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A week away from Nice... July 2004

PGL Home Page PGL Family Active Holidays Domaine de Segries mappy.com (great for calculating the route) easyjet (book your flight to Nice) europcar (rent your car through the easyjet website and drive to Vallon directly from Nice airport)

This holiday was recommended in the Sunday Times 2.1.05 in their top 100 holidays for 2005. Please click here to read the article. You may have to register first.

The daughter and I tackle the rapids. The Ardeche River, Vallon Pont D'Arc, France. with PGL Family Active holidays July 2004

An Activity course not just for the children...

PGL Family Active Holiday Domaine de Segries, Ardeche, France, July 2004

This Summer 2004 the daughter and I spent the full eight weeks of the school summer holiday in Nice with a week out in the Ardeche region of France on an activity course. This was a complete change from Nice and designed to keep the daughter and I out of mischief while the dear husband was hard at work in Liverpool. PGL, an established UK company, offer 'Family Active' courses at four venues in France. The nearest to Nice is this one based at Domaine de Segries not far from Vallon Pont d'Arc. It's about a three and a half hour drive from Nice airport. It is an activity based holiday for the whole family, parents and their children aged 7 - 17 years. I hired a car from Eurocar via the easyJet website and set off from Nice airport. It was easy to find and a straight-forward route. I have to say it was one of the best weeks we have ever had: seven days of time-tabled (voluntary) activities from 9am through to 11pm and no cooking or cleaning to worry about. Lovely to have all the organisational responsibility taken away from you. We stayed in a 'village' of 10 wooden chalets, 2 bedrooms (luxury after our studio in Nice) fridge and kitchen area, shower room and separate loo and a large veranda. The chalets could hold about six people so the daughter and I were rattling around our chalet which meant it didn't get too hot either with just the two of us. The chalets were cleaned every day, the fruit bowl topped up plus the odd bottle of wine and beer would appear in the fridge. The kitchens had fridges with small freezer compartments - useful fior freezing  a bottle of water to last all next day and there were always plenty of crisps and cakes left in the chalet every day. Basic tea/coffee making equipment is also provided. Breakfast and dinner were taken in a large shaded restaurant area by a stone farm house and packed lunches were provided for the days out. Breakfast was a buffet, help yourself with a good choice of cereals (why are husbands always so pleased to see AllBran?), pastries, croissants etc bread, yoghurts, juice and fruit. The coffee machine was switched on all day long. There is no chance that you will go hungry on this holiday but if you have forgotten any essentials or want even more provisions, then there is a large Intermarche supermarket in the main town of Vallon Pont d'Arc, about 10 minutes drive away. Lunches were usually a picnic by the river, a large chunk of baguette, with salad and tuna, cheese, ham  plus crisps fruit, cake and biscuits etc. Evening meals which included unlimited house wine for the adults, after the first night's buffet, were a choice of three starters, mains and puddings, I had things like ostrich steak, salmon, plenty of salads etc. One night there was an excellent barbecue. I really enjoyed the food and the daughter did too, although by the third night, a 'children's menu' had joined the main menu ie assorted hydrogenated nuggets plus chips. I let the daughter have burgers one night then she ate the normal food like the adults. The poor deprived thing. The activities were water-based as you would expect in this area of France. We completed a 2-day descent of the Ardeche river in a canoe, kayaking - passing under the famous Vallon Pont d'Arc, archery, high ropes, mountain biking, a Gorge walk as well as using the on-site swimming pool, various evening activites, mostly for the children. There was also a free day mid-week - I tracked down the only internet cafe in the area and felt much better after sending a few emails! At the end of the week, we were all presented with a certificate to show that we completed the Ardeche descent. It counts towards your child's National Record of Achievement too. My daughter was very proud taking it in to school in September for a 'show and tell'. I reckon that there were about forty-five of us; ten families in the ten chalets. We were the only 'single' family but it was fine and we were made to feel welcome by all the families and it was very easy to sit with and chat to any of the other nine families. The children ranged in age from about 8 to 17 and they all mucked in together with the big ones looking out for the little ones and the little ones in thrall of the big ones. The daughter said she had the best week of her life. She certainly had the longest week of her life as she was at the children's disco every night until 11pm, she's normally asleep by 8pm. All the activities including games on site and the disco were supervised by pgl staff who were enthusiastic, caring and friendly. They really made me feel old though... I think I will try and repeat this course next year, perhaps we will try the centre in the Dordogne next time or just come back here again. This time the husband wants to come too! (additional note, May 2005 - we are all booked for a repeat performance in the Ardeche again, August 2005, husband included this time) This is a great holiday for the whole family, for some of the families it was possibly the last time their teenage children would want to share a holiday family and it is a nice way to all join in something together but at your own level and with extra evening activities for the teenagers while the adults drink and gossip at the dinner table. It was a nice safe way for children to have a bit of independence, knowing that a parent was close at hand. Plus, it was great for the adults knowing that the children of all ages were supervised and enjoying themselves yet not too far away. I definitely recommend it as somewhere safe and welcoming if you are a single parent or, like me, have left a husband working back in the UK. As far as the activities were concerned I would say that some degree of fitness and a bit of courage were required plus a good swimming ability. The only truly frightening bit were the high ropes, I could feel my heart pounding against my ribs. Still, we all survived and felt fitter, healthier, and browner by the end of the week. You are sent a list of essential items to take, waterproof suncream should be top of your list. If anyone is tempted to try this holiday, get in touch with me and I'll give you a list of extra things to take which are not mentioned in the booklet. If you want to know anything else about this holiday, send me an email or visit the pgl website or telephone pgl directly. Say you got the info from me and who knows, they may give me a discount for next year!

