Tent camping in France: If you have a site relating to tent camping in France and you would like to see it featured here then please email camp@campingmobilehomesholidays.co.uk

Ever since I was able to drive legally, which is 45 years ago this May 2009, I always went tent camping in France with three other lads during the summer holidays. Two trips were made in a Hillman Imp which was roughly the same size as a Mini and which was rather cramped for space with 4 six footers plus luggage, so the tents and some other bits went on a roof rack which I remember used to keep working loose. There was no EU or Autoroutes in those days just roads like we had here so travel was quite slow compared to the present day, and slower still on the approach to a village because they nearly all had cobbled streets! But on those holidays we four lads began to appreciate the beauty and vastness of France, two things which have stayed with me ever since.

Tent camping then was virtually all there was to be had unless you hired a touring caravan for a week or two, but there certainly wasn't the choice or the variety of accommodation available on camping sites that we have today.However, unless I have things slightly wrong there are 3 main types of tents which are mainly in use for camping these days and two of those are what I call DIY camping tents, ie, ones which you pack up and put in the car boot or roof box and erect when you arrive somewhere in France and the other sort which are trailer tents, and very nice they are too.

Both of the above you take with you to your chosen French campsite and they have the advantage that you can just turn up at the campsite gates and get a pitch as you rarely need to book, not only that but you can move on to another location as the mood takes you. But the thrird type of tent camping you find in France is where you book a holiday with one of the camping companies which specialise in tent camping as opposed to offering mobile home accommodation.

These tents are custom made for couples and families and come with just about all the facilities and bits and pieces that you will need for a lovely holidays. They normally include (different companies may differ her so please check before booking) proper beds though it best to ask if they supply bedding (most do but make a small charge) or whether you have to take your own. You will find that there is a cooker + cooking utensils large enough for family use, and also a fridge with a freezer compartment. Most people want to know about the washing and toilet facilities and by law in France they have to be near to where the tents are pitched, so you won't have to walk too far at all.

France is also beginning to catch up with the UK in offering Yurt camping holidays - Yurts are large padded felt tents which the Mongolians used hundreds of years ago and maybe still do - indeed the Laps use them still when they are moving their herds of reindeer from one place to another. One thing I have noticed since we set up this site is that all the Yurt camping sites in France that I have been in contact with are owned and operated by expat Brits, so no language problem there then.

Yurt tent camping or Glamping as it is also known (Glamorous luxury camping) is far more widely known in France than Tipi camping about which I have doubts as to whether it will be a serious contender in the long term camping holiday stakes. My opinion, for what it's worth, is that some enterprising chap resurrected Yurts and dipped a toe in the leisure market with them, and then along came a contender who thought he or she would compete with Tipis like the American Indians used, but I seriously don't think Tipis will catch on in the same way that Yurts have either here in the UK or in France.