The French love their camping breaks and holidays - ever wondered why? 

Art, our editor, makes his personal views on the subject known in a light hearted way.

Before we go into this any further we should again make clear as has been done on other pages, that camping per se does not just mean tent camping - it can be in a tent, yurt, tipi, caravan, static caravan or most usually these days, a mobile home.

Even though we Brits love to go camping we don't do it on the same scale as do the French. That may be something to do with the climate, or it may have something to do with the general camping facilities on offer in both countries, and by that I mean that the French are much more demanding in terms of requiring pristine clean camping sites than we are, and indeed, for once the French seem to adhere to their law on this more than we do in the UK.

However, before we are deluged by irate site owners on the subject may I say that I know and you know that there are some exceptionally disgraceful camping sites in the UK, and some of them are barely more than a field which has been recently vacated by animals, as my daughter and friends can testify to when they all contracted scabies from tics left in the grass by recently vacated sheep. Yuk!

The above was just to make a point but this page should be about fun and the differences between the French style of camping and our own.

For a start, the French have a generally better climate for camping breaks either planned or on the spur of the moment, and they are more willing than we are to travel 150 miles or so for a weekend of camping, either in a tent or a mobile. I have witnessed this several times in a little place in the Vendee called Les Conches, near to Longeville, which in turn is roughly 6 clicks north of la Tranche. On these occasions they had travelled so far for the surfing as the beach at les Conches is regarded as one of the best for that sport north of the south west coast.

If you have ever had a camping holiday in a French owned mobile home you may well have noticed a few differences between that and a holiday booked in a near idential mobile but owned by a Brit company.

Brit owned companies will "give you" a short channel crossing in with the booking but the French companies do not, so booking your camping hols with a French based company could initially work out cheaper until you tot up the ferry crossing costs.

For starters then you will have noticed that the French company expects you to clean out your mobile home at the end of your holiday and leave it as you found it - clean. The rep will inspect your home at an agreed time on your day of departure and if it is satisfactory, ie, clean and no breakages then you will have your (usually hefty, around 150 Euros) deposit returned.

Brit companies do things differently in that they do not expect you to clean your mobile after living in it for a week or two - their rep does that - but they will have given you the option of paying a non refundable charge (around £10) against breakages. Personally I believe that the French way is the better because even though most of us are decent and clean human beings I have witness many occasions where Brits have just upped and left on departure date leaving their mobile unfit for an animal to live in, the floor and work tops covered in waste, broken glass etc, which begs the question: do they live like that at home or have they made a special effort to be disgusting just because some other poor sod is paid a pittance to clean up after them?

Other more quirky differences are common, and one shining example is the dreaded French tin opener, which is virtually a spike with a handle attached, and which has caused more Brits on holiday to visit A&E than you could poke a stick at. You can guarantee that if someone says they are going to open a tin and you hear a scream that you will find the tin opener embedded in their other hand/wrist/whatever. Tip: take your own tin opener when you go camping in France.

I think what bugs most people is the difference in the electrical voltage - 110v against our utensils working on 220/240 volts. Oh yes, you can take an adaptor for their two pin plugs but how long or how well will your hairdrier or kettle work on 110 volts?

Which brings me neatly to the subject of kettles as most French tour operators do not provide them because their own countryfolk prefer to boil water in a pan - strange but true. Tip: take your own kettle to use on the gas ring, not electric! To contra the loss of a kettle you will have the benefit of a coffee maker provided with the French owned mobile.

Lastly, the cups or mugs. Brits love their tea, especially in the morning before and after brekky, so you need a decent sized cup or mug rather than a demi-tasse (a tiny little cup) which you will find in the French owner's inventory. Tip: take your own cups/mugs.

If language is a problem for you then let me say that the French reps usually have a very, very basic grasp of English, if at all, whilst the reps your Brit tour operators arrange are normally Brits recruited for the job because they have a working knowledge of French.