Tent camping holidays in Brittany - the least expensive of all holidays to France

When my sister and I were little (I'm 63 now and she is a tad older) we never realised what it cost for our parents to take us on all the fabulous holidays we enjoyed in France, Germany and Italy, and we were too young to understand the importance of them for families as a whole, let alone the costs.

What we did know and understand is how much we all enjoyed being under canvas for 2 or 3 weeks in the summer down in the Black Forest, various parts of Italy, the Vendee in France, Brittany etc etc.

Our parents, we were later informed, could only take us abroad because we were camping - and I mean proper tent camping, not staying in a posh mobile home because in those days they just didn't exist.

I remember that we had a big old Rover but still needed a trailer for all the extra gear, and one year it was decided that we should go to Brittany to cut down on the driving, which it didn't really because we took the Dover > Calais crossing and our Dad drove steadily westwards to the southern Brittany coast.

It became second nature to stop off at different camping sites on the outward and return journeys, and this is how we learned from an early age how to erect the tent and stow it away again afterwards.

That particular holiday was spent near to Carnac, which proved to be an excellent choice because we could explore the town and the whole area from there quite easily. Getting to the very clean and safe beaches was a doddle, and we could walk round the Alignments without hindrance too.

One thing we children noticed then was the virtual lack or vehicular traffic. I mean, in those days road traffic was pretty thin on the ground here in England, but in France? Zilch! And of course this meant that parking was never an issue, traffic jams were unheard of, but there is a downside to everything and the downside in those days was that there were lots and lots of teeth judderingly bumpy cobbled streets when you came to a town or village - and you went through towns then, not around them.

And just as life goes on, we started to take our own family tent camping when they were young - Brittany being one of their most favourite holidays venues, until the present day when I am pleased to report that things have gone full cycle as our children take our grandchildren to the same places which their grandparents took us.