the night !

You may also be able to hire the following items onsite :

• a Travel cot, which doubles as a play pen
• High chair
• Baby bath
• Potty

All these facilities can be checked on the Eurocamp website which has details of each of the parcs. We have put links to some of our favourite Eurocamp and Keycamp sites, many of which are Mini World Parcs, by clicking on the links "Our Favourite Eurocamp Sites" and "Our Favourite Keycamp Sites" to the right of this blog.

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