What a night – go go go Joseph! AND your Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat.

Hands up, who’s a big musicals fan? Yers, I have two hands waving in the air; Katy is sitting on hers. I know, they’re not everyone’s cup of tea. I do know that. Don’t understand it, mind, but I do know.

Way way back (many centuries ago, not long after the Bible began….) I was taken to see a touring production of Joseph at our local theatre. My very first ever ‘Musical’ experience. I was hooked. My parents had the LP, and I could think of nothing better than to spend an afternoon closeted with the record player, singing along and replaying the show in my head. Yes, I am that sad person who knows every word to every part. I performed in it twice at school. It started a life-long love of musical theatre, and will always be a special show for me.

But. I’m married to a non-musical-er (*gasp*), and my children have never seen a big musical show (panto has been it so far). So when we had the chance to review the currently touring Joseph production at the BIC, I of course jumped at the opportunity. I talked the male members of the family into accompanying me (I would of course have gone alone if necessary), and leaving the 3yr old with an able grown up we headed off to Bournemouth last night for opening night.

Excited? Oh my yes. But a little cautious – I had a feeling Middle Boy would love it, loving as he does all things song and dance. Wasn’t sure if it was No.1 sons cup of tea (he’s more Nickelback than Adrew Lloyd Webber), and the youngest 7yr old was really very tired and actually only fit for bed. And of course the husband was willing but wouldn’t have minded missing it either.

Eek! What if no one enjoyed it? What if this turned them off the theatre?

More importantly, what if I didn’t get to enjoy it as they fidgeted and huffed? *wibble*

So – the lights went down, and the music began to soar. First there was a session from the band as they played a medley of all the biggest tunes from the show. I quite enjoyed it, but it was rather a long introduction, and it lost the eldest two boys attention. Not knowing the tunes they were quickly bored, rummaging for the maltesers and I had a sinking feeling that the night was doomed. Eventually the narrator entered the stage for the Prologue (a new addition to my 70′s-version memories, where the narrator was a man, too), and they politely settled down to pay attention.

However, once the brothers made their appearance I noticed the boys sit a little straighter and start to watch more closely, so I relaxed and allowed myself to be swept along by the familiar story. Keith Jack fulfilled his promise from the TV show, and was satisfyingly fabulous – and a surprisingly dab hand at the comic timing too.

During the interval I had a chance to find out what the boys thought so far… No.1 was smiling and saying in a surprised voice that he was ‘actually quite enjoying it, and there had been some funny bits’. Middle Son, my fellow music lover simply said ‘well, it’s really nice of you to bring us and everything… but aren’t they ever going to SAY something instead of singing All The Time? It’s not that I’m not liking it (much!), but I think Snow White was better.”

(Great, Joseph is outranked by Chris from Cbeebies in panto…)

I turned to Third son, the so-tired 7yr old, who had been having a whispered commentary from Daddy to keep him up to speed with the plot. His eyes were shining, he was gazing around the theatre humming to himself, and simply absorbing the experience. Did I mention he’s quite my favourite boy?

And so the second act began and after a quick catch-up from the childrens choir (again causing restless stirrings from my older boys) we were back in jail with Joseph. This is really where the plot speeds up, and the minute we hear Pharoah’s voice my two non-believers were craning their necks trying to spot where it had come from. They literally roared when Pharoah ‘Presley’ entered and quite suddenly they were leaning forward straining to see everything all at once, clapping and laughing and really rather looking like they were enjoying themselves. When Joseph accused the brothers of stealing the cup they were on the edge of their seats, and sat in frozen tension as the accusation of Benjamin unfolded.

By the time the encores began they were on the feet, roaring and stamping and cheering their approval. They just loved the replaying of the best songs now with the ease of familiarity and able to sing along, and when the brothers descended into the audience and they had Judah (their favourite brother) dance alongside them, I’m afraid they were hooked.

Keith Jack was a great Joseph, not only is his voice very special but he acted the part beautifully (*whispers* No.1 son admitted to getting quite emotional a couple of times). The narrator, played perfectly by Trina Hill, was engaging (even with a slightly dodgy waistcoat) and the interactions between the brothers rather stole my three boys hearts. The comedy elements which make Joseph such a great family show were excellent, and the costumes were wonderful.  The set was perfect: the simple, stylish effect you would expect with the necessary ‘childrens choir’ on stage at all times.

The only issue we did have was that sometimes the sound just wasn’t clear – usually when Joseph or the Narrator were belting out the big numbers, their voices were simply too much for the microphones and we had distortion that made the lyrics unclear, and occasionally almost painful to listen to. We also lost the colours being chanted by the brothers at the beginning once Joseph began his counterpoint lyrics. In a relatively small theatre these very big soloist voices probably needed no microphones at all… but this was opening night, so hopefully that small sound point will soon be corrected.

