# France in Winter?



## 108125 (Nov 6, 2007)

Hello Everyone,
After several weeks of lurking I have finally managed to summon the courage to make my first post - please go easy on me! The thing is, I have (perhaps foolishly) decided to make a trip to northern France before Christmas but have never been to France in winter before and don't know what to espect. Is everywhere going to be deserted? Does anyone have any favourite camping spots in say Picardie or Normandie where we can pass a peaceful night? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated


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## carol (May 9, 2005)

Welcome Norfolk Cowboy

We are a friendly bunch on here, so hope this is only the first of many posts for you...

Northern France will I expect have the same sort of weather as we have around the Kent and Southern England.... in other words, probably cold and wet, unless you get over to Britanny where it will no doubt be a little milder.

I know one guy who loves Bologne around Christmas, thinks the decorations etc., are wonderful, so perhaps a place you could look out for.

Sites will probably be closed, except a few, but the aires, do tend to remain open - although if really cold, the water may be turned off.

When do you go and how long for?

Make sure your vehicle is winterised...

Carol


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## autostratus (May 9, 2005)

Howdy Norfolk Cowboy

A warm welcome to MotorhomeFacts. I hope you enjoy our company.
You haven't said how long you will be staying in France but if it's a short trip and you want to be near a shopping centre try here:

Manoir de Senlecques

Directions from autoroute A16. Calais/Abbeville
It's about 3 miles from J31 of the A16. Take the N42 St Omer road and leave at the second slip for la Capelle les Boulogne. After about half a mile, in the middle of la Capelle, turn left to Pernes les Boulogne. Bear right at the junction in Pernes and travel about a mile to Le Manoir which is on your left.

This small site is open all year and the amount of hard standing makes it particularly useful in the winter months.
Gaby the owner is extremely helpful, speaks good English and will book a local vet for visitors with dogs if required.

The commercial centre with the Auchan hypermarket which you will have passed as you left the N42 is very handy for your shopping needs at the start or end of trips.

Wish I was going with you.
By the way. Don't forget that there is a 10% discount for subscribers if you travel with SeaFrance. For details see Subs Discounts under Subscriptions on the LH side of the Front Page.


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

Welcome, Norfolk Cowboy. Glad you've joined us  

As Carol has said, many campsites are shut over winter, and many of our winter travellers are heading further south, for the sun in Spain or the skiing in the Alps.

Let us know how long you're going for, and how many there are of you (i.e. do you have any children travelling), and whether you want scenery or things happening :wink: 

Gerald


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## 108125 (Nov 6, 2007)

Hi there, it's Norfolkcowboy again. Thank you for the warm welcome. We are going to France a week on Monday for 10 days. Partly to do some shopping but mainly for the experience. We have camped in Britain in winter before, in our motorhome and also in caravans (arrgh!) before we saw the light and bought a motorhome. We hope to use aires mainly. There seems to be quite a few posted in the Database but we have not used any of them. Any favourites?
However, we only have a small motorhome so expect to use a couple of campsites for showering before we get too smelly


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## autostratus (May 9, 2005)

Howdy again

After you cross the channel there is a large expance of France you can reach and return from in 10 days.

Give us some indication of the direction and extent of your proposed trip in order to bring in the information you seek.


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## 94639 (May 1, 2005)

Hi NorfolkCowboy

I can recommend the aires at Le Touquet and further south at Honfleur.
We have stayed on both during the out of season months without any problems. There is a choice of three aires at Le Touquet, Honfleur is a very large site capable of holding 100+ vehicles, more importantly we have found them to be very safe with regular patrols by the local police. I believe that the Le Touquet Equestrian Centre aire now supplies electric hook ups which will be useful in colder weather. Both places will have bars and restaurants open and there will be plenty to see and do during the day. Have a great trip wherever you decide to go and let us know how you got on.


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## 108125 (Nov 6, 2007)

Hi again. Many thanks to you all for the fantastic amount of information. I am grateful for the link to the Manoir de Sanleques website but sorry to read there that it will close at the end of the year. There are just the two of us travelling, the kids are grown up and (almost) left home and we retired just last week - whoopeee! Hence the quick trip to France - to prove to ourselves that we are free at last! We have been to France before in the summer but have been tied to the school holidays. We enjoy walking and peaceful areas. Not much for the bright lights I'm afraid. We have not done the French coastal areas before because we were put off by the crowds in summer. We thought we could perhaps travel down the coast from Calais into Picardie and Normandie, don't think we have time to get to Brittany. I am very open to suggestions about walking opportunities around the coast and even inland if anybody has any favourites


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## autostratus (May 9, 2005)

NorfolkCowboy said:


> ...I am grateful for the link to the Manoir de Sanleques website but sorry to read there that it will close at the end of the year.


