Family Holiday in the Dordogne

On Friday we returned from a week’s camping in the Dordogne area of France. It was a ‘Canvas’ holiday where you rent the tent already erected and drive yourself there. We booked it only a couple of weeks ago and we were slightly fearful that the driving and the camping would be too much for the wee-ones. It turned out to be one of the best holidays we have had and especially ideal for the families. After an early morning drive to Dover on 25th August we had time for a play on the sea-front in the sunshine. The boys were thrilled to go on the ferry and latterly we drove onwards to a campsite ca. 50 miles NE of Paris at Touquin. On this stop over (same as the return) we had a luxury caravan and were thrilled on the first night to find ourselves with a complimentary bottle of wine (Mum and Dad) and the play area (the 3 smaller ones) next to the abode. Next day was a long day in the car broken with a lunch stop in Orleans. The children were fantastic at travelling, Matthew absorbed himself in my ipod watching movies (mostly repetitions of ‘The Incredibles’), Angus listened to music (notably AC/DC's ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’, primarily because of the chanting of his name at the introduction) and looked out of the window for tractors and Helen looked at the boys and thought ‘well if they aren’t complaining why should I’ – and clapped her hands to the music. We eventually arrived in Camping Les Hauts de Ratebout, a few km from Belves – a wonderful hill top quality site amongst trees and grassland (http://www.hauts-ratebout.fr/uk/frame.htm) in the heart of Perigord Noir. The tent was even better than the caravan as it gave us more space. Most of the week was centred around the swimming pool and both the boys lifted their swimming considerably – Matthew can now dive into deep water and Angus can ‘swim’ confidently with armbands in deep water too. He has a cute style of swimming in which his body and legs remain vertical in the water, yet make lateral progress! We enjoyed the company of another family whilst Angus and Matt made friend with another Matthew and his younger sister Samantha Paine from Guernsey. The weather was mostly good but for 2 days it was overcast so we went out viewing castles and caves – the boys seem fascinated especially by the knight’s armour and the dungeons! I enjoyed myself taking pictures with my new camera see http://www.flickr.com/photos/philhaygarth/sets/72157594268183824/ for the full set from the holiday. The only downer of the week was that Helen got a bug towards the end of the holiday so the journey home was not as peaceful as the outward one, but we still all agreed a great holiday, lovely part of the world and something we would do again. Here’s to next year! Dad