I had such big expectations, and the night simply did not fail. Simply everything ‘Jospeh’ should be – stunning vocals, vibrant and colourful cast and of course the amazing music. On top of which, this latest production managed to gather up a whole new generation of followers. No.1 son couldn’t stop talking all the way back to the car, Middle son agreed that if he wasn’t going to see a panto (*eyes rolling*) this would definitely be his first choice to see instead… and Boy 3 simply skipped, spun, twirled and sang his way down the street.

I’m sorry, husband. I appear to have stolen your children over to the dark side…

(Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat runs at the Bournemouth Pavilion until August 14th – click here to book tickets, or see here for the rest of the tour dates and venues).

Bid to Win Port Eliot Festival Family Pass

We recently ran a competition to win two family passes to the Port Eliot family festival (worth over £360). The oh-so-lovely Claire from www.beingamummy.co.uk was the winner of the Twitter comp, but sadly she can’t make the festival. Now, being oh-so-lovely as she is, she had a brainwave, and decided to donate the family pass to the Joseph Salmon Trust (everyone in blogosphere has heard that name, yes?).

Well, they gladly accepted the offer, and so the tickets are now there, sitting, waiting for your bid, on ebay. Right now. This minute.

Oh yes they are.

But – no one’s bidding. Really? NO one wants to go to one of the UK’s top family festivals in Cornwall later this month, two adults, two children (under 8′s are free) and a full five days camping pass?

Bidding ends at 12.50 Tuesday lunchtime.

So Go! Bid! Make some money for a wonderful charity – and maybe win yourself a great time too…

Please do use the links and share this post on Twitter, even if you don’t bid yourself.

Futuroscope – Just. Don’t. Miss. It.

Futuroscope – what to tell you?

First off, it’s in the Vienne – kind of smack in the middle of France, close to Poitiers. It’s been there for 23 years – and yet no one has heard of it in the UK.

Secondly, it’s the brain child of Luc Besson, one of my favourite directors and a Man of Genius.

Thirdly…Well. How to actually tell you about Futuroscope?

“WOW!” Just about sums it up. Or maybe ‘Brain Bafflingly Brilliant”.

We actually didn’t have much idea what to expect, as my French was not good enough to translate more than the basics form the literature we picked up in France, and I had forgotten to examine the English version of the website before we left (which is definitely worth a look round).

To give you an idea of scale, that small orange dot at the bottom is Me...

Entry was simple – the reception area knew to expect us, had our tickets waiting, and directed us straight to the area inside which contained the English guides, and the translation headsets (Top tip from our courier – take your own headphones. We took the boys and not only saved a few Euros, but also they were far more comfortable than the cheapy in-ear ones available to buy).

So, deciding to be methodical, we began at the beginning, and followed the numbered guide on the map.

And there we were, suddenly, brilliantly sliding through wild terrains, able to feed the virtual monkeys, quickly knock the ghastly spider from our goggles, and see the person next to us turn into a seriously ugly octopus…. we left the ride  (The future is wild) with an enormous, slightly dazzled grin and couldn’t wait to see what was next.

Voyageurs Du Ciel Et De La Mer (travellers by land and by sea) simply took our collective breath away. A nature film on an Imax screen – with a twist, as the screen rolls under your feet too, meaning you immerse yourself totally in the landscapes, and I became genuinely emotional as I found myself flying slowly over an immense and beautiful blue whale as it breached the ocean surface. We were all utterly transfixed, including the 3 yr old – for the full 20 minutes of the show.

Sticking your head out of a train moving at speed is not something I would recommend – and I know for sure what it feels like thanks to the brilliant ‘La Vienne Dymamique‘ which uses the dynamic seats system (where the seats rock, shake, twist and move with the action in the film), and totally took us by surprise. Driving a racing car through the streets, the wind whipping our hair, sliding round corners and (almost) crashing into flower sellers… I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it. I screamed like a big girl. Best of all the 3yr old was able to sit to the side and enjoy the film (which was very funny) without the jolting ‘exciting’ seats, so we were all able to enjoy together.

With a ‘Danse Avec Les Robot’ for the big thrills (only the 11 yr old and I were brave enough to take on the robotic arms flipping us upside down 30 feet in the air – it was wild and fab and I wouldn’t do it again!), and brilliant play spaces for some ‘down time’, the whole park has been planned meticulously. Following another tip from our Keycamp courier we didn’t arrive until after lunch as we wanted to stay to the evening lightshow which doesn’t start until 22:45. Starting early would have been just too much for small legs. We were lucky that the park was relatively empty, and never had to queue for long, and although the day was scorching (38º and very humid) the park is laid out with so much care and attention to the shade, and so much running water everywhere that we coped with ease. Even the buildings were awe-inspiring, every single one imposing, beautiful, huge, weird and just wonderful. Food was reasonable and with a great selection, and we loved the fact that covered areas were available for picnicking (I wish now we’d opted for a meal at La Cristal).

