| Product: |
La Croix du Vieux Pont Campsite |
| Date: |
18/05/03 (2530 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Not to long a journey from the UK, Very friendly and helpful staff, Great for all ages
Disadvantages: Can't think of any
Another Easter in France, although this time in the North rather than the South. Having been incessantly nagged by our eldest daughter to go to Disneyland Paris, we decided to risk the weather and chose the campsite nearest to Disneyland that our favoured tour operator uses (Fleur Holidays - www.fleur-holidays.co.uk), hence our having plumped for La Croix du Vieux Pont.
Rather than take the ferry we decided to try Eurotunnel this time round, saving ourselves quite a bit of time and effort (having an 11 month old and a 2 year old the thought of trying to get them in and out of the car and up the stairs on the ferry was not one to be savoured).
The journey from Calais to the campsite takes approximately 2 ½ hours, a large proportion of which is on the Autoroute. Tolls from Calais to Compiègne (J.10) were about Euro 13.30 (£10).
THE SITE
The campsite itself is on the outskirts of the village of Vic-sur-Aisne, bordering onto the banks of the River Aisne. It is very well laid out with most of the amenities in the central section. Additionally, although there are a large number of mobile homes on the site, they are not crammed in and there is an overall feeling of space.
On entering the site, you drive down a short slope. At the bottom is the main reception from where you can book excursions to Disneyland and Paris (and sometimes even Riems), purchase tickets for both Disneyland (adult tickets are Euro 1 cheaper buying from the camp than from Disneyland itself) and Parc Asterix, hire security boxes, purchase tokens for the washing machines and dryers (Euro 4 and 3 respectively) and telephone cards, and obtain a wealth of useful information about the area. Everyone we spoke to there had a very good understanding of English.
Opposite the reception is the Epicerie (grocery) and the Boulangerie. The Epicerie is well stocked with all the essentials plus a few luxuries from home as well as a some toys and g
ames for the kids and a cashpoint machine. The Boulangerie bakes the bread and pastries fresh on site every day and is of a very high quality. Both are open from 7.30 am until 7.30 pm.
There are various toilet and wash blocks dotted around the site, with at least 3 of them containing washing machines and dryers. A small packet of soap powder is given to you when you buy your washing machine token, although for a really clean wash we found you needed more soap powder and a hot wash, otherwise some marks and stains are not removed.
There are both indoor and outdoor heated swimming pools, again indoor and outdoor heated children's pools and an indoor waterslide, all of which are open between 10 am and 7.30 pm. The indoor portion of the pool complex has a sliding roof that will be opened in particularly good weather. Entry to the pool complex is gained from a door underneath the pools. There are changing cubicles, showers, toilets and lockers (Euro 1 returnable) in this area, very similar to those you would find in a public swimming pool, apart from the fact that it's unisex. Access to the pools is up some tiled steps which can get very slippery when wet, which tends to be all the time since these are also the steps to get from the waterslide pool! Although I didn't venture into the outdoor pools, I had been warned the water temperature in the indoor pool was quite cold, however although it wasn't hot it wasn't the sort of breathtakingly cold you often find and the children's pool was positively bath-like! There was a lifeguard on duty and a sign telling you to speak to the lifeguard if you wanted swimming lessons.
The bar and restaurant are next to the swimming pools, overlooking them and are housed in an old farm building (probably a barn) which has been extensively refurbished.
The bar itself is quite small and can get very crowded, although in warmer weather there is a terrace outside.
The bar didn't open until 4.30pm during our stay, but this may change during high season. There is a computer in the bar for those of us that just have to have internet access - a telephone card is required for this which is available from reception. Although I managed to get on-line once, it wasn't working during the second week (John insists I blew it up)! Additionally, it is a French keyboard so not your usual QWERTY type and can get quite confusing (especially if, like me, you?re used to touch typing and keep forgetting that the keys are different!).
The restaurant is accessed through the bar and is quite large. They were offering two sittings, either 7pm or 9pm and, although it wasn't full the night we dined, there had been nights when they were fully booked on both sittings, so reserving a table is recommended. The food was extremely good and the portions themselves were of a good size. They do a set menu for Euro 13.50 comprising either pork terrine (pâté) or soup to start, veal blanquette, trout with almonds or spaghetti bolognaise as a main course and a choice of dessert. The a la carte menu was very reasonably priced with a variety of starters and meat, fish, poultry and pasta main dishes. Desserts tended to be a dessert of the day and a vast selection of ice cream (all Carte D'Or in an amazing array of flavours). John decided that he wanted to try the escargots and thoroughly enjoyed them, likening them to cockles in texture and taste, but obviously with garlic butter! He followed this with veal blanquette, which he said was so tender it just melted in the mouth - delicious. I had the pâté followed by lamb with a rosemary sauce and ice cream. They also do a set menu for the kids priced at about Euro 6.50 with a choice of saucisse (hot dog sausages - they're the staple for kids in France) and chips, ham and cheese pizza or spaghetti bolognaise followed by ice cream. The portions were, if anything, sligh
tly large for our children, although they would probably be just about right for a 10-12 year old.
