We spent two weeks in Normandy in June with our one-year-old, based at Camping La Capricieuse in Luc-sur-Mer.
What I had not expected was that the best part of the whole fortnight would turn out to be a war cemetery.
Getting there
We sailed with Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth to Caen, arriving at Ouistreham. The crossing was about six hours, leaving at 8am, which was ideal. We did an early start, booked a cabin, and our toddler napped on the bed in there for an hour or so. From the terminal it was only a fifteen or twenty minute drive to the site.
Two warnings about the ferry itself. The soft play on board was practically non-existent, just a small room with some digital games. And the dining is tricky, because the outlets close at fairly random times.
Take snacks. Twice as many as you think you will need.
The site
The grounds are impeccably managed and surpassed my expectations. There is an indoor pool and an outdoor pool, a good outdoor playground, and a soft play that was an absolute godsend.
The cabin was surprisingly spacious. Wonderful blackout shutters, which anyone travelling with a small child will understand the value of, and a decent sized fridge freezer. There is a good coffee machine, which produced the early morning espressos that functioned as life force for the fortnight.
Sitting out on our decking with a beer was a large part of the holiday, and I have no regrets about that.
The heat
We were unfortunate enough to be there during a heatwave, and there is no air conditioning. Our son's room reached 38°C at one point.
We were unlucky, but with climate change as it is, I suspect this could become an ongoing issue rather than a one off. I don't think any of the cabins have air conditioning.
In the end we drove to Mr Bricolage and bought a fan, which I would do again without hesitating. We also spent a certain amount of the holiday cooling down in air conditioned supermarkets, which is not what you picture when you book a fortnight in France, but there we are.
No oven
The cabin has a hob but no oven, which is worth knowing before you plan two weeks of meals.
We took an air fryer and a slow cooker with us, and between them they covered everything we wanted to cook. If you are driving over on the ferry anyway, the space they take up is nothing compared to what they save you.
Luc-sur-Mer and getting supplies
The town and the beach are a ten minute walk from the site. We spent a lot of time in the Parc de la Baleine and mooching around the shops.
For food, there is a Carrefour City within a ten minute walk and a larger Hyper U about ten minutes away by car.
It is quiet. We liked it that way.
What we did
Beyond the supermarket air conditioning, we got to:
Parc de la Baleine in Luc-sur-Mer, which we went back to repeatedly
Maison des Produits Régionaux at Douvres-la-Délivrande
Parc de la Colline aux Oiseaux in Caen
Pegasus Bridge
The Commonwealth war graves at Ranville
We also tried the soft play at Girafou. The staff were lovely, but it is not really set up for a one-year-old, and there is a very dodgy staircase leading up to the monorail that gave me palpitations, because our son kept climbing it. Everyone else seemed very relaxed about the whole thing. I was not.
The war graves at Ranville were the best part of the trip for me. Beautifully kept, tranquil and very moving. I had not anticipated that a cemetery would be the thing I remembered most from a holiday with a toddler, but it was.
Eating
We mostly ate in, but got takeaway from the onsite restaurant more than once. The pizza was excellent. The burgers were not.
One practical tip: if you are ringing to order a takeaway, have Google Translate open. Our French is rusty and we struggled.
What it cost
Around €1,900 for the fortnight, plus another £300 for the ferry.
We booked directly with Yelloh rather than through an agent. They run a loyalty scheme where you earn points for every night you stay at a Yelloh Village site, as long as you book direct, and the points go towards free nights, pitch upgrades or accommodation upgrades. Worth knowing if you think you might go back to one of their sites.
Pay the cleaning fee. We did, and we were so glad we had, because you really do not want to be cleaning a cabin before check out with a one-year-old attached to you.
Would we go back?
One hundred percent, but when our son is a little older.
He is not into pools yet, and he still naps in the afternoon, which eats a chunk of every day. There is a huge amount to do in the area that he would get far more out of in a couple of years.
So: a lovely site in a quiet spot with excellent blackout shutters, ten minutes from a beach, and a part of France worth taking your time over. Just go in knowing about the oven, the heat and the cleaning fee.