We loved all of the ‘rides’ (shows, really – all designed to confuse and amaze your senses), but Futuroscope is about so much more, and far too much to be able to see and do everything in a day. We watched a stunning universe unfold in Cosmic Collisions as the boys learned about the formation of our moon (although the French commentary sounded more fun than our own rather serious Robert Redford one), the boys were thrilled by the Podracing in EcoDingo, we watched the feature film about a rather cute fly (yes, really) on the Moon Landing in stunning 3D, and we didn’t see nearly enough of anything.

The topmost, most fantastic, amazing experience of all was the Arthur 4D Adventure. Words just can’t describe to you how amazingly wonderful this was – I never wanted to get off. If you’ve ever watched a beautiful fantasy film and felt that just for five minutes you would love to be in there, know what it was really like… well, this is the ride for you.

The evening lightshow finished the day off in a spectacular laser light and water explosion of sound and colour and fantasy.

The entire magical day was finished for us by leaving after midnight (still in 27º heat) watching forked lightning flash all around us.

Theme parks are not my idea of a wonderful day out – I’ll put up with them, but can think of many more places I’d rather be. But this. This is different. The very first theme park I would seriously consider a two day break JUST to visit more fully. Quite the most amazing day we’ve had. If you visit the Touraine or the Vienne – do NOT miss Futuroscope.

C’est fantastique.

Blog Love: Mums Rock on Drowning

There we were, splooshing in the pool, like you do when you’re on holidays and have absolutely nothing better to do. We had ventured into the area the boys nicknamed ‘the hot tub’ – a round circular pool, chest height on me, with a wide bench running around its edge which was perfect for Pink to stand and walk round (making the water just under chest high for her).

I heard a plopping splash behind me and turned to smile at the small boy who had landed with some force a few feet away, having obviously taken a flying leap from the edge. It took a second or two to register he wasn’t actually grinning back at me, and his vague blank surprised look coupled with the fact he wasn’t happily splashing didn’t feel right… I pushed forward the few paces and hauled him up just as his panic-stricken mother appeared at the edge, white and shaken and gabbling her thanks. Her son – 3, maybe 4 – had just laughingly run off (she’d been attempting to apply suncream, and her hands were too slippery to grab him!) and leaped straight in, just not thinking he may be in an area too deep for him.

There were lots of people around, but I was the only one who, by pure chance, happened to see his face and twig he wasn’t just another of the many children leaping in and having fun. He was absolutely fine – and in fact I saw him do the same thing a few more times, but never again without his mother a few feet from him watching him like a hawk!

When I read this post on Mums Rock this morning it rang big bells with me.

Even my husband, a few feet away himself, hadn’t spotted the little boy was in trouble. And a few years ago, my son fell into a freezing river in the middle of winter. At the time, I was amazed at how calm he was in the water (I was right beside him and pulled him straight out), but having read this article I now understand exactly why he didn’t splash and yell. So – please. Read and digest the article. And not just for the sake of your own family’s safety – it takes just a few minutes, and if we all know what to look for, who knows when a life may be saved.

Larmer Tree Festival – Day 3

Here’s the latest from Emma:

Toots  (Toots and the Maytals) were LEGEND last night! Families packed into the crowd, dancing together. People at the front were welcomed onto the stage by the man himself during the 15min encore – never seen that before.

Caught some comedy in the packed marquee before bed too.

We all loved our meals which cater for every taste – great pizza cafe where you can sit down in comfort eating wholesome food and home made lemonade.

We’re at the woodland craft  workshop now with D eagerly waiting to make a whistle.

Chance for me to sit under this tree and  relax and plan the day with the help from the programme.

X

Keycamp – Parc De Fierbois

So third in the Keycamp series is the second parc we stayed at – the Parc de Fierbois in the beautiful Loire region just south of Tours (close enough to explore the Touraine region too). After our encounter with Paris International, I’ll admit we headed south with some trepidation and not overly blessed with good humour…
But as we drove the through the pretty little village of St Catherine de Fierbois we began to relax – this was the France we had been looking forward to.

Beautiful buildings, the restaurant spilling out on to the village square, the trees offering plenty of shade… the lanes grew smaller as we drove the remaining mile to the site, and we all breathed a huge sigh of relief as we pulled in. Not the prettiest of entrances – but this IS, after all, a holiday park, and that is exactly what it looked like. Reception to the left, pool to the right (a pool! A big pool! At last!). And trees. lots and lots of cool, green, shady blessed trees.

