I HAVE to admit, when we arranged our Eurocamp holiday, I was ever so slightly hesitant about the “camp” part.

While I do like the freedom of a self-catering holiday, with two young children I wasn’t sure I was ready to get the sleeping bags out just yet.

But that’s the beauty of Eurocamp – your holiday can be as basic or as luxurious as you like.

With holiday parks of varying sizes all over Europe, you really are spoiled for choice when it comes to picking your destination.

But with a five-year-old and a two-year-old we wanted to make the journey as easy as possible, so we opted for Domaine de Drancourt in Picardy, less than two hours’ drive from Calais.

With a huge range of children’s entertainment on offer (if they’re happy, we’re happy), the park is situated in the grounds of a castle – about as far from my vision of camping in a soggy tent in a muddy field as possible.

We were provided with easy-to-follow directions and, despite it being the bank holiday weekend, the roads were infinitely clearer than those in the UK were, meaning it was a pleasant journey to our destination.

When we arrived a young Eurocamp employee was on hand to lead us directly to our accommodation – a threebedroom Horizon mobile home with decking, which was deceptively spacious and exceptionally clean.

Linen was provided, which certainly lightened the luggage load (we definitely needed the extra blankets on the beds as the nights were surprisingly chilly) and we were also provided with a “rumble truck”, in which to transport the children on the five-minute walk to and from the swimming pool and main reception area.

Despite the size of the park – which also offers “bringyour- own tent” sites, “readymade” tents and smaller mobile homes – there was a quiet atmosphere which we later discovered was partly due to it being right at the tail end of the French season.

Sadly, this also meant several of the children’s activities, including lessons in how to ride a bike, had already finished for the summer.

We stayed on site for the first day or so of our week’s stay, exploring the mini-golf, play park, various types of cycle and children’s pedal car for hire and the three swimming pools.

The indoor one was a little on the cold side for me, but the children didn’t seem to mind, quite happily spending an hour climbing out and jumping in again.

Although there is a restaurant and take-away service at the parc, it didn’t open until 6.30pm, so we cooked most of our main meals with food we had taken with us and bought from the nearby hypermarket, although there is also a small shop on site.

But the children were perfectly happy making friends and creating dens and mud pies in front of the mobile home while we prepared our meals.

It was rather too cold after sundown to enjoy dinner on the decked area of our accommodation, but it would have made for wonderfully relaxing evenings earlier in the season.

After chilling out on site for a couple of days, it was time for a little more adventurous exploring. The beautifullyquaint little town of Saint- Valery-sur-Somme made for a charming visit.

With its narrow streets, numerous creperies and peaceful harbour, we spent a relaxing time wandering around and taking in the local sights before enjoying lunch at one of the many al fresco restaurants.

The rain unfortunately hindered our attempts to visit the long sandy beach at nearby Le Crotoy, so it was more shops and lunch, but the seaside town would have been perfect for children in warmer weather, with a play park along the front and a range of end-of-the-pier-type rides for little ones to enjoy.

Cayeux-sur-Mer is also worth a visit. The town itself is full of character, if fairly quiet, and we enjoyed another al fresco lunch after hunting for fossils on the pebble beach.

The town of Abbeville and the beaches of Quend and Fort-Mahon are also within easy reach, but we decided to venture a little further afield and travelled just over an hour to the giant Nausicaa aquarium in Bologne-sur-Mer.

Home to 36,000 animals, an exhibit area of 5,000 square metres and 4.5 million litres of water, it was certainly one of the most impressive aquariums I’ve visited.

From the tranquil beauty of the jellyfish housed in waterfilled pillars to the silent strength of the sharks in the enormous, floor to ceiling tank, the children were transfixed by everything.

A little pricey, but well worth a visit.

Our final day or so was spent mooching on site, enjoying more of the children’s activities including pony rides and a visiting merry-go-round and candy floss stall, and swimming.

A little more sun would have been nice, but all in all, a great family holiday.

Getting there

Eurocamp offers the widest selection of outdoor family holidays on its ‘parcs’ throughout
Europe; with a range of activities and kids’ clubs.

Plus, there’s a fantastic choice of accommodation, including stylish mobile homes, lodges, modern chalets, bungalows, and fully equipped ‘Classic’ and ‘Safari’ tents.

A seven-night break from March 30, 2013 staying at Eurocamp’s Domaine de Drancourt parc in a two bedroom Horizon Midi mobile home (sleeps 6, maximum 4 adults) with decking costs from just £399 for the whole family, accommodation only.

For more information, call 0844 406 0552 or visit eurocamp. co.uk.