Eurocamping at Le Ranc Davaine Campsite, St Alban, Ardeche, France

We recently loaded the children and dogs into the car, and drove to the beautiful Ardeche region of France, where we stayed at the Eurocamp campsite ‘Le Ranc Davaine’. Eurotunnel was our preferred mode of Channel crossing, as we don’t like leaving our dogs unattended in the car.

We crossed on a late-night train, and drove 2-3 hours on near-empty toll roads until we pulled over in a service area for a few hours’ sleep. This is a tried and tested routine for us – we pack pillows and blankets, picnic food, and flasks of boiling hot water for coffee, tea and hot chocolate! Once we’ve found our ‘night spot’ (not too quiet, not too bright and busy) Huw gives the dogs a quick walk while I make coffee and hot choc and sort out the bedding. We then lock ourselves in the car and get 4-5 hours sleep, knowing we’ve taken a decent bite out of the long drive south.

Location

To describe where the Ardeche is … you take the ‘Autoroute du Soleil’ (A6/A7) as you would to the South of France, but before you reach the Mediterranean coast you turn off to the right! It’s in the south-east of France, just north of Avignon and Nîmes, with the Camargue beyond. The area is famous for its gorges, cave paintings, kayaking, vineyards, sweet chestnuts and nougat! We’ll talk more about what we did while in the Ardeche in subsequent posts.

Sunday Arrival

We arrived at the campsite on a Sunday afternoon. Luckily, we knew from previous trips to France that all supermarkets close at lunchtime that day. Because of the long drive, we were determined to not go anywhere the following day, so used our mobile phones to locate a supermarket near an exit of the toll road. We found one near Dijon, and stocked up on food for the evening and following day.

First Impressions of Campsite

Upon arriving at Le Ranc Davaine Campsite, having driven for an hour through some incredible countryside, it looks ‘ranch-like’. It’s in a very rural location. The Eurocamp staff were very welcoming, explaining the campsite layout, facilities, and answering our questions. We then went to the campsite reception to register our car’s registration with them. We then followed the map to our accommodation for the week.

Our Caravan

We are not new to Eurocamp holidays (we visited the Dordogne last year), so knew the approximate layout of the caravans, and what we needed to bring with us. A key item for any pet owners travelling with their dogs, are bungee cords. Inside every caravan you’ll find hanging on the wall in the double bedroom a ‘gate like thing’ .. it could be an airer, or a base for something, or a gate … no idea! This makes a perfect dog guard for the decking area though … just use the bungee cords to attach it to the two railings either side of the decking steps. You are then 100% enclosed and the dogs can run free and not escape!

Our caravan for this trip was a three-bedroomed Vista with air conditioning. Let me take you on a walk-through pictorial tour …

Tour of our Vista 3 Bedroom Caravan

Let’s start with a photo from the outside. We loved the location of the caravan, on the outer edge of the campsite. However, there wasn’t a huge amount of space to park (especially as Huw has a large car).

From the balcony decking, you have two double doors that open into the main living area. Here you’ll find the well-equipped kitchen that contains everything you’ll need to successfully self-cater for your stay.

There’s a sofa (converts to sofa bed), and an extending table. In this area you’ll also find a console table with wall plug (great for charging electronics), and the air conditioning.

The table was the perfect size for a quiet game of Backgammon with a lazy coffee and biscuit while the children were down at the pool …

The main bedroom has a double bed with overhead storage lockers as well as a large wardrobe. In the wardrobe you’ll find some wooden folding chairs for the dining table. There’s a mirror here too with a small shelf underneath. As you can see we opted for the bedding pack, to save some car boot space.

There’s a bunk bed room, with a wardrobe and drawers …

And a twin-bedded room, with a wardrobe and over-bed storage.

We loved the bathroom in our Vista. When Eurocamping we usually have a single bathroom that contains the toilet too. In this instance the toilet is opposite the bathroom in a separate room – it means the shower is larger and you have more space to dry etc. This is a much better layout!

There’s also a ‘mop and brush’ cupboard.

Essentials and Welcome Packs

On our arrival we were greeted by two packs. One was an Essential pack containing matches, cleaning sponges, washing up liquid, tea towel, all purpose cleaner, and a bar of soap.

There was also a Welcome pack. This was lovely and contained two small bottles of wine, two drinks for the children, some local olive oil, pots of jam, fruit juice cartons and a box containing tea bags, coffee, sugar, salt and creamer.

