FRANCE WITH CHILDREN
 

We would like any advice regarding accommodation and sightseeing to make our trip spectacular. We are travelling from Australia in September for 19 days with two children (7rs & 5yrs). We would like to spend a week in Paris and then hire a car and tour some castles. My daughter particularly would like to stay in a castle. Any advice on an appropriate Chateau would be great.

www.creancey.com

A magnificent restored chateau close to Dijon. The cottage on the grounds is self catering.

www.parcasterix.com
Parc Asterix is even more fun if your kids are familiar with the cartoons.

There are château accommodations all over France - do you have some idea of what part(s) of the country you wish to visit and what your budget will be?

We do not know which area to visit - probably somewhere not to far from Paris - no more than 100 miles. Our budget would be about 300 euros per night.

Check out Paris InSItes at:

www.parisinsites.com

Scroll down to the section on chateaux and B&Bs -- links are provided.

If you subsribe to this free quarterly bulletin you will recive regular info on Paris, also on chateau accommodation near Paris.

BTW: your per-night budget is most ample.

Be a bit sceptical about any chateaux sites that do not show interiors -- or whose interiors look a bit dodgy.

There are many chateau-owners -- often titled folk a bit down on their luck, if I may put it uncharitably, whose huge family homes, though they may have fantastic public rooms, have ancient wiring and painfully "shabby-genteel" bedrooms -- and baths that make one wince.

It's "an experience" -- but though not horrid, it can be just a bit of a downer...

I remember one, Chateau la Jailliere, whose chatelaine, the Comtesse d'Anthenaise was chanming and welcoming. But the partition wall betwen our bath and the room next was such that one heard every word of the scandal-laced conversation next door --just as we could assess with montonous regularity the state of our neighbours' digestive and elimination functions.

Similarly charming hosts at Chateau la Fosseuse north of Paris -- but the water pipes ran suspended across our room, a full 3 feet below the ceiling !

Figure out where in France and look at their sites, loaded with information.

Well, that still leaves dozens of areas to choose from. Check out www.chateauxhotels.com