Yes it closes at the end of 2008. Very sad.
We've been staying there for many years and Gaby now seems an old friend.


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## jarcadia (May 1, 2005)

Hi NorfolkCowboy / Brisey

With regards to Le Touquet and Honfleur we totally agree with your recommendations but would mention:--

Le Touquet we were there 24th Oct and the electric was off and also water was only on on one tap on the main building (where we noticed another MH (not a Brit for once) rinsing out their cassette!!!). Water and electric were available on the borne.

Honfleur 
We think that the water and electric are turned off on the pitches from 1st Nov (but available at the borne)


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## Jean-Luc (Jul 21, 2005)

Hi Norfolk Cowboy and welcome, We spent 10 days last February touring Normandy between Cherboug and Le Havre. We mostly used the Aires along the coast and had company every night ranging from two or three other motorhomers to over fifty at Deauville on the quay side overlooking the yacht marina. One of the benefits of off season is the while all the WW II museums are open you do not have to contend with high season crowds. Some of the aires are very convenient, for example, in Bayeux the Air is in the town centre and only a short walk to visit the famous tapestry. Again, in Arromanches the aire is only a short walk to the D-Day memorials and museum. For showers and battery charging there is a nice site just a few hundred metres from Peagsus Bridge outside Caen. 

Regards
Colin


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## carol (May 9, 2005)

NorfolkCowboy said:


> Hi again. Many thanks to you all for the fantastic amount of information. I am grateful for the link to the Manoir de Sanleques website but sorry to read there that it will close at the end of the year. There are just the two of us travelling, the kids are grown up and (almost) left home and we retired just last week - whoopeee! Hence the quick trip to France - to prove to ourselves that we are free at last! We have been to France before in the summer but have been tied to the school holidays. We enjoy walking and peaceful areas. Not much for the bright lights I'm afraid. We have not done the French coastal areas before because we were put off by the crowds in summer. We thought we could perhaps travel down the coast from Calais into Picardie and Normandie, don't think we have time to get to Brittany. I am very open to suggestions about walking opportunities around the coast and even inland if anybody has any favourites


Hi yet again!

If you want to see some pics of this area, go to the link below, and if you look in the folders from Sept - October 2006 in France, you will see where we went, (with aires pics as well) after turning right out of Calais.... We went down as far as Nantes, and then up into the Loire Valley, I haven't quite finished adding those pictures yet, but we normally go Sept - Nov but as we have sold our motorhome, we are and have been stuck at home.... ;-(

Carol


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## teensvan (May 9, 2005)

Hi.

We stayed on the aires at Honfleur two weeks ago for four nights taking in a weekend. It was busy with 102 vans on it on the saturday. The aires can take 120 vans. The cost is €7 per night with 6 amp electric. Very nice town to look around. We used 14 aires on our trip thriugh France and everyone of them was very safe. You do find the odd english van on them but not many.

Happy traveling.

We have now moved on into Spain where it is a bit warmer. 

Steve & Ann ------- teensvan.


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## SidT (May 9, 2005)

Carol said.....

_Make sure your vehicle is winterised... _

Maybe you should explain, he may think you mean you should only go with a fully winterised van. mine isn't but I am planning a trip to the German Xmas markets, taking the usual precautions.
Cheers Sid


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## Briarose (Oct 9, 2007)

SidT said:


> Carol said.....
> 
> _Make sure your vehicle is winterised... _
> 
> ...


Hi Sid how long do you think it will take approx to drive down to the Xmas markets ?


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## SidT (May 9, 2005)

Hi Briarose. Haven't planned anything yet  But plan to go to Aachen which is reckoned to be one of the best. there is an aire there... see this link which Maddie (1946) sent me.

http://www.aachen-camping.de/gb/02_infos_tarife.html

Will keep in touch when I have made up our mind.
Cheers Sid


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## seaviews2 (May 1, 2005)

Carol said "Make sure your van is winterised"

Not sure what you mean Carol. My understanding is this is what you do if you are closing the van down for an extended period during the winter and not using it. If you are using it during the winter,you'd ned to keep warm and have plenty of water for use wouldn't you?

Please clarify for us thickies.


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## Briarose (Oct 9, 2007)

SidT said:


> Hi Briarose. Haven't planned anything yet  But plan to go to Aachen which is reckoned to be one of the best. there is an aire there... see this link which Maddie (1946) sent me.
> 
> http://www.aachen-camping.de/gb/02_infos_tarife.html
> 
> ...


Hi I will keep an eye out we plan to head off more or less around Xmas time for a trip to sunnier climes for approx 6 weeks but I am itching to go away before then too, our first Grandchild is due this week so we are a bit tied right now until maybe early Dec I am just wondering if there is somewhere we could go then for approx two weeks.


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