Outside

A lot of seating options are available on the decking (dining chairs, recliners, sun loungers); these surround a table that can easily seat 6-8, with parasol above. On the decking you’ll find a clothes airer.

What you won’t find here is a BBQ. You are in a woodland, so you can understand why, but it would have been lovely to have had one. Every Eurocamp we’ve stayed at before had a gas BBQ for us to use. The whole week was about outdoor living, as we spent very little time inside the actual caravan – the weather was glorious – it would have been lovely to have cooked outside too.

Campsite Features

We chose Le Ranc Devaine because of the pool, and because it is located in an area of France we’d not visited before. We knew we’d be far enough south for the children to get good use of the pool, and on day 1 that’s where they wanted to head.

The Pool

The pool complex is quite substantial and covers most things. There’s a good-sized indoor pool with a toddler pool and a jacuzzi. Outside there’s a large multi-shaped pool that has shallow areas, deeper areas, waterfalls, waterjets, waterslides and a single flume.

There are lots of sun loungers surrounding the pool. Next to this pool is a splashpark. Here’s the pool in various photos …

There is another pool nearer the entrance to the park. We never visited this, so not sure what it was like.

“Budgie Smugglers”

On the drive down to the campsite we looked at TripAdvisor to read some reviews of the site. One thing that cropped up time after time was the necessity for every male using the swimming pool to wear speedos. Trunks that look like shorts were forbidden, and you’ll get turned away by the staff. What kind of swimwear does Toby have? Shorts. He was in floods of tears in the car, believing he wouldn’t be allowed to go swimming until we could get to the shops the next day. He was so looking forward to using the pool, I felt so bad for not reading the rules sooner.

However, we mentioned this to the Eurocamp staff at the site – they’d not heard of it. We visited the pool to see what people were wearing … every teenage boy, and most men, were wearing shorts. So, the children changed and went in too. They visited the pool every day we were there and they were never challenged. Nor was Huw when he went swimming. So, I’m not sure what TripAdvisor was on about, going by our experience.

Entertainment

To be honest, we enjoyed ‘just chilling’ at the pool and at our caravan so much, we didn’t really make any use of the activities available. The campsite has a restaurant with large seating capacity close to the pool. We can’t comment about the quality of food, or speed of service, as we didn’t use it.

There are also evening shows, but again we didn’t venture down to watch any.

Shop

On-site there is a shop that sells everything from fresh daily bread, to swimming SHORTS (!), flipflops and colouring pencils … everything rather reasonably priced given that you’re a short drive away from the nearest stores.

Activities for the Children

There is a kids’ club on the campsite – when we visited the Eurocamp club hadn’t started for the season. The site club is spoken in French, to cater for the majority of the children. This wouldn’t have bothered Millie-Mae or Toby, but there was no activity that they fancied doing.

They had a board with all the activities on offer on each day …

Toby and Millie-Mae just wanted to spend all their time at the pool!

There’s a good football pitch …

… along with basketball court …

… a climbing area for older children …

… and a small play area for young children …

Pet Friendly

Lots of people had their dogs with them. We never really met them while out walking, but they barked at Izzy and Jack when we passed their caravans! Because the weather was really warm (28-30 degrees) the dogs much preferred resting in the shade during the day, and the balcony on our caravan was perfect for this. When it got really hot, they stayed in the caravan, under the air conditioning.

First thing in the morning, and last thing at night, we walked them down to the river. This is accessed directly from the campsite. The dogs absolutely loved it. They raced straight into the river for a swim and to cool down!

Of course, the dogs came out and about with us during the week (we never left them alone). They appreciated the air con in the car, but also loved walking through the gorges and along the rivers. There are unlimited walking opportunities in the Ardeche!

Local Area

There’s so much to see and do in the Ardeche, some of them being very close to the campsite. The Ardeche Gorges and the famous Pont D’Arc are a short drive away … you can spend a whole day driving a route that takes you to the Pont D’Arc, along some winding roads via some incredible viewpoints, with caves and other tourist attractions on the way.

There are beautiful villages to explore, vineyards, castles, local markets … even a nougat factory! We’ll talk more about these in our next posts.

Disclaimer

PackThePJs were gifted our Eurocamp accommodation in return for this honest campsite review. All opinions are our own x