When we first arrived in France some 21 years ago, 100% of our guests drove their car - there wasn't really a choice. Our family holiday cottages are located in a peaceful, rural environment and a car is essential, not only to get to the shops but to make the most of your holiday it would be a shame not to discover all this beautiful region of the Charente Maritime has to offer. You could take the train but with young children in tow and a suitcase of swimwear and t-shirts it really wasn't and still isn't practical.
In the early 90's this all changed with the European Unions deregulation of the air industry giving carriers the right to operate services between other European states. This gave the likes of Ryan air and Easyjet a huge opportunity to expand their markets and the cheap airline to France was born. Since this time the percentage of our families who choose to take to the air rather than to the road has increased dramatically - I'd take a guess that it's now about 50:50 It seems that smaller families with perhaps one child or a young baby tend to fly rather than risk a long car journey with toddlers in tow; families with slightly more children or older children are more willing to drive, especially in this day of seat back dvd players, tablets and electronic games to keep them happy (no more eye spy or spotting the registration year on cars) These families also often choose to take the longest route possible from Calais and take advantage of the tunnel.
The tunnel was another reason for the boom roughly ten years ago in travel and holidays to the continent of families. Opening in 1994 it provides a quicker route to France even than the airlines making you feel like you are already on holiday even with an 8 hr drive south to go ! Together the cheap flights and tunnel route lead to a increase in overseas property ownership as well as holidays to France in general.
So which, with all this choice we have now, is the best way to travel to our own family holiday cottages here in the Charente Maritime. This is the most commonly asked question after 'can I babysit ?' (yes I can by the way !) For our family the best way to travel in our opinion is using our own car and driving. When we return to the UK it is our holiday so we make the travel part of the holiday plus I'm not brilliant on a plane and we need a car when in the UK . We also love to stock up on a few things
1, wine (yes wine !! You should realise how lucky you are living in the UK - the choice is amazing; no New Zealand Cloudy Bay here !)
2, foods (cheddar cheese and sausages) and
3, clothes for the kids (cheap kids jeans in Asda £3, cheap jeans here €35 !!)
Obviously these are not the same reasons you would choose to bring the car here - or not quite...
1, wine - you can't take much back on Ryan air, but you can fill your boot of the car with French wines and the prices are fantastic, just don't expect Cloudy Bay !
2, food - again, difficult on the plane, but guests of ours stock up on confit de canard and other such delicacies
3, convenience - having your own car means you can bring as many suitcases as you need. There is something very appealing to me about being able to load everything into the car next to my front door and not touch it again until I arrive at our destination, no loading in and out of a taxi, checking in, waiting at the carousel, loading into the hire car, then unloading all again an hour later !
As you may of guessed, I enjoy taking the car !
To be balanced though, if you get a good deal on the flight and the car hire, flying can be a much cheaper option and if you live further north than Oxford, may well be much quicker.
Things to remember if you are driving to our family holiday cottages are
1, what ferry port to choose - If you are close to Dover then the obvious choice is P&O ferries or the tunnel, but if you are closer to Portsmouth, Poole or Plymouth then there are good ferry routes with Brittany ferries to northern France. P&O also do Portsmouth to Dieppe. We can offer a 20% discount off Brittany ferry crossings when booking with us or liking our facebook, google+ or pinterest pages and can also give you a link to get 5% off P&O ferries too . Being on a decent ferry can be like a mini cruise - the Portsmouth to St Malo route on the Bretagne ship (Brittany ferries) is our favourite and has a superb restaurant and the lovely Commodore cabins - it costs more but gets us 4 hrs drive closer to home than the Dover Calais route and the 60€ + of tolls and a potential stopover.
2, Whichever route you take to our family holiday cottages you'll end up on a toll road. Many of the motorways are free - around large cities usually, but you have to be pretty determined to avoid the ones that arn't free. A good web site to use to give you an idea of current charges along your route is just enter your route and it will give you an estimate of petrol costs and toll charges. They do take uk credit/debit cards, but have some euros handy just in case.
3, Another consideration would be the time of year you are travelling. In peak season (July and August) there are several weekends that are terrible for traffic. To avoid spending hours sitting in a traffic jam visitwhich will tell you what the traffic is likely to be like on your date of travel. They have black days (standing traffic) red days (bad) and orange days (heavy) - avoid the black and red days on certain routes if possible.
4, Fuel is still cheaper in France than the UK but the difference these days is not as much as it used to be. As with the UK avoid filling up on the motorways if possible as fuel will be a lot more expensive there than in the supermarkets.
5, There is no excuse to have a regular break on French motorways, there are rest stops pretty much every 20km or so; they may not be full services, just parking, a loo and a picnic area usually, but a definite plus when you have an active toddler who needs to stretch their legs.
and then things to remember when flying...
1, shop around and keep an eye out for the deals. Most airlines (and ferry companies for that matter) use twitter, facebook and google+ to let everyone know about the deals they are offering, yet its surprising how few people follow them to be first in the queue, by the time you hear about the deals they've gone - so start following your favourite airline to get the deals.
2, baggage charges are the biggest bug bear of cheap airline clients, so check the small print, how much can you carry, check the bag sizes and hand luggage allowances and remember to check in and print off your boarding card before you get to the airport.
3, car hire is very competitive and all the big companies offer deals just like the airlines, at different times during the year (usually early on before Christmas to get early bookers and then later in the season to rid themselves of empty seats/cars) Its probably wisest to check for the best deal through a price comparison site. Make sure you check the small print too - things like having to return the car full (or empty ) of fuel, cleaning it thoroughly (we've had guests think they've cleaned it yet still been charged) and charges for car seats (and whether there is anyone qualified to fit it for you)
4, time of year - some of the cheap airlines only operate a service to certain smaller airports in peak season, so check first .
Whichever way you decide to travel, make it part of the holiday.
As always if you have any questions about any of our family friendly gites, travel, the Charente Maritime or anything else, do not hesitate to contact us.
By Wendy Blakeman
