Down by the riverside

Bev Fearis and family spent a weekend at one of Eurocamp’s Brittany locations.

Location: Ty Nadan is tucked away in the heart of rural Brittany but also only 20 minutes’ drive from the beautiful sandy beaches of the Morbihan coastline. It’s on the pretty Elle river, close to a tiny little village with a bakery and bar, and surrounded by forests. It’s an easy 2hr 30mins drive from St Malo or 1hr 40mins from Roscoff, and in this part of France the only thing that might slow you down is the odd tractor.

First impressions: Down windy country lanes, through tiny hamlets, just when we started to wonder where on earth we were going, we spotted the campsite entrance. Directly opposite the parking is the main reception desk but Eurocamp customers have their own little office just to the left of the car park. We were greeted with a friendly smile from the enthusiastic, young Eurocamp rep, her first week on the job, and escorted to our 3-bedroom Espace Mobile Home with decking.

Accommodation: Our home for the weekend was spacious and clean, with plenty of clever storage space. The double bedroom was at one end, next to the shower room and separate toilet, and the two twin rooms were at the other end of the open-plan kitchen, dining, living room. The beds weren’t made up but our bags of duvets and sheets arrived shortly afterwards. Bed linen is not included in the price: it’s an extra £21 for a double pack (duvet, sheets, towels) and £15 for a single pack. We’d also pre-ordered an essentials pack (£3) and a welcome pack (£12). The essentials pack had matches, cleaning sponge, dish cloth, tea towel, one bin liner, very small washing up liquid, all-purpose cleaner and soap. The Welcome Pack had Fairtrade tea and coffee, a few sachets of sugar, salt and pepper, creamer, jams, olive oil, bottled water, Pringles, biscuits, and wine (one red and one white) but all of them in miniature form. Our deck was nice enough although it had no views, only of neighbouring mobile homes. We later took a stroll around the campsite and decided that if we were to come back, we’d opt for one of Eurocamp’s Safari tents which are right on the river, are more spaced out, and have more privacy.

Activities: Ty Nadan excels when it comes to activities, and not just for children. It’s home to Brittany’s longest zip wire, one of 13 in all which you can fly down as part of a tree-top adventure experience. To be honest, it was a lot more challenging than I’d expected and, although I’ve got a good head for heights, I felt a little dizzy at times high up in the swaying trees. But zipping down the wires was absolutely exhilarating. It’s €12 for 45 minutes but actually took a lot longer, partly due to the group size (around 15) and partly due to my cautiousness. Ty Nadan also has Segway trips, horseriding, indoor rock climbing, kayaks, archery and paintball, but we didn’t have time to try them all. With a child in tow, we stuck mainly to the indoor pool (it wasn’t quite warm enough to brave the outdoor ones), the bouncy castle, and the basketball court. Freddie also did the mini-kids adventure, with its own gentle zip-wire, and loved it and we spent a lovely afternoon on the beach at Le Pouldu (20 minutes drive), jumping waves and building sandcastles.

Wining and dining: The campsite has its own bar, reasonably-priced restaurant, and burger bar, and there’s also a little supermarket with daily baguette deliveries. We had barbecues both nights on our deck and headed down to the bar on the Saturday for the fancy dress karaoke. We’d not known about the fancy dress and lacked the imagination to improvise, but many other campers made the effort and everyone was in good spirits. All of the songs performed were French, until a Dutch lady and her young daughter request Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive’, by which time we’d had enough glasses of rosé to join in. I would imagine that during the peak summer holidays there would be a few more (badly) sung English karaoke hits.

Highlights: The super long, super fast zip wire, which was near the end, giving you time to perfect your braking technique. We also loved the riverside setting.

Lowlights: I was surprised by the amount of packaging for all the Eurocamp extras, including the plastic-wrapped bed linen and the cardboard boxes for the welcome and essentials packs, Eurocamp branded, and there were no obvious instructions about recycling. The mobile homes were all a bit on top of each other too, which is why we’d go for a safari tent next time.

Verdict: We’d definitely go back, if only to have time to do more of the activities and to get the true riverside experience in a safari tent. There’s plenty to do, even if the weather’s not great, and there are some very good deals to be had outside of the school holidays, too, so Ty Nadan is a good campsite to recommend to families with pre-school aged children looking for an active break.