Dave Bates and Nicola Thomas recommend travelling overnight, so dodging the problem of bored children during the day. Paul Robinson suggests a twist on this idea, by taking an overnight ferry crossing to St Malo, which leaves a shortish drive to many of the west coast resorts.

New technology plays an important role for many parents too, with in-car DVD players top of the list for lots of families. Paul Robinson champions a DVD player and Sat Nav combo, to make the journey a cinch for everyone. Jo Taylor, Simon Childs and Nicola Thomas agree.

Food might be the way to a man’s heart, but it’s also a way of entertaining your little ones on long drives. Will Goodridge packed himself fizzy pop and chocolate to keep alert during his drive, only to find they’d been found and gobbled up by his kids. Snacks helped to keep Simon Taylor’s girls quiet on two 12-hour drives too, and Paula Beale has even spotted the potential of food wrappers to divert little ones.

Old-fashioned bits and pieces are recommended to. Paula Beale continues her theme by recommending fiddly toys and threading beads (yes for boys too) to keep youngsters occupied, while Katharine Childs recommends wipeable travel cards and pens for doodles from Usbornes, which went down a treat with her 7 and 4 year olds …until they lost one of the pen lids!
Sarah Birch suggests the clever ruse of a bag of must-not-touch items, including an egg timer, calculator and old mobile phone to play with in the car. Another tip from Sarah is to go round the pound shops, as they have lots of good travel bits.

What other ideas you can suggest for keeping children entertained on long journeys?

Futuroscope is the second most visited theme parc in France (after Euro Disney) and yet, it seems to me, most British families know nothing about it.

The parc is unlike anything I’m aware of in the UK; essentially it uses Imax cinema technology to show films that put you at the heart of incredible events and bring to life amazing experiences.

There are more than 30 attractions to explore, with several that are brand new for 2010.

Hurricane on the Bayou – New for 2010
Hurricane on the Bayou is a thrilling story and a musical celebration of New Orleans that teaches about the importance of preserving wetlands and ecosystems.

The gigantic images on the 9,700-ft² dome screen take viewers deep into the Louisiana heartland. When the Mississippi was diverted, New Orleans was able to spread out into new zones, but doing so has resulted in massive coastal erosion. The damage to its bayous and wetlands, once natural hurricane defences, has been such that New Orleans finds itself at increasing risk from cyclones, as witnessed by the devastating effect of Hurricane Katrina.

Brush with Genius – New for 2010
This is a moving journey to the sources of the Van Gogh’s inspiration for his work. Images on the 6,500ft² screen give viewers a new perspective on his art, and makes the film an original sensory experience.

Arthur, the 4D Adventure
Arthur, the 4D Adventure from Luc Besson (director of The Fifth Element, Leon, and The Big Blue) takes the audience into the make-believe world of the Minimoys. The full array of image technologies (3D modelling, large-format IMAX 3D images, motion simulator and physical effects in the theatre) and the creative flair seen in the Minimoys world thrust visitors on a roller coaster ride of excitement and thrills.

The Future is Wild – New version 2009
Darwin’s theory of evolution throws light on how species evolved in the past, and is the inspiration for Futuroscope’s imaginative look into the future. Our visitors climb aboard expedition vehicles for an interactive augmented-reality adventure, where, kitted out with camera-binoculars and sensor bracelets, they will meet and interact with animals that could be roaming the planet millions of years from now.

Cosmic Collisions – New for 2009
This spectacular, immersive and instructive show from the American Museum of Natural History, narrated by Robert Redford, takes visitors on a breathtaking journey through time and space to witness the cosmic smashes that shape the universe. The scientific images shown on the dome screen were taken by NASA satellites and modelled to simulate cosmic phenomena in 3D.

Fly Me to the Moon, new in 2009
Be a fly on the wall inside the first moon shuttle in Fly Me to the Moon and live an incredible adventure with three stowaways.

Stay at Les Charmettes, La Pignade and Bonne Anse Plage for best access to Futuroscope.

Tempete Xynthia lashed the Vendée and Charente Maritime regions in February, causing damage to those parts it hit and, tragically, some deaths.

Of 350 holiday parcs and campsites in Charente Maritime, five were so badly effected they have not been able to open in time for Easter.

Siblu has five holiday parcs located in the two regions and all avoided the worst of the storms and are now opening their doors for 2010.