Although we didn't try the take-away (prêt a porter), this was situated opposite the restaurant. It was not open during the first week we were there but take-away meals could still be bought via the restaurant.
There are two main play areas, a small one next to the Epicerie with swings, a slide and small climbing frame. The larger play area is next to the lake. This has a large climbing frame with slide, rope bridges, fireman's pole and swings. There are also some small wooden playhouses, a roundabout and a rocking horse. All these items are free for everyone to use. Our 2 year old used to love the large play area so much that she would to take herself off there regularly (usually when we were preparing food or our back's were turned) and we used to have to go and retrieve her (with much kicking and screaming)!
Next to the lake and large play area are 3 trampolines (Euro 2 for 15 mins), a bouncy castle (Euro 2 for 15 mins), a carousel (Euro 2 for about 5 minutes) and mini-go carts (Euro 2 for about 4 or 5 laps). Payment for these is made at the kiosk, where you can also hire pedallos (Euro 8 for 30 mins - max of 5 people - 6 if there are only a couple of adults and the rest are children) and 1, 2 or 3 man canoes (Euro 2, 4 or 6 respectively for 30 minutes). To save money you can buy a card for use on all of these which will give you free goes - a Euro 10 card is worth Euro 14, a Euro 20 card is worth Euro 30 and a Euro 40 card is worth Euro 80, so it's definitely worth investing in one of these (we bought a Euro 40 card and could have probably done with two). Ice creams, sweets and hot and cold drinks can also be purchased at the kiosk (I highly recommend the coffee).
For those of you that are avid anglers, there is fishing round the lake (although I'm not sure if this is paid for at reception or
the kiosk). Equipment can be hired or bought from the kiosk and bait can also be bought from there.
THE SURROUNDING AREA
The nearest village is Vic-Sur-Aisne, which is a short walk away. There is a Bar/Tabac, Post Office, supermarket (Intermarhé), and a few other shops as well as two restaurants. Although we didn't try the restaurants ourselves, we spoke to several people who had and they were both highly recommended. There is also the Chateau or Donjon which is right in the middle of the village. However this is only open to the public for a couple of months in the summer. Market day is on a Wednesday.
The nearest large town (or city) is Soissons which is about a 15 minute drive away on the N31. This is dominated by the Cathedral (unfortunately, it was closed for lunch when we visited). There are a variety of shops and restaurants in the centre, so the shopaholics among you should be relatively happy! There is also a commercial centre with a variety of shops including DIY stores, shoe shops and toy shops and a large Cora hypermarket. There is also a smaller Champion supermarket if you just can't face a huge store!
In the other direction on the N31 is Compiègne, which is about 30 minutes away. This is a much larger town and has a huge variety of tourist attractions, including the Chateau, the site of the signing of the Armistice and various museums as well as an enormous forest. Again there are a huge number of shops and restaurants and market day is on a Wednesday. Our favoured hypermarket (Carrfour) is just outside of Compiègne in Vennet, where there is another large commercial centre.
Central Paris is just over an hour away by car. However, the campsite has regular coach trips to Central Paris (alternate days while we were there), so there is no need to drive yourself! The coach left the site at approximately 7.50 am and arrived in Central Paris at about 9.15 - you are then left to your o
wn devices until the coach picks you up again at about 6.45 pm. If you're going for a day of sightseeing, it's worth getting to some of the sights by Batobus on the Seine. You can get a day ticket which entitles you to get on and off as many times as you want (unlike most of the boats which are just tours), and has a variety of stops including Champs Elysee, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and The Louvre - this cuts down on an enormous amount of walking. Additionally if you plan to visit a lot of museums or monuments, then you can buy a ticket that entitles you to free entry into most of the major attractions (although the Eiffel Tower is not one of them).
Disneyland Paris is about an hour away and again the campsite have regular coach trips there (again, alternate days during our holiday). I'm not going to go into details here as there are enough reviews already written about it!
Parc Asterix is about 40 minutes away. We found this a far more relaxing experience than Disneyland with a lot more for the younger children to do. It is also cheaper than Disneyland. A full review will be written soon!
We liked this site so much, we are going back again during the October Half Term and again next Easter. We found all the staff friendly and helpful and there was plenty to do for both the younger and older children.
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