A good comfortable site ideally situated for a driviing break (La Bien Assise Campsite (Guines, France))

Member Name: kirlykird

Product:	La Bien Assise Campsite (Guines, France)
Date:	14/01/09 (296 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well posiioned pitches and good ameniies and services

Disadvantages: The pool was cold & a the camping pich was quite pricey

My review of this campsite is based on a three night stay with our tent in August of last year.
I personally am not a huge fan of basic tent camping, however, my husband being ex military & Swedish is into all kinds of these outside adventures whereas myself I prefer nice luxury hotels but then, that is another story!
This was the summer that we had decided to move away from the conventional summer trip away and had decided to drive across to Sweden and also to stay and enjoy the countries that we pass on the way home. We purchased a bigger tent, packed up or car and off we went with a journey planned with precision. The journey went well until our final country, France.

We had already booked a campsite for our stay in France which turned out to be an absolute disaster and I refused to stay in that area for another night. During the search for campsites around his region, I had come across a lovely campsite named La Bien Assise. This is located in an old little town named Guines which is only located around ten miles from Calais so nice and central. I recalled the website being well planned and thinking how appealing the website appeared. Unfortunately at the time of booking, my scrooge of a husband believed that this was a little on the costly side and that we could probably find something else in he area for cheaper. After an awful night in the said, cheaper accommodation, I suggested to my husband hat we should make he twenty minute journey and head across to Guines in to which he complied. We popped he address into the GPS and off we went!

*Arrival and check in*

On arrival to Guines, we were very happy with the choice of town. The town itself
Was a typically old fashioned town with coloured old buildings, pavement cafes, restaurants, a few small shops and a beautiful town square. The town itself is surrounded by countryside in which the campsite sits. Our first impressions of La Bien Assise were very good. The site was clean, well kept and although the noise of families was around, there was no sound of unnecessary rowdiness. We noticed that this site offered a variety of accommodation. There were the regular companies with their tents there such as Eurocamp and Canvas, there are plots for caravans, tourers and tents plus a range of Gites.
The reception area had ample parking, the reception block was clean, friendly and well stocked with appropriate literature of the local area and places to visit. We were promptly offered a camping pitch and show to our site.

*Our pitch and amenities*

We were very pleased with our pitch. It was nice to have an allocated area which was large and separated from the tents behind us by bushes and a tree in between each pitch to the side. Our pitch gave us plenty of space and enough space left to park the car and the children o have ample space to play.
Around 100m away was the amenities block where we had a good clean space for washing up, water filling, toilets, sinks and showers which also had baby bathing facilities which I found very useful for my youngest son.. The blocks were clean, well spaced and positioned well next to the tenting area. Around five minutes walk away from our pitch was a laundry room. Tokens for this could be purchased at reception and though they appeared to be quite pricey, he machines were large so could fit in at least two standard loads of washing.
The site does have a shop which is on the pricey side but stocked with basics and does offer a service in which you can pre book the evening before your baguette & pain au choocolat, a service which we used everyday for the necessary French breakfast, this could arguably be one of my favourite parts to the French lifestyle!
There are two restaurants to choose from, one is an informal restaurant serving such items as horse meat burgers, pizza, salads and incorporates a take away service too which is a convenient service to have. In the same area is the bar. There is a reasonable range of food & drink available from this area which is large, clean and friendly. There is also an outside sitting area where you are welcome to eat or drink and is conveniently located next to the children's playground so that you can enjoy a nice summer's drink whilst your children can safely play within your view.
The other restaurant names 'Auberge & Colombier is located on the outskirts of the campsite and is rather higher in price but offers a more upmarket menu with good French food. This is an ideal restaurant for an intimate night with very good food and wine.

*Entertainment*

The campsite has its own heated swimming pool that sadly we didn't really use very much as it didn't feel heated and was freezing. This disappointed us slightly but we soon found other things to do.
The campsite has mini golf, croquettes, table tennis and a tennis court. Once a week, a local riding school brings ponies for children to have pony rides which seemed to attract quite a crowd! There are playgrounds for the children regardless of age from one to teenage years. All three of our children seemed to be very happy here.

*The site itself & is location*

The site itself is owned by Les Castels, a French company whom own a number of campsites across France which are located around grand houses and grounds.La Bien Assise is no different itself whilst being based in the grounds of the beautiful 200-year old manor house which has been built on a site occupied since the 14th century. The site itself though holding a large amount of travellers was very pretty and well maintained.
The local area of Guines is located within a very historical and beautiful area. There are a number of walking oaths especially canal walks. By car, the location is in easy access of Calais and it hypermarkets & St Omer, another historical town worth visiting. The site is very close to the ferry ports and Euro tunnel and we found this ideal o just have a small drive o he ferry to get home after such a long trip.

*Would we return?*


I think we most probably will the next time that we take a driving holiday and may well stay over here for a night or two. We were impressed with cleanliness, the quality of the camping pitches and location and availability of amenities and services.

Summary: A good site to visi & would recommend as part of a longer journey