Eimear Hutchinson: I travelled to France with my family, via ferry this summer... here's what I learned

WE spent a week in France recently at a campsite, and for us it is the perfect family holiday. The girls are a great age for it now, their ages ranging from four (almost five) to 11, so they have the energy to keep going all day long and the weariness to sleep all night long.

We sailed with Brittany Ferries on the Amorique out of Cork on a Wednesday - a smaller boat than the one that sails on Saturdays. It has taken us a few years to realise the food on board is very expensive so in future we plan on having a big lunch/dinner before we board and bringing some nice picnic food to have for the evening. I saw numerous families the next morning that (very cleverly!) brought a big box of cereal with them and then bought milk on board for the cereal – quite literally a fraction of the price of the tiny packets of individual cereals on board, so I would strongly suggest doing this.

We have yet to venture outside Brittany because the weather there suits us best – none of us like the heat so that region, with a climate fairly similar to Ireland’s, is perfect for us.

Last year we were blessed with fantastic weather, this year it was overcast and wet, but we had a few days of blue skies and in general it was warm enough that you could still be outside and be active.

We have booked with Yelloh Village the last couple of years and I couldn’t fault them in terms of service. The mobile homes on the campsites we have stayed in have all been recently refurbished so they were modern, clean, spacious, comfortable, and the proximity to the main area of the campsite was perfect.

I’m sure you will find lots of tips online for what to bring, but the few things I would suggest to pack are your own sharp knife for food preparation, some tea towels, and a bag of your favourite ground coffee.

Last year, we stay in L’Atlantique, just outside Beneodet, and it was a stunning campsite in a beautiful part of Brittany. This year we moved a little further east (chasing a sunshine that didn’t materialise!) and stayed in Mané Guernehué in the Gulf of Moribhan.

While we couldn’t technically fault the campsite, it was just not quite as nice as last year’s so we were probably biased from the start. That said, the on-site facilities were fantastic and suited our family perfectly. There were several pools, lots of water slides, a playground, a small all-weather basketball and soccer court, pingpong and beach volley ball courts, and a covered play area that had trampolines, a soft play area and three bouncy castles. There was nightly entertainment that included karaoke, a soccer tournament, a music show and a magic show. Also on-site was a highwire and zip-it course and a decent equestrian centre, although both of those cost extra.

The Gulf of Morbihan is quite a nice area of Brittany, though it felt like a place that was undergoing a regeneration of sorts as there were a lot of roadworks ongoing and houses under construction. There weren’t a lot of nice beaches nearby, the coastline is dominated by small rocky inlets and bays so it lends itself to a strong sailing community.

Carnac is quite close and plays host to some beautiful, long sandy beaches, and the centre of Carnac had a great buzz with lots of choices for food.

Further on past Carnac, Quiberon is a small town at the tip of the peninsula which also had some nice beaches and cliffs.

Everyone loves a French market and while there is probably one on every day of the week within a short distance of wherever you are, the best one in that area we found was on Monday in Auray. The market takes over the whole town and had a nice range of everything from food to clothing, local art, and jewellery.

We also visited Vannes – a historic port town with some fabulous old buildings and ramparts. I would say that our view of it was limited as we hit on it on one of the wettest days I have ever seen, so we spent a lot of time running from awning to awning!

We hate to see our children rest on holidays so we visited the Île-aux-Moines where we rented bikes for the day and cycled about 16km around the island (the four-year-old was in a bike trailer!). The island is accessible by foot ferry and it was very busy with people walking and cycling, however there are very few cars on the island so it was very safe.

The island, much like the whole region, had several standing stones and dolmens to add a little culture and history to our day.

The only other comment I would have on France is that it certainly felt more expensive this year – eating out, buying wine in local wine shops (caves) and even food in the supermarket felt much closer to prices you would expect to see in Ireland than it has in previous years. C’est la vie, I suppose.