Off to the Pool at LAST! This is our 'road' - pretty, no?

A helpful Eurocamp courier (a plain ole ‘holiday rep’, to the uninitiated) pointed us to the Keycamp van round the corner, so I wandered over, still feeling the flutters of antipathy caused by our previous few days hovering around the edges of my heat-fried brain; and found the van empty. Of course. Just as I turned back to the car in frustration I heard a cheerful shout, and a rather drippy (literally!) man approached me beaming happily. This was our first contact with our courier then… Irrepressibly, and contagiously, cheerful he apologised for not being there to greet us, but had been taking his lunch in the pool. He asked us to give him 10 minutes to get changed, and was back in five.
Now a little drier, he quickly explained the layout and useage of the Keycamp van itself – in particular showing the children where everything they would need was. Then he gave us a quick pointing tour of the main reception facilities (pool, bar, reception, shop, table tennis, lake) and got us moving quite quickly towards our own van.
Our initial fears were unfounded – Parc de Fierbois really is set amongst woodland (not all, but a lot of it) and the tall trees provided delicious green relief from the unrelenting heat.
Our (Villagrande Deluxe) van on this site was huge in comparison to the one on Paris International; generously proportioned with 3 bedrooms (with actual room to move), 2 bathrooms, a large living area/kitchen and masses of storage (tell me it’s not only me who doesn’t actually bother unpacking the boys clothes from the suitcase?). Not that we used any of it much – we mostly lived outside on the deck, just coming in to sleep.
Within an hour of arriving we found ourselves slipping into the amazing pool system, breathing, smiling and literally feeling the grumpiness just slide away. Hoorah!

The Parc de Fierbois really is a lovely place to be – relaxed, friendly, not too big, and filled with families wanting the same kind of holiday.
The biggest and best part of all is the pool. Oh, my, the pool. In the heat we had, there was simply no where else we wanted to be. A large safe shallow pool (but deep enough for parents to sit in happily), leading into a few other areas with different depths (including a fab very deep pool and of course the giant slides), all landscaped with rockery and flowers. Something for all of us, all very safe, and so well laid out that we were content to let the children go, as long as we could see the two younger non-swimmers. They had so much scope they were never in any danger of going out of their depth. Swimming was just a brilliant, fun, relaxing family activity which we did every single day – a completely different experience to our CenterParcs swimming in the UK.
When we eventually tired of the pool, we loved to walk by the lake (and spot not just the fish but frogs, snakes, beetles, dragonflies and whatever else the children could dig up), and No.1 son finally managed to learn how to fish.
The boys loved to play the table tennis, and simply to head off on their scooters around the safe smooth roads.
Cooking was easy – the barbecue made it a no brainer, and the oven was only used once on the whole two weeks I think. Many guests we spoke to didn’t venture out of the parc at all – and it would be easy to fall into the relaxed rhythm of days that way.
But we did want the boys to see a little of France itself, so we took a few trips – I had wanted to see the prehistoric sculptures at Roc-aux-Sorciers for years, so that was a fascinating afternoon outing, not so interesting for the younger children until they visited a small tent and spoke to an amazing man with excellent English who taught them all about flint knapping, and had them all carving their own pendants with flint and stone.
We decided to visit just one chateau, one historic building being about the boys limit in the heat – we chose Chambord,

Pink dancing with Manolo Valdes' 'Oh, so Beautiful Princepresses, Mummy'.

the biggest, which was stunning, if a little soulless. However we took longer than we expected to trek round – it’s actually a little TOO big, especially for small children, and the estimated hour and a half took us nearly three hours with the audio tour, partly due to the utterly entrancing Manolo Valdés exhibition. In taking so long we missed out on going to the Horse Show which looked and sounded a far better experience than the chateau itself, which was a shame. We skipped the boating, cycling and waiting for the “Chambord, Rêve de Lumières” show in favour of returning to the pool back at the site!
Another day out was Futuroscope. You can read all about this most fabulous of days out here – please do, as you should NOT miss it. Just a totally amazing experience, the likes of which we have never seen.
We had a wonderful meal at the restaurant in St Catherine de Fierbois at the Auberge Jeanne D’Arc in the market place – totally recommended to anyone staying on the parc, it’s just a mile and walking distance along beautiful shady lanes if you prefer not to drive.
The site itself has a standard shop selling your basic food needs plus fresh croissants/baguettes and plenty of holiday type extras (rubber rings for the pool made for a huge amount of fun) – as you would expect, the local supermarket (Intermarche) in Ste Maure du Touraine was cheaper for stocking up, and was the best place for petrol too.
The locals were warm and welcoming, and particularly pleased with our terrible efforts at speaking French (my GCSE was a lo-o-ong time ago…).
Best of all were the Keycamp couriers on site. Paul “the funny guy” (by the time the children learned his name it was too late, and ‘The Funny Guy’ he was christened) was relentlessly chipper and enthusiastic, often seen darting around the site on his bicycle with a wave and a ‘Ciao-Ciao!’ He was a font if useful info on our trips out regarding prices, times to go, what not to miss, what to take etc; he clearly had taken the time to learn about his area, and did his best to help everyone have a great holiday.

