A half-term family holiday in France is closer than you think

It’s snowing. Again. I’m bored now, and instead of the excitement of a glittering white blanket of silence outside, all I see out of my bedroom window is another long day indoors. I might momentarily relish the slothful prospect of staying in pj’s, but such thrill soon dissolves, to be replaced by sibling quarrels as dirty as the grey slush which lines the gutters.

What I need now is a holiday, or at least the delicious anticipation of spending my half-term break somewhere warm, with a great pool, lots to do, and close to a fabulous beach. The May half-term break is not far away, and luckily, neither are the Siblu holiday parks of northern France. From Portsmouth you can drive your own car onto a ferry at lunch-time and be in your holiday destination in Normandy in time for a pre-dinner Kir Royale (or a quick dip in the pool, if that’s your preference).

Easy to get to: Siblu have holiday parks all over France, so if you want to guarantee good weather you can fly or drive down to the Mediterranean or Atlantic coasts. Our first Siblu holiday was spent at La Pignade in Charente Maritime, and we found the drive down completely doable in a day, with perfect temperatures.

Last year we stayed at Siblu’s Domaine de Kerlann You can read our review by clicking on the link to see why we had such a brilliant family holiday, but here are the salient points:

• Luxury mobile homes: we have stayed with Eurocamp and Canvas, but Siblu’s mobile homes have always been the most impressive. Larger than average, with better finishes, and more comfortable beds. They also have good-sized decks or patios, and a reasonable amount of privacy in terms of distance from your neighbours.
• Safe, clean pools: the swimming pool facilities are the cleanest we’ve found, and the lifeguards are excellent. You will find Trip Adviser reviews which complain about the zealousness of the lifeguards, but for families, one of the things that made for a relaxing holiday was knowing the children were safe in the water.
• Excellent entertainment: we’ve experienced several animation teams, and Siblu has always outranked the others in terms of quality. Of course, these are amateur performers, but they put a huge amount of effort and energy into performing for both children and adults, and provided you don’t mind a bit of cheese with your frites, adults will enjoy it as much as the children.
• Good kids clubs: Siblu won’t take children under the age of 5 without an adult, but above 5 it’s great fun, feels safe, and everything is repeated in both French and English.
• Quality people: a bit contentious this one, but we have friends who bought a timeshare after they had kids, because they couldn’t stand the thought of sipping wine alongside a 20/20-drinking, egg-and-chip-loving family of 16. The reason the Siblu animation team have to repeat everything in English is because they mostly speak French. Because French people holiday there. It’s a bit like choosing a Chinese restaurant  because it’s full of Chinese people – that’s the one with the quality food...

This year there are some great holiday offers at Siblu. You can snag May half term from £50 per night and July/August holidays from £70 per night – plus free bike hire and free linen at Domaine de Litteau and Domaine de Kerlann before 31 March.

We can totally recommend Domaine de Kerlann in Brittany, with its indoor heated swimming pool, and superb splash park, but this year we are fancying Domaine de Litteau in Normandy, where a brilliant outdoor playzone is being built. Featuring a BMX track, climbing ropes, zip wire, giant swing, 4-lane archery range, bouncy castle and a mini-farm with sheep and pigs, the weather is going to be the last thing on our mind!

See you there…

We were not compensated for this post, but we did do a review trip last summer which was complimentary.