# France Passion



## 95481 (Jun 19, 2005)

Am about to sign up to this service - www.france-passion.com. Anybody has info to share? Would love to hear =D>


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## an99uk (May 12, 2005)

Tried it last year for the first time and have signed up for this year.
Once you become familiar with the layout of the book its quite easy to find places. :roll: 
Look out for the logo of a sunburst with an arrow pointing the way on walls, lampposts etc
We only stayed on four sites, all quite different, just testing the water really. the first site we stayed on we couldn't believe the standard, page 258 in the book. The four ways boulevard referred to means, dual carriageway, it confused us somewhat. but we found it eventually. a small six van size, fenced area away from the road, it looked like part of the carpark had been turned over to motorhomers.tall hedges and manicured lawned edges, it was in the grounds of a hotel/restaurant, we didn't use the restaurant and felt quite guilty in not doing so, after all that is what the scheme is all about, but nobody minded, had fresh water and rubbish disposal. Would recommend.
The 2nd site was a vineyard site, nobody around when we arrived and not sure which house it belonged to so sited ourselves, kept looking out for someone to greet us, but no one showed up, very noisy frogs all night but otherwise very secluded and safe. The following morning as we were leaving madame appeared, we thanked her and left, again feeling very guilty we hadn't bought anything. Page 296 says parking for 2 but you would have to have a small van to get 2 in.
The 3rd site was a champagne producer, Page 79 Arrived quite late, 6.30 ish having not eaten very much all day, too hot to eat, was greeted by Monsieur Leval. who proceeded to invite us into the "winery" we watched a video very good and informative, had a tour of the plant, he explained all the processes the grapes went through and then we were encouraged to try some champers, now remember we hadn't eaten much, you can imagine the rest, champers! empty stomachs! hic!!! we staggered to the van and slept soundly. Quite early the next morning Monsieur arrived with his old battered van and insisted on showing us his grape vines about 4 mile away, fascinating and boy was he proud of them, back at the farm we DID buy some champagne, very reasonable price and he gave us the glasses we had drunk out of the night before.
The overnight stay,the tour, tasting and visit would have cost far more if we had arranged it through a company or tour operator than the £13 we paid for the champers.
The last site we stayed on was quite different, it was in the carpark of a gift/local produce only open 4 days per week shop. Nice level site the only problem was as the shop wasn't open the next day the owners locked us in, which we didn't mind at the time but they didn't arrive until after 11am the next day to let us out. We did do the souvenir shopping for home though, nice local honey and lavender soaps. page 76
As you can see we had a very interesting time but because we didn't buy every time we really felt guilty and dare not go back again to those sites.
Never mind there are lots more to chose from. 
Enjoy the freedom this scheme brings and If possible I would encourage you to get into the spirit of France, meet the locals, even if you dont' speak the lingo, we dont, you can have an amazing and funny time with sign language and hand gestures.


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## nukeadmin (Oct 10, 2003)

and if all goes well a British Equivalent of the scheme will be established in the near future see http://www.britishpassion.com


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## 95481 (Jun 19, 2005)

Dear an99uk, thanks for the great account!  

And you've made my day... cause I just closed my eyes and already saw myself in one of those vineyards, away from work in this mad mad heat...
Also good to be aware of the associated commercial aspects. All in all - great help! 

For those interested in France Passion: signing up is a breeze and the operators of the service have so far been exceptionally helpful.

Re the budding British equivalent: whoever's behind it - good luck guys! =D>


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## johnsandywhite (May 9, 2005)

nukeadmin said:


> and if all goes well a British Equivalent of the scheme will be established in the near future see http://www.britishpassion.com


There's a problem with the link *nukeadmin*. Here is the result:-

There seems to be a problem with the MySQL server, sorry for the inconvenience.

We should be back shortly.