'The Funny Guy' Paul with the boys

The team were short-staffed whilst we were there, and yet they were unfailingly warm, approachable and helpful. The kids clubs looked great (not that ours could be persuaded to go) and I was a bit jealous of the Teens ‘base’ club activities to be honest.

We did have to adjust to a different pace of life – the parc woke slowly, dipped in the heat of the day, and was at its most active in the early evening. Lunches (the obligatory bread, cheeses, salad and fruit I would never get away with serving day after day in the UK) were enjoyed back at the van, under the lush deep shade of the tall trees.
The site did quietly bustle after 11pm as the bar shut and those families still out headed back to their vans or tents. A couple of nights we were disturbed by noisy neighbours, but such is the way on a busy parc – and there wasn’t ever a hint of anything nasty or threatening. In fact, it was an incredibly quiet and peaceful place to be considering the large number of people contained within the trees. The children adapted quickly to the later lifestyle, and we loved to finish every day sitting on the deck playing games together as the air gradually cooled at last.

This is NOT our usual type of family holiday, we are far more often found spending two weeks in a cottage half way up a mountain – sharing our precious family time with so many other people is not what we would instinctively choose to do.
But.
We genuinely had a wonderful, wonderful holiday in the end, and don’t hesitate to say that it was the stuff family sunshine holidays should be made of.
Thank you Keycamp.

Larmer Tree Festival – Day 2

After her grown-ups night at the festival watching Jools Holland and Newton Faulkner, Emma revisited last night with her son in preparation for spending the whole weekend ‘Festival-ing’…

I took D for a couple of hours last night and it’s filled him with excitement to be spending a WHOLE weekend there. He loved the manageable size, the spacious friendly atmosphere and beautifully landscaped areas of garden (not forgetting the clean civilised toilets!). He ate a crepe with his dream filling – chocolate and marshmallow, and we wandered around all the different bits planning our activities, which bands we’ll watch in which places, all the stalls we’ll peruse and all the meals we are going to try – and a few holistic treatments I want to book in for too!

We’re taking the tent later today and although its daunting to drag all the camping stuff down from the loft, I don’t need to worry about taking enough supplies as we “recc-ied” some stalls stocking everything you might want for some DIY camping, and at reasonable prices too. I’ll be glad when we’re there and we can relax and go with the flow of the weekend.

Camping toilet and shower blocks look ample and well maintained and D is even looking forward to taking a shower…

x Emma

Keycamp – Paris International (oh dear…)

Paris International is not your usual Keycamp site. Having spent a long (long, long, long) time faffing back and forth and deciding where to take our Keycamp break, I didn’t pass much thought over the Paris part – it was only for two nights, after all, and simply to facilitate the Disneyland visit. I did read the details of the Parc, but it was the only one viable for what we needed, so I no doubt skipped the full detail – I read that it was on the banks of the Seine, set in an unusually quiet area this close to Paris; Maisons Lafitte being a quiet town surrounded by woodland. And I presumed, because it was Keycamp, that there would be a pool, and the usual park/play facilities for the children. I should know better – never ever presume.

So when we arrived – having left home at 5.30 in the morning, driven for 3 hours to the ferry, 2hrs on the ferry, and then another 3 to Paris, the four children (and us) had been stuck in the car for 6 hours, with just a two hour (dull) ferry break, the midday temperature was approaching 38º. We were admittedly not in the best of moods when we arrived…

To say we were disappointed would be rather an understatement. Expecting the fresh, bright clean lines of the Keycamp website, we were met more with a hot, tired and shabby version of Hi-De-Hi. More than that, it was unwelcoming and slightly grim. Oh, and no pool.

Having finally found the courier (we had failed to let them know what time to expect us), he cheerfully informed us there was a Jazz festival at the bar tonight which is where we’d find him (Oh. Joy filled us, as you can imagine). We headed to our caravan in the hopes of finding the shade of the promised trees and some refuge from the relentless heat.
No such luck.
Many of the trees were pollarded to provide very little shade, and the caravan was stifling. Really blindingly stifling. Clearly the weather can in no way be blamed on anyone, but I would have expected the couriers to at least have placed the water bottles from the ‘welcome pack’ in the fridge. Very warm water was not what we needed, and not actually terribly welcoming at all.

