Baby Friendly Belle Dune

  France, France
Tuesday, October 14, 2008

This month, our staff entry comes from Nick Vowles

"Belle Dune is the home of one of PV-Holidays' 16 family-friendly Holiday Villages in France.



As I've just started 1. A family and 2. Working with PV-Holidays I thought I'd give it a try and take my wife and our one year-old baby, Fred, for a holiday to see just how family-friendly it really is.



Getting to Belle Dune

The PV-Holidays Belle Dune Holiday Villages is on the Opal Coast at the top of France between Calais and Dieppe. We're based in Brighton so we decided to take the car (essential to cart all the baby stuff!) and took the Transmanche ferry from Newhaven - only 20 minutes away along the coast.

The Newhaven: Dieppe route used to have a bit of a bad reputation but we were very impressed; newly refurbished ferries with a choice of restaurants, nicely polished wooden floors, a kiddie play zone and a great outdoor viewing area on top of the boat, which Fred absolutely loved.

Top tip: we sat in an area close to the stairs, which we were able to fence off to create a mini-play area for Fred.

From Dieppe it took us about an hour to get to Belle Dune and when we got close, there were a number of supermarkets nearby so it was easy to stock up - the drive is quite beautiful in places.



Belle Dune Accommodation

Belle Dune is an'eco-friendly' holiday village, and you certainly get the feeling of this straightaway. Having parked up, we walked over a bridge across one of the two lakes to get to reception. The staff were very friendly and we were able to check in to our lakeside house straight away.



We were pleasantly surprised to find that our house had obviously been newly refurbished. Downstairs was a toilet and modern living room with kitchenette, dining area, sofa and chairs with doors opening on to the deck looking over the lake.



The deck was a big hit with Fred who would happily spend ages looking at the ducks, fish and so on - a perfect distraction at lunch times. Upstairs, were two bedrooms - one with a lakeside view - and a compact but modern and clean bathroom.



The team at reception had also provided a baby kit - including cot and baby seat - so we had a bit more space in the car.

The Holiday Village

As Belle Dune is a holiday village there's loads for the kids and Mum and Dad to do. There's an incredible indoor pool with lots of slides and wave machine (though Fred was still a bit young to make the most of this). Fred loved the farm - with goats, sheep, ducks, and even a pony.



Both Fred and I enjoyed our morning walks through the woods which surround the lakes.
As a very amateur golfer I also managed to get 9 holes in on the Belle Dune golf course site. This is one of the top golf courses in France - the scenery is amazing! We also hired a bike (with Fred on the back of mine) and had great fun cycling round the area - there are dedicated cycle paths so you feel quite safe.



We found the onsite catering facilities quite handy, too. The shop is very well stocked and does fantastic baguettes and croissants in the morning. The restaurant was also very handy - we went for the takeaway pizza option!

Surrounding Areas

There are also attractions and lots to do in the surrounding area. You can walk to the beach from Belle Dune, and Fort Mahon has a number of restaurants, bars and shops.

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If you really want to splash the cash, Berck Plage has a bit more to offer - the beautiful white sand beach has huge amounts of space for the kids to run around - or in Fred's case to crawl around. For information on nearby beaches and activities, pick up a leaflet from the Belle Dune reception"