Blog: family holiday and travel news

If you are looking for something a bit more active than lying on the beach this summer, why not consider an activity holiday park in France this summer. On an activity park you will find so many things to do including abseiling, boating, quad biking, horse riding, scuba diving and lots more.

Having never been on active holiday before we recently tested out the Ty Nadan holiday park in Brittany and what a great time we had.

The family favourite was the horse riding, with Ty Nadan having stables right next to the park.  With no experience of horse riding previously booked on to the beginner lesson and,  after some brief instructions and fitting of safety equipment, we were heading out in to the woods around the park on a mini trek.  The adults and children (youngest was 9) had a great time, so much so that as soon as we got back we were booking for the longer trek later in the week.

Next up was quad biking.  Now we will admit to having a healthy fear of seeing kids on quad bikes abroad – not least since they since to be a hospital visit in waiting – but at Ty Nadan they had an inflatable kids circuit with 50cc powered quad bikes.  So the children were able to have all the fun of quad biking in a much safer environment – they loved it. For older children and adults there was a bigger quad bike circuit and you were able to hire them to follow the trails around the parks and local area.

Of course holiday parks are great for water sports and Ty Nadan is no different, even though its not right on the coast.  It does have a river running through the park and they run kayak lessons and kayak adventures (3 hours plus) as well as allowing you to hire them.  When we were there the river was low so although you could do the beginner stuff on site, for the longer adventures they took you off site to long river stretches where you could paddle and see a lot of the local countryside.

We didn’t go on the scuba diving lessons, but did see them and all their equipment set out by one of the holiday parks deep swimming pools each morning.  Their is also a climbing and abseiling wall in the centre of the Ty Nadan park, right next to the badminton & basketball courts and table tennis tables.

If climbing through the trees and zip wires is your thing, then Ty Nadan had its own ‘go-ape’ style activities through the woods and over the river at the park.  And, its not just for the adults and tall children, there is a mini climbing adventure for the smaller members of your party including their own zip wire.  For those that want to shoot and fire things then there is a paintball (splashball for small children too) and archery.

Of course, added to all of the above is the usual holiday park swimming pool complexes that keep the children amused for hours while the adults chilled out on the sunbeds!

This was our first taste of an active holiday park in France and we loved it… we will do it again.  We visited Ty Nadan holiday park but there are other superb active holiday parks in France, so here are some to choose from:

• Val de Cantobre, Cantobre, Auvergne MC016. With a wooded backdrop to this lakeside setting, experience fishing, kayaking, canoeing, cycling, archery and more

• Ty Nadan, Brittany, Arzano BS015. Superb facilities include four pools (one indoor), spa, rock climbing, canoeing, paintballing, quad biking and more

• St Avit Loisirs, Le Bugue, Dordogne DR019. Kids clubs galore, Action Station, quad biking, rock climbing, boat trips, horse riding off parc, and more

• La Croix du Vieux Pont, Berny Rivière, Paris PA012. Action Station, four amazing pools, fishing, mini golf, canoeing and more