France Passion Yes or No

[kelly58]

We have the usual Aires Books / Guides and ASCI campsite guide having toured France since 2007  mostly stopping on Aires, but have not yet subscribed to the France Passion network. @ £25 for the privilage to use the F/P network is it worth the outlay . Users comments are more than welcome , Thanks..

[Basil]

You will, as usual, find divided and polorised opinion on this one. I can only speak of our own experience where we bought the book for one year but found every 'site' we tried was either full, poor quality, or you felt very very obligated to spend loads on the goods for sale making it feel a bit like a captive 'audience'. Decided never to buy again and haven't, not worth the outlay in my view.

 

Bas

[Retread24800]

On balance I find myself supporting this scheme, the sites I have visited have always been welcoming and made sure that we were positioned comfortably, There is, of course, a certain pressure to support their enterprise, I.e buy wine from them, but as I buy wine it seems sensible to do so after a tasting and in exchange for a nights camping a bargain. I found the vignerons passion when lecturing us on their wines educational and inspiring, I would have gladly paid for a visit to their cellars but it was all there for the price of a bottle or so. As for the £25 charge , its only two nights camp fees so relatively unimportant. so to précis, If you are a lover of rural produce go for it, the stories you will be able to tell afterwards and the insight into rural France will enrich your stay here. If the site is full so be it just shows how popular this form of camping is :-)

[snowie]

Hi there;

we would rather stay at France Passion sites than most of the Aires we've passed.

We do not feel obliged to buy anything rather the opposite; we choose F-Ps that sell stuff we use, chicken, pork, trout, cheese, charcuterie cider etc, and we buy there rather than at supermarkets.

We spend on average 10-5 euro, and find that we can buy the basis of 2 or 3 meals.

We don't search out vineyards as we find the wines outside our normal price range.

We shall buy a new guide as soon as the existing one expires.

Some sites are better than others; some are excellent, it depends what you are looking for.

 

I'd recommend all of the ones we've stayed at, and hope that continues. We have moved on at several as they were not what we were expecting, and we go on holiday for enjoyable locations primarily,

 

enjoy

alan b

[Brit_Stops]

I'm very firmly in the "yes" camp on this one, for all the reasons already cited above.

 

A big plus for us was actually getting to meet the locals on their home turf. A great experience.

 

An of course there'd be no Brit Stops if it weren't for our own FP experiences... :-D

 

Steve

[FRANKP60]

Hi tried it for a year ,4 places we tried to stop at where all full.Did stop at wine growers near St Emillion not F P ,Was charged only 5 euroes for night ,but while I used their loo at office before we departed the wife spent 12 euroes on a bottle of wine!!!!!.Dear nights stop.

[alan k]

We used France Passion on last touring trip to France about 4 years ago, and have bought a book again this year as we will be in France for 4 weeks or so.

 

Last time we probably stayed at 4 oout of 5 sites we looked for, the others were either "not nice locations" in our opinion or we couldn't find the site. We stayed at farms (juicy steaks), wine growers ( cheap wine, free tasting), we also had cheap veg and fruit, and positively our best site in Vertus in Champagne. We tasted his champagne with Michel Collard and his wife and had avery nice hour or two chatting about our respective families. We enjoyed the champagne so much we bought a mixed case of champagne. The following year we collected 4 cases for our son's wedding.

 

At one sites we were adopted by the farm dog, it slept just under the van by the step.

 

Its an interesting way to see French rural life and to see how friendly many people are especially if you try to converse even in pidgin french.

 

cheers alan

[snowie]

Basil - 2012-04-01 11:33 AM

 

.................. or you felt very very obligated to spend loads on the goods for sale making it feel a bit like a captive 'audience'

Bas

 

I've re-read the replies on this question, and I think that "Basil's" response is very correct; but I think it is also very "English" I don't think that the French feel at all obligated to buy anything, introduce themselves to the owners or arrive at reasonable times! this is a personal view, based on only 3 trips: but I've noticed a very different approach to using France Passion.

So just get out there and enjoy another aspect of France,

cheers,

alan b

[vindiboy]

Basil - 2012-04-01 11:33 AMYou will, as usual, find divided and polorised opinion on this one. I can only speak of our own experience where we bought the book for one year but found every 'site' we tried was either full, poor quality, or you felt very very obligated to spend loads on the goods for sale making it feel a bit like a captive 'audience'. Decided never to buy again and haven't, not worth the outlay in my view.Bas

I fully agree with the above and would add that the sites we used were hard to find, [Pre sat nav ] and the lanes to some of them were difficult with an 8 metre van, I always felt that I was intruding on peoples privacy and as  previous poster stated felt obligated to buy stuff I did not really want, Prefer the Aires every time.