The gernormous amount of space around the bed in the 'double room'

After the couriers swift instructions on where the fire extinguisher was (…oh, no, he wasn’t sure, couldn’t remember, it should be there… but it wasn’t… but he was sure it was here someplace…) he tried to let us know how to turn on the oven but gave up baffled and I suggested you might need to turn the plug on. Then he gave us the directions for walking to the train station the following morning – we asked a few more questions, thinking he could have told us how long it would take, what stations we needed, and how much the tickets would be. Trips to Disney must, after all, be a very common reason for staying at Paris International. But he merely suggested vaguely that he thought last year some families had got a family rail ticket which might be worth asking about at the station. (Maybe… He wasn’t really sure…). Then he left us to it, not to be seen again.

The Sardine Tin. Can you imagine more than a night or two?

We quickly ‘explored’ the tiny space (we had a Villanova van – two bedrooms, one bathroom for six of us, and the ‘living space’ pictured in that link could in no way have been taken in the van we stayed in); one double room just about big enough for the bed, and the tiniest bedroom I’ve seen with bunks AND a single bed – I couldn’t actually walk between the beds. Not being bad at maths I pretty quickly realised that we had five beds… for six of us. Six sets of linens, but just the five beds. The bench sofas in the lounge were wide, so we supposed that’s what was expected, and the 11yr old volunteered to sleep on there.
We weren’t bothering to unpack, only being there for two short nights, so within half an hour we were sorted and so desperately in need of shade we set out for the river. Having walked in the baking sun from one end of the site to the other, we came to the conclusion that actually, the only way to be near the water was to scramble down a steep bramble-filled bank just behind the bar (the only way of actually seeing the water when on the site was across any vacant tent pitches). We did just that, and let the children paddle for an hour at the rivers edge, watching the river barges from the welcome shade of a large willow, as the trains rattled over the bridge beside us.
Until we noticed bits of broken glass – obviously remnants from previous descenders of the bank behind the bar in a more intoxicated state.
So we headed back up the bank to find the childrens play area to kill a little more time – we hadn’t brought any provisions for the evening meal, knowing that there were facilities on site, and we were glad as we were both far too tired to coerce hot exhausted children back into town to find a restaurant. We all shuddered at the very thought of either getting back in the car or walking in the heat!
The young children’s play area proved to be a tiny patch with two bouncy seat type things and a roundabout. The whole site is ‘fenced’ with old telegraph poles – effective but sadly they ooze tar in the heat. These are all round the play area too, at exactly the right height for a 7 yr old to plop his (thankfully camouflage) cap, and a tired 3yr old to sit on in her favourite pale blue skirt… which is now tar-streaked. Lovely.
The older children’s play area is a small square court outside the bar with a basketball hoop and a couple of stone table tennis tables. I know now the bat and balls were probably in the Keycamp van, but at the time we didn’t have a clue. So we gave it up as a bad job and headed for the takeaway pizzas.

The ‘restaurant’ (come takeaway/bar/entertainments) choice was limited, the staff unwelcoming (not one smile despite there being four of them behind the counter), and the prices steep. €8 for a plain margerita pizza, €9 for an overcooked chicken leg and chips. €50 for a quick takeaway tea!

Trip switches just waiting for small willing fingers. Oh, and the space behind is the full extent of the gap between our van and our neighbours on one side.

We ate them on the patch of hot grass in the shade of the van, and tiredness began to take over. The 3 year old wandered off, clearly not hungry in the heat. Heading into the van to get some cold water (we’d placed our own bottles in the freezer ourselves) I noticed the electrics weren’t on. At the same time the 3 year old appeared, brightly telling me she’d pushed ‘the buttons’. Following her to the front of the van, I found the junction box hanging open, the four main leads from surrounding vans connected and all the trip switches flipped. I flipped them back, closed up the box – and watched it swing open again, as there was no way of locking it shut. I didn’t even want to know what the fifth power cable lying unconnected in the grass was, I simply removed her and didn’t let her out of my site again – having her turning four vans power off (and therefore their fridges) in this heat was unthinkable.
Later we saw two different couriers walk past the box a number of times, and not once did anyone stop and notice the electrics open right beside the path.
By 6 the oldest and youngest had both flaked on the sofa, so we put the two middle boys to bed – just as the promised Jazz festival started up.
Yippedy doo.
The van was as hot as ever, but by moving the provided fan into the boys sardine tin we managed to finally get them both to sleep.

Neat and tidy, tidy and neat...

