Hi John
I too am looking at a key camp holiday next year, when you say standards went down, can I aask in what respect. I have looked at the website you have provided and I am still swaying towards key camp as I am looking to utilise the kids clubs activities, which are run by English staff. However your comments may make me think again.
Thanks

Hi Kerri, last year was just a catalogue of disaster, when we arrived the caravan was filthy, grease on the cooker, dirty carpets and you could not go in one of the toilets for the smell of stale urine. It took us 3 hours to find a rep and another 3 hours for them to get someone to clean the place. I am afraid to say things went downhill from there, the simplest of thing like getting the gas changed would take a whole day, much of that spent trying to find a keycamp rep as they would be out cleaning etc.
As for the kids club I am afraid I can only speak for Le Ranolien but these would be cancelled at a moments notice with no explanation and although they advertised trips to horseriding, mountainbiking and other things, what they dont tell you until you turn up to drop the kids off is that they do not provide transport and expect you to drive the kids AND the reps to the destination and collect them, a bit pointless if you are planning some time away from the kids. I spoke to several people who had come on a two centre holiday and they said that at the first camp the Keycamp staff were exactly the same.
In contrast I spoke to several people who were there with Yelloh and the service provided by them was superb. They have 4 people who spend all day just going around changing gas and dealing with any problems which may arise.
Yelloh run their own kids clubs and they are for any nationalities so there are certainly no language problems and any time we saw these clubs moving around the site they seemed to be having a whale of a time.
If it is any easier pm a phone number or I will pm you mine and I will tell you all about it, but I would certainly recomend Yelloh.

John

Hi Kerri,

My experience with Keycamps has been rather different to Johns.

We stayed at Chateau les Eaux near Granville in Normandy for 3 weeks May/June. All facilities were available and spotless, never had to wait more than 5 mins for a rep. and they were extremely helpful.

Going back for 3 weeks next year.

Patka

Thanks for both replies. I have looked at the website for Yelloh but they do not go to the campsite I was interested in.
Thanks for your response Patka I think it is always nice to hear two completely different points of view.

Hi - I can also recommend Eurocamp and Canvas having stayed with them both. If you can afford it I would definately go for the mobile home option.

Gill

We just got back from the le Ranolien on saturday. Had 3 weeks there with yellohvillage. The weather was fine and the whole site was very good.

Not the best we've been to but the best holiday we've had.

The french staff are not that friendly and the yellohvillage kids club had only one rep who spoke english. lots of the english kids did not like the clubs because of this and avoided them.

Yellohvillage do provide different accomadation but you have to leave the place spotless or loose your deposit. 150euro.
So you will find yourself cleaning. Something we do anyway but this time it was on the back of our minds more so.

We found some great beaches, you will need to drive to find these.

As you may know the roads in france are great and have picnic areas.

I will let anyone going to the Ranolien into a secret.

Drive from the site to the Planetarium and along the road is a sign for a picnic area and toilet. STOP use it, look around the hedge and you will find one of the best beaches in the area. The tide goes out and it is shallow enough to pull the kids in a dingy for ages. We spent a good couple of long days there. Fantasic rockpooling.
And few other tourist.

Loved the whole area.

Wont be going back with yellohvillage because of the kids clubs and unfriendly french staff.

We love this type of holiday. We've been with keycamp elsewhere but for next year we will consider Canvas as the age groups for the kids clubs will suit both of our kids.

We take the kids bikes and scooters on holiday. There is so much to consider with these and as ever you may not always get it right.
But we are learning fast. Hope this helps.

Thanks for that info Cool4cat, it certainly sounds as though the staff have changed since last year. We are staying in one of the Sept Illes chalets by the entrance to the site.In regards to the cleaning we have taken the optional supplement at 40 Euros to have them clean the chalet when we leave, we literally just walk out. I am glad you enjoyed your holiday.

John

John

We stayed in exactly that place which is much better than the rest of the site. We were spoilt.

We tried very hard to like the french this year and spoke french whenever possible. I would be interested to hear your views after your trip.

I have a hunch recent politics and the olympics have changed the very opinionated french.

I hope this year we were very unlucky with the people we came accross.

