Camping Benodet

By Author: Art Johnstone
Total Articles: 1
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Brittany probably attracts more Brits for camping and mobile home holidays than any other department of France. Probably this has something to do with it being virtually on the doorstep from several of the northern French ports, so visitors taking self-drive holidays there don't have too far to go, and maybe it has something to do with the climate in Brittany which is akin to our own county of Cornwall, to which it was physically joined until about 10,000 years ago.
But more than likely it also has something to do with the food here, the gentle pace of life which the Bretons enjoy, and the whole concept of the lifestyle in Brittany, as after all, this is where most of our country folk who have emigrated there have their own French properties.
Most holidays here are spent camping though we use the word "camping" loosely as the bulk of us take to holidays in mobile homes, those wonderful static caravans which have all the creature comforts of home but which still allow us the believe that we are somehow "roughing it" a little, even though in fact, we are having a couple of weeks in relative luxury because these mobiles ...
... are so well equipped these days that you could live in them all year round without much trouble.
As you may be well aware, France is quite a large country, or at least it is to us in the UK who have 60 million people crammed into one small island, whereas the French have a similar population but in an area roughly three times the size, so that means the roads in France are an absolute delight for we drivers; superbly metalled and totally uncluttered at most times of the day.
We have often taken self-drive camping holidays in Brittany and have used a variety of northern French ports to get there, Roscoff which is actually in the north west of Brittany being one of them, though more often than not we have used Caen and St Malo, both of which can take you to near enough any Breton resort on the fast dual carriageways or autoroutes in a matter of 3 hours.
There are so very many resorts in Brittany which cater for camping and mobile homes holidays that making a decision as to where to go is quite an event involving the whole family or party.
Do we go north and explore the Pink Granite coast and the smaller resorts along that rugged coastline, or do we go to the extreme west of Finnistere which is nice in summer but has bitterly cold winds in the winter months, or do we settle for the relatively warmer southern coast where along which lie Benodet, Concarneau, Carnac and a mass of other tourist towns and villages?
Luckily, though Brittany is quite large, it is still small enough to make it viable to journey from one place to another in order to enjoy the benefits of each town or region. Carnac in the south draws a great many visitors because of the history associated with it. The Megaliths or Alignments as they are called are around 3,000 world famous prehistoric standing stones which form the most extraordinary group of Menhirs in the world, and date from between the Neolithic period with the most recent being from the Bronze Age.
Just over 100 miles north of there is the lovely old medieval town of Dinan with buildings which actually look as if they are from that period. The old town of Dinan is crammed with many small shops and half-timbered houses with their overhanging upper storey's, with 13thcentury ramparts. Probably the best view of the town as a whole is to be seen from the River Rance where the formidable old castle and fortifications can be fully appreciated.
Well probably that is quite enough touring for one day, and now we can return tired but happy to the campsite from where the luxury of our hired mobile home beckons. A shower first perhaps and then we can get the Barbie going with some nice, fat Brittany sausages!

Art Johnstone is now well into his second career - writing articles and pages for a variety of different websites relating to France. He would be grateful if you could spare the

time to check out a page on one of his own sites for camping in Brittany in general, and camping in Benodet in particular. Visit:

http://www.justcampingfrance.co.uk/brittany_camping.html .