By 10.30 we were sitting on our rather shabby, weed-choked deck, listening to the Jazz going strong, alongside the next door van’s music playing loudly, children running and shouting past, the trains rattling through every 2-3 minutes, the occasional barge hooting, the planes still flying over (the site is apparently under one of the main flight paths to Paris, too), the stray cats trying to force their way into our bin to get the chicken bones… and suddenly the local geese joined in. Honestly – we  just started to laugh.
An hour later, trying to sleep (having now been up for 19 hours and travelled nearly 400 miles), listening to the shriekings of those who had been to the bar pass within feet of our bedroom window, shouting and laughing and singing – the noise wasn’t even remotely funny any more.

The following morning we were up and out early, catching the 9.05 train from Maisons-Lafitte (the train station was easy to find, and the staff were very helpful). We didn’t return to the van until gone 11 that night, and there was a note on the door from the couriers, saying they’d dropped in. Despite knowing we were in Disney.
Clearing the van the next day we realised that the sofa in the lounge actually folded out into a double bed which would have made sleeping for two of the children far more comfortable.
We were gone by 8.30, muttering silently that if the Parc de Fierbois was the same, we were heading straight home.
Happily, it couldn’t have been more different

In its defense, I know that Paris International is only intended to be used as a convenient place to stay for getting into Paris (20 minutes by train, an hour to Disney). It doesn’t have the usual facilities that you would expect from a Keycamp, and it doesn’t claim to have them on the website. However, images of the site are also rare from Keycamp (the one of the Seine is rather misleading) – looking at pictures of the local town doesn’t tell you anything about the site itself. For what it was, somewhere to sleep to facilitate a Disney visit, it did the job. Just. Things like neat site maintenance, children’s play facilities and basic courier training could all be looked at however.
Had we had to stay for any longer than we did we would have found alternatives elsewhere, I have to be honest. It would actually be a good practical base for adults visiting Paris and the local area who just need somewhere to sleep – but it is simply not a viable place to stay with young children. When you travel as a family you need a base with good standard facilities for small children – you simply can’t spend your every waking hour out and about. Paris International failed on that score, I’m afraid, and a basic Chambre D’Hote would have been cheaper and more comfortable.

**The response from Keycamp when they saw the review**

Hello Laura

Thank you for the feedback on your recent trip. We’re really disappointed and saddened by your experience, which didn’t meet our usual standards and your expectations of a Keycamp holiday. Thankfully you had a great time at your other Keycamp destination of Parc de Fierbois.

We’ve obviously taken your comments about Parc International very seriously, and have spoken to our area manager in Paris and our parc couriers to ensure that no future customers share these unacceptable experiences.

Many of your issues were the result of poor customer service on the part of our on parc team, which comes as a great disappointment as we place great emphasis on our staff training and development. As a result, we’ve also shared your comments with those involved in recruitment and training.

The parc owners have also been made aware of your review and we will be working with them to ensure the necessary improvements are made in terms of keeping the deck areas tidy, ensuring that doors on electric hook up boxes shut properly. They are also aware of your disappointment with the play facilities.
Once again thanks for your feedback Laura and I look forward to reading about your holiday at Parc de Fierbois in the Loire.

Caroline O’Connor, Keycamp Marketing

First Night at the Larmer Tree Festival

…was apparently AMAZING!

Unable to go myself, I roped in Emma, who said she could probably be forced to sample the delights of Jools Holland, Alison Moyet et al if she HAD to.

Well, she did have to, so off she went…

And she had a blast! Here’s the quick text I had from her earlier:

“Jools Holland was as excellent as we expected, Alison Moyet was not what we expected (!), but was really good, Ruby Turner was a shining star, and to top the evening off we managed to catch the brilliant Newton Faulkners second set. Totally FAB night – can’t wait for the rest of the weekend!”

Me, Jealous? Much? *whistles*

There are still some tickets left for Sunday if you want to catch a day of this amazing Family Friendly Festival…

Keycamp – what did we really think?

As we had such a mixed experience of Keycamp, I’ve decided the best thing is to break the review into parts – one for each site, and one for the company itself.

So I’ll start at the very beginning (a very good place to start…. and I’ll continue now you all have Julie Andrews in your heads).

