Great Brittany

The fun on our holiday to France from our Sussex home started straight away.

Within 15 minutes of leaving we were driving on to the Seven Sisters ferry at Newhaven and then basking in the sun on the top deck as we cruised out to sea.

We were already enjoying ourselves and relaxing and we had only just left.

Holidays like this one give the chance to have a bit of a road trip and we stopped to camp for a night on the way to Brittany as we had time to enjoy the French countryside and there was no need to rush.

This meant we arrived at our mobile home with plenty of time to explore the Les Castels site on our first day.

Le Manoir de Ker An Poul is near a small town called Sarzeau, a short trip north from the city Nantes.

The holiday village is on the site of an old 15th century manor with plenty of trees all around the site and you could smell the fresh sea air.

The staff welcomed us with great Gallic charm and a Joie De Vivre that infected our stay.

Our mobile home felt brand new with a lovely kitchen and dining area and had a covered outside area which meant we enjoyed plenty of meals outside during our stay.

The bedrooms were nice and spacious too with great blinds to block out the early morning sun. This kept the children asleep later than their normal 6am wake up so we could enjoy some valued sleeps until at least 7am.

This is classed as a lie in when you have two and six year-olds.

When we arrived we were straight off to check out the swimming pools and water slides that we would enjoy each day for our stay.

The pools were both heated, meaning for nice long swims. And both the indoor and outdoor pools had nice shallow corner areas for non swimmers to play in safely.

The site had children's clubs, aqua gym groups and entertainment each night.

For the first night we decided to try out the on-site restaurant.

We've been to holiday camps in England but we do not quite do it like the French.

We were treated to regional specialities that were mouth watering. The tartines did not immediately capture the imagination from reading the description on the menu - describing the toasted bread with a choice of toppings from regional cheeses, salmon, bacon and andouilles.

But when you tried them they were all a great combination of flavours.

It was the same with their burgers - there were chicken burgers marinated in lemon and honey and topped with mozzarella with aubergine caviar (roasted and mashed or pureed auberine).

Crepes are a speciality in Brittany, providing a treat for me as there an amazing Creperie on the way to the beach. I was in heaven.

And on our trips out it was easy to see why the impressionist Paul Gauguin was so inspired here.

The sea and the sky, the countryside seemed so striking on our bike rides, looking out at the Atlantic.

The most fun we had on our trips out was to the Chateau Suscinio. It dates back to the 13th century but has been restored so that you can walk around as if you are one of the Dukes of Brittany that lived there.

The huge chateau is surrounded by an impressive moat. The grand, huge rooms have quite an impact and we had a great time in the ladies' wardrobe room trying on all the medieval outfits.

Our two year old was distraught when we left but crepes by the pretty harbourside at Arzon were calling.

We spent many a relaxing day lounging around the caravan and at the pool, the children playing on the on site parks and riding around on our hired out bicycles.

The on site shop had great fresh baguettes, pain au chocolate and croissants.

And the corner shop around the corner sold amazing rotisserie chicken with a lovely ratatouille.

It was a five to six-hour trip back from our holiday village and we easily did it in a day on our way home before another relaxing crossing from Dieppe to Newhaven.