en famille: sarah and her children in france  breathless, but with an unmistakeable swagger, our three children burst through the door of our mobile home and regale us with their latest news 'we've changed our minds about croissants and have got pain au chocolat instead,' announces freddie, eight, swinging a bag full of freshly baked french pastries behind him, his twin siblings bobby and loulou, six, brandish a newspaper and my change, respectively, which they thrust onto the table like warriors returning from battle we are halfway through a week long break at les castels holiday park in domaine de la paille basse, near souillac, in the lot region, and it is the fourth time our children have completed this morning ritual it takes them approximately nine minutes to make the round trip to the campsite shop (they could do it in half the time if they weren't stopping to examine every rock and tree along the way) and the sojourn has lost none of its thrill at home in london, such independence is the stuff of their dreams les castels fits our bill completely: pool, play park, shop, takeaway, english speaking kids' club, games room, nightly entertainment domaine de la paille basse has the added aesthetic attraction of being built round an original medieval village restored by the grandparents of the current owners nearly 40 years ago accommodation is a mixture of tents, touring pitches and mobile homes we opt for a three bedroom mobile home perched on a small hill surrounded by woodland, with an unbroken view of the valley below inside, the sleek lines and cool grey colours have more in common with a boutique hotel bobby and loulou share one twin bedded room, freddie (the earliest riser) has the other one a lot of reasons to be cheerful: villeneuve sur lot is one of the many pretty towns which dot the region  my husband and i have the double room, which boasts its own en suite shower room, and we quickly settle into a routine that begins with the croissant run, breakfast on the terrace and two hours of 'mini club' for children aged four to 12 lunch is another lazy affair on the terrace with more fresh bread from the shop, cheeses, meat and fruits from the stadium sized leclerc supermarket at souillac, before an afternoon of hurtling down pool slides and playing tennis in the evenings, we light the barbecue provided before decamping en masse to the bar for the evening entertainment we do manage to drag the children off site a couple of times my favourite trip is the 40 minute drive to the christian pilgrimage site of rocamadour, which, like something from a children's fairy tale, clings to the cliffs above a gorge our children would say the eight mile journey aboard the steam train at martel, which handily includes an ice cream stop and costs a family friendly £750) for adults and £4 per child the lesson from our holiday is that keeping it simple is the best rule because, for our children, the croissant runs arguably were the highlight of the day ferries from portsmouth to caen can be booked at aferrycouk fares with brittany ferries (0871 244 07446, brittany ferriescouk) start at £79 each way for a car plus two passengers a mobile home at domaine de la paille basse (0033 2 23 16 45 02, camping castelscouk) costs from £460 per person per night
overwhelmingness domaine staphylea
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