Keycamp asked very sweetly for us to review a family holiday with them… and not being prone to turning down the opportunity to examine a company using a two-weeks-in-the-French-sun method, we of course obliged.
To give credit to them, they didn’t cherry pick a ‘best site’ for us – they simply allowed us free rein to entirely plan our own holiday wherever we chose. We’ve said it before – we’re quite a tricky family to please en masse, what with there being six of us to start with, and an often awkward gap in the age range (it’s rare for the 11yr old to want to do the same thing as the 3yr old). This is why I tend to cover the travel reviews myself where possible – it’s actually not for the shallow reasons you all think it is (well, not only those, anyway) – we’re just a great test family for travel reviews; if a place pleases us, it’ll please most people!
The Keycamp booking process was incredibly simple – there is an overwhelming choice of sites available to choose from, so I would suggest you decide in stages – country, then region, then look at all the sites in that area and read the details carefully (I didn’t, to our cost…more later of that). Decide ahead what you are looking for – on site sports facilities, children’s clubs, big pools, evening entertainment, tranquillity, close to a major city, way out in the sticks? Keycamp can pretty much cover them all, the choice is yours for the making.
One of the other things I liked a lot was that as there are so many parcs, you can split your time – this worked really well for us as we were also due to review Disneyland Paris. So we opted for a two night stay at Paris International, followed by ten nights at the Parc de Fierbois, down in the Loire region near Tours. Doing this we managed to break our journey into easy stages, and see a little of France too.
Once the booking was confirmed, I received the confirmation details by email very quickly – and once I had that booking reference a whole new Keycamp world opened up to me!
When you log in to the Keycamp site with your holiday number, you can access all sorts of very useful info. Not only are all your essential travel docs available to download (they come in the post too, but I loved the security and ease of having them all online whenever I wanted to check something), but there are travel guides to your region, notes on your chosen parc, helpful info on all sorts of things from driving in your destination country to a local wines guide. You can order any extras you might like too, such as welcome packs (not really worth bothering with, imo – take your own pack of first-night essentials with you), linen packs (definitely recommended) and beach towels (essential if you don’t want to lug your own – rest assured Keycamp’s are large, fluffy and perfect for the pool). Letting your courier know what time you expect to arrive will also help them keep an eye out for you – they’re very rarely just sitting in their van’s, waiting, so this is a good idea.
I went away with a plastic wallet stuffed with useful things I’d printed off – most of it never saw the light of day, but I felt more confident just knowing that I had a handy crib sheet of the useful French if we broke down, the oh-so-useful local guides as to where the nearest supermarkets/petrol etc were to the parcs, the directions just-in-case the satnav stopped working (it did)… it all helped to make a never-prepared-properly Mumma relax and enjoy herself that bit more. And it was all just sitting there on the Keycamp site waiting for me, with no hunting, searching or googling on my part to find it. Brilliant.

You do have to be prepared for a change of lifestyle if you’ve never ‘holiday park-ed’ before – children do not go to bed early, enjoying much the same bedtime as their parents. The first nights we were naturally exhausted from the travelling, and we slipped ours into bed at their usual times – and in fact the site naturally dipped into peace and quiet around 8 as most people finished their meals, the very youngest went to bed and their parents settled outside on their decks with a  glass of something chilled, whilst others moseyed off to find something to do. But the noise levels increased from around 9.30, and often peaked around 11 before descending into quietness again – but the Parc de Fierbois was never ‘loud’, populated as it was entirely with families – usually it was overtired children on their way to bed who never fail to notice how loud their voices are. Of course, this is camping, so only one caravan/tent enjoying a rowdy evening can spoil it for many others around – on the whole we didn’t suffer, but a couple of nights were were left grumping and fiercely ‘SSSHHHHH!’-ing at a noisy neighbour or two. However we soon got used to the pattern, and rather enjoyed the later mornings the later bedtimes naturally brought. Teaching the boys how to play cards actually made for some of the nicest memories of the holiday, sitting on the deck in the evening with cold drinks as the sun went down and the temperatures finally cooled a little.

I’m reviewing the two individual Keycamp parcs separately as they deserve their own mentions, as they were two totally different experiences – keep your eyes peeled over the next day or two.

Perhaps the biggest recommendation I can give is that we spoke to many guests at the Parc de Fierbois – mostly Irish, as the Irish schools break up a few weeks before those in England. Many of them were ‘serial Keycampers’, slowly working their way around Europe, one Keycamp at a time. Whilst the parcs differ greatly, and none are actually owned by Keycamp so you do need to read the details carefully to check what will be available on site when you get there, not one of the people I spoke to had a bad word to say about Keycamp itself.
I can only agree – the process of booking and organising the holiday (our first abroad with the children) was made much more simple and painless by their fab online system. And at the Parc de Fierbois, it was everything we hoped for (Paris International is a very different type of site to the norm, and not a fair comparison).
Whilst this is really NOT our usual kind of family holiday (you’re far more likely to find us in a remote cottage alone in an expanse of moorland), we had a complete ball, the children loved every second and we all came home relaxed and smiling (and loaded with cheeses).
Thank you Keycamp – you made it all very very easy. .