The first day of a 2-day descent down the Ardeche. The daughter was in charge at the front of the canoe while I paddled and steered at the back.

The daughter (left) with best friend at PGL camp. These two made frineds within two minutes of arrival at the centre.

The daughter and me standing in front of the famous natural arch - the Vallon Pont d'Arc

The daughter enjoyed the archery and did quite well, hitting the target several times. You have to wear long-sleeved tops and 'closed' footwear ie no open-toe sandals for this activity.

This is where all the meals were served when we were on site. Free wine for the adults with the evening meals. In the distance, the building is the bar, disco and shop.

The daughter (on the left) enjoying time out with friends in the main bar and disco area. There is a popular tuck shop here too, plenty of pocket money required.

This 2-bed-roomed wooden chalet formed part of a 'villlage' of ten  chalets for the families staying at Domaine de Segries. They can sleep up to six people but it does get hot at night with this many. It was lovely - like a dolls-house.

Everyone rounded up for pre-dinner  evening games and actvities- after a days canoeing, funny how many of the parents declined this part.

Yes, that's me attempting the high ropes course. In this part, you had to climb up the telegraph pole, manoeuvre onto the wooden platform and leap onto the trapeze bar. Bit of an adrenalin moment there.

It's a long way up....

The Gorge walk. This was a gentle day, a walk, picnic and swim in the river. The only tricky bit was crossing the Ardeche river without slipping into the water, the pebbles are VERY slippery. Not deep though, only up to your knees.

The on-site swimming pool was very popular and always had a life guard on duty. Plenty of loungers and parasols for the parents.

a waterproof camera is essential We bought an underwater version of Sony's tiny Cyber-shot U digital camera in time for our sailing lessons in NIce but not in time for this Ardeche holiday. It would have been perfect as it was very difficult trying to keep the ordinary version of this camera dry and afloat AND deal with the rapids etc. Click here for more details or on the picture above. At the very least try and take a cheap disposable underwater camera.

Group photo of the ten families plus a few of the pgl staff by the Ardeche. July 2004 I'm second from the left and the daughter (already off with her new friends) is 7th from the right line of children.

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