Camping La Baume and La Palmeraie are 2 large campsites linked together on the outskirts of Frejus, the brochures show a fantastic array of pools and slides which look near pefect. The truth is somewhat different, the pools themselves have a rough concrete finish which is painted this may be non slip but every child in the parc has grazes to hands, feet and knees.

The worst problem though is the waterslides which are also made out of concrete. At La Palmeraie the steps up to the slides are made out of wooden sleepers which are very slippery when wet, the sleepers are set into concrete walls with open gaps between which is very scary for youngsters.

The slides at La Baume are lethal, there is a daily catalogue of injuries ranging from the usual scrapes and bruises up to serious head wounds. My 9 year old daughter was sliding sensibly in the proper seated position when she banged her head at the end of the slide (probably something to do with the curve of the slide), the impact with the concrete slide caused a gaping wound to her right eyebrow which required 5 stitches at the local hospital. After my daughters accident I paid close attention to the pools and was amazed to find that there was a constant stream of injuries with trips to the hospital and/or visits by the Pompiers (ambulance) a daily occurance. The accidents could not all be put down to larking around as the victims included young children, teenagers and middle aged men and women too. One poor woman was taken out on a backboard with a neck brace and oxygen.

I have been assured that the campsite and pools meet all local safety requirements but it can only be a matter of time before there is a really serious accident or even a fatality. I feel that the only way to get anything done here is to vote with your wallets and avoid these sites, perhaps that will encourage the owners to bring the pool facilities up to the proper standards.