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## an99uk (May 12, 2005)

Dear Affligem
Happy to oblige, enjoy yourselves, let us know how you get on. We will be there 13th July for 2 weeks


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## crissy (May 15, 2005)

Hi afligem,
We've enjoyed staying on various France Passion sites. This is our 2nd year. 
One lovely farm where we could choose between the farm yard or an apple orchard with sheep - latter was idyllic. Nothing to buy. 
Another place was a couple's private house - I think the only reason they did it was because they enjoyed the company and also owned a motorhome. They spoke no English and we spoke little French but they invited us to sit in the garden with them and got out a bottle of home-made cider, and armed with dictionairies and phrase books we had an excellent evening - the cider no doubt helped  They went strawberry picking the morning we were there and brought us back a punnet. 
Others have been the usual vineyards and we have bought some excellent wines. Athough have never felt obliged, there's usually something we like.
So they're quite varied.
One vineyard we left - the area itself was very pleasant but it was in a bit of a dip in a village and there seemed to be a couple of dogs that barked incessantly and it echoed all around + the church clock was next door and chimed extremely loudly every 1/4 hour. Decided we probably wouldn't get a lot of sleep there so left pronto. We hadn't seen anyone so it didn't really matter.
We always leave a thank you note whether we buy or not.
Give it a whirl, it's good fun and good value.
Chris


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## MOTORHOMER (May 9, 2005)

affligem said:


> Am about to sign up to this service - www.france-passion.com. Anybody has info to share? Would love to hear =D>


How long did you have to wait for your France pssion invite packge to arrive from ordering it please. And how did you apply? Email, post etc.

Thanks

Motorhomer


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## 95792 (Jul 20, 2005)

Hi 
Great scheme and intend to use it for three weeks this summer. 
Book arrived after about one week. 
Have recommended this to many friends. 
I have attatched a pic of a lovely stop at a small trout farm. 
James


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## MOTORHOMER (May 9, 2005)

HymerJim said:


> Hi
> Great scheme and intend to use it for three weeks this summer.
> Book arrived after about one week.
> Have recommended this to many friends.
> ...


That looks a nice place to stop. Which area is it in please. I posted our application seems ages ago that is why I posted. We decided to join as we had to alter our plans because of illness and have to go in August now. We are very flexible though on where we will go.

Hope you have a great time.

Motorhomer


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## Don_Madge (May 1, 2005)

Hymer Jim wrote,

Hi 
Great scheme and intend to use it for three weeks this summer. 
Book arrived after about one week. 
Have recommended this to many friends. 
I have attatched a pic of a lovely stop at a small trout farm. 
James

Jim,

Can you tell me if France Passion is it a summer/seasonal thing. 

We are thinking of spending some time in france mid Oct - Mid Nov.

Regards

Don


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## 89564 (May 28, 2005)

Most sites are open through out the year.

You might encounter some problems in October during the wine grower's
harvest.Invitation outlines closed periods for each property.

Have used scheme for several years and out of season have only ever encountered one other Motorhome.

Nick


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## Don_Madge (May 1, 2005)

Thanks Nick,

We'll give it a try I think.

Don


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## SidT (May 9, 2005)

Hi folks. We joined France Passion last year but havn't renewed. One note of caution, feeling a bit guilty like an99uk we accepted the offer of an evening meal at a farm to taste the local fare, we did , it cost us £30 each which was a big slice out of our budget. it was enjoyable but the portions would have made a London restaurant proud. This was probably a one off but we decided to use aires this year on our 6 week trip which worked out very well.
Enjoy your trips. Sid


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## 89564 (May 28, 2005)

Well Sid T they gotcha there.

You have to be quite careful how you use the invitation and not go anywhere near restaurant parking or those properties specialising in local cuisine unless of course you wish to dine and many French/German Camping Carists do.

I never go to many properties in Perigord that do things with ducks and geese because i would never eat what they produce.Stuffed goose neck is not for me or the dog for that matter.

You always have to bear in mind that the farmers etc joined the scheme to sell you something not because they like you.

It might be easier for me because my French language skills are quite good.(Should be the amount of time i have spent in France.Work & Pleasure).So i can find the proprieter chat about the vines,politics,Stupid English/Dutch pricing his workers out of the housing market etc etc.

I always buy three / fourbottles from each farm but the pleasure i get each Winter from tasting the wine,looking at the photos of the vinyards,remembering the visits and conversations are to an old man priceless.

So please if you use FP buy two or three bottles.You can only maintain the France you love by supporting its Artisans.........and allowing France to grab most of the CAP payments.

See you there in September.

Nick


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