Anyway I know you'll like the spot it made a great difference to us

Enjoy

Hi guys, we're offf to Le Ranolien on Friday (Yipppeee), but .....
I am rather concerned at the last couple of posts re cleaning etc.
Yes I will have to pay the 150 euro deposit and ususally leave our holiday accomodation in a reasonable condition. I have never yet had to pay anyone any extra money to clean after we had used it. But I am concerned at the thought of scrubbing & cleaning on our last day - this is a holiday for god's sake!!
I tried to book a Sept Isles cottage, but was told there were none available when we booked in Feb !!! I wasn't aware of this extra 40 euro charge for cleaning but would be happy to pay it if it meant we wouldn't lose the 150 Euro deposit!
So how do I do this - ask at reception on arrival ??
Advice please all you knowledgeable folks out there!!
Plu - what is the weather doing over there? Not good eh guys!!??
Aw shucks!! Still never mind - have to think of a few distractions !!!

Terri

Hi Terri, not long to go now then. I assume the cleaning option is a standard option, when we booked we were in a queue of 5 or 6 people and all of them were offered this option. One or two even refused it.
I think when you book in you will be asked about it, if not just ask them. In regards to the weather, we go every year for the last week inAugust and the first week in September and we have never lost more than 2 days to rain, and there are many inside options for these days. Dont get me wrong it is not the time of year for sun worshippers but it is very comfortable in shorts and t shirts with a light jacket for later on in the evenings.
I caught the tale end of a news report on the radio today and they mentioned Brittany having a drought and forest fires but I cant find any more about it. See you on Saturday, drive safe.

John

terri

We only knew about the 40 euro for cleaning when we got there.
I should not worry too much about it. Nobody came to check the standard of our cabin before we left as they said they would.

If we later find we have lost our deposit or a percentage of it because of breakages or so on I would not be very unhappy. The place was spotless.
Its one of those niggles that makes you realise the french do it slightly different.

I think to pay 30 odd quid is a ripp off for what i saw these cleaners do.
Sure if you can afford it go for it. Not me.

We got a very nice tan by spending long warm days at the beach but take something warm to wear in the evenings

The area around the site is fantastic

Despite the niggles I would still give this site and holiday a good 8/9 out of 10

Hi Guys, thanks for your replies, guess I'll just relax and try to sort it on arrival. I agree that I wouldn't really mind losing some of the deposit for breakage/cleaning, but not the whole 150€. now that would annoy me
I think the whole deposit for extra cleaning thing is a big c o n anyway as surely they have to clean it anyway?? And standards of cleanliness are very subjective also, what's acceptable to one person is filthy to another.
Still that's enough talking about cleaning - doing my head in - I'm going on holiday and now can't wait
See you Saturday, John

Terri

Well, we're back from le ranolien - had a good time , lovely site, great setting, a lovely hol. But...
just looked on my bank account and saw that I have been billed for £51.87 from le ranolien. Now I can only assume that this is for cleaning and I am not amused.
following on from everything that was said on another thread, i was expecting to be asked for the !50 euro deposit but was instead asked for my card no. That did ring bells I must say but like a fool i gave it.
The place was immaculate when we left and we took pics to prove it.
I'm gonna be on the phone to them first thing in the morning - I am really off with them I can tell you John.
Any suggestions anyone?
Terri

Hi
Sorry to hear about your experience, one of the first things I would suggest you do, is contact your card provider and register the transaction as "in dispute" they will then investigate it for you and provide assistance.

Hi Kerry, thanks for that, yes I would normally have done that - have found that to work beforee, but unfortunately this was my debit rather than credit card -
rng the english head office and they knew nothingof it - they said the camp had not told them anything and that they would ring them then ring me back. So watch this space.
I get really mad when people try to rip me off (or anyone else for that matter). Grrrrr
It was a good hol though & its a lovely place - I'd forgotten how much we used to enjoy our French trips when our kids were little.
Next year a longer touring hol I think - just the 2 of us so plenty of space to bring back lots of goodies. Best start planning now methinks - for what is life without a holiday to be planing!!

Terri

Oooops silly me!!
It appears that the money in question was from a meal for all 5 of us at the creperie one night
Who's a silly 'billy' then?
Still that's Ok at least I know now and the Yelloh village people sorted it out OK. That's always the test of a good company I think - how they deal with you when you have a problem or when things go wrong.
So i'm happy now
Terri

Terri .... you have also mentioned this charge in another topic:

http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=480759#480759

Would you like to update that topic too, or would you prefer that I just remove posts in both topics which refer to the charge ?

David

Thanks david for the reminder - I've copied my post to the other thread.
Cheers

My 2 boys (5 and 10) want to camp so I am thinking of booking a tent through Key Camp at Les Clarys Plage during July.

Can anyone offer any hints 'n tips, do's / don'ts and whether this site is OK for noise / crowds and swimming attire as I heard you can't wear swim short, just speedos.

Also has anyone stayed in one of these tents?

Thanks