Les Charmettes general manager Stephen Smith was interviewed for the main news bulletin on TF1, one of France’s main television channels, to talk about his hopes and expectations for the season ahead.

The final film includes interviews with siblu customers making the most of the sun that blessed Les Charmettes over the Easter weekend, a far cry from the events of earlier this year.

French authorities acted immediately after the storms to ensure that funding and willpower was in place to ensure the regions recovered in the shortest possible time.

For holidaymakers, this means that both the Charente Maritime and Vendée are up-and-running for 2010 and both are outstanding, highly-recommended, family holiday destinations – as recently highlighted by the Daily Mail.

1. Chocolate and Zucchini
Written by Clotilde Dusoulier a Parisian women living in Montmartre. This blog is a great insight into French cooking. Packed full of recipes, food thoughts, ingredients and top tips this blog is definitely one for the food lover. Clotilde’s recipes are all accompanied with mouth watering pictures to encourage you to get baking. The blog, started in 2003, shows how a food passion can turn into a career as Clotilde quit her day job and is now a full time food writer.

2. French Word A Day
Written by Kristin Espinasse an American who fell in love with the French language. This blog not only gives an insight into the French way of life but also helps you to learn a new French word in every post. Kristen started the blog in 1999 and is now an established author. Some posts feature extracts from her book A Day in a French Life.

3. Tongue in Cheek
This blog is written by Corey Amaro from the South of France where Corey lives with her husband and two children. Blog posts include snippets of Corey’s daily life, friends, family and her love of antique flea markets. Corey’s posts contain some beautiful photographs of her purchases and home.

4. A Bitch about Brittany
Written by Gillian O’Donovan an ex-Londoner who has lived in Brittany for 18 years. This funny and light hearted blog charts her daily life and struggles with country living. Her posts include life as a music teacher and writer and the people she comes across in these roles.

5. A Languedoc Journal
In ‘A Languedoc Journal’ Alex Hampshire charts his new life in Languedoc where he moved with his wife in 2002. The blog features interesting and varied posts about Alex’s ‘likes, dislikes, fantasies and observations of a new life in France’.

6. Chez Lou Lou
Written by Lou Lou, this blog, started in 2006, tells the story of Lou Lou’s life in a small village in the south of France. Includes posts about the bureaucracy of French living, cooking, food, everyday life and holidays. Includes gorgeous photography throughout.

7. Franceprofonde
Raising a dual national family in France, Betty C living in Aveyron regularly posts about her life on her blog. Posts include an insight into her teaching job, holidays and  family. ‘Wordless Wednesdays’ include regular photographs of the lovely location that Betty lives.

8. Hidden in France
 ‘Hidden in France’ is an honest review of daily life and the trials and tribulations of blogging. This blogger is currently living in LA but her blog muses over decor, design, travel and all things French. Her identity remains anonymous.

9. Polly-vous Francais?
This American blogger living in Paris has a love of all things French. Although the writer is now currently living in America her love of Paris and the French way of life is constantly being discussed. Lively blog posts chart the writers various house moves around Paris & America. 

10. Permaculture in Brittany
This blog is written by Stuart and Gabrielle who live on a small holding in rural France. This blog discusses their challenges of developing sustainable living and growing their own food. Containing photos of their work with tips this blog is a must for the eco conscious. Interesting and varied posts show everything from family life to keeping live stock.

Whether negotiating a busy airport or embarking on a long drive, we have collected many ideas for keeping your little ones entertained, interested, or asleep – whichever suits you best!

And please add your own tips and ideas so we can share them with other readers.

Travelling with toddlers
When travelling with a toddler, try to plan your journey so that they are tired out when you set off. That way, you can guarantee you’ll get some peace before you need to start entertaining them.

If your little one doesn’t drop off that easily then prepare your in car entertainment! New toys and books with multi-images per page, with funny noises, textures and flaps to open and shut will occupy your toddler for longer. Colouring books and pencils or crayons are also a must.

Plan your stops
If you’re travelling by car, work out when your toddler is likely to need a break and work out your motorway exits. If it’s a long trip you’re going to need a couple or even more, which will probably add an hour or two on to your journey. Yes, the journey will take longer, but at least your toddler will burn off some energy running around the service stations (which are fabulous in France) and you can relax with a cup of tea and a croissant. French motorways also have toilet stops every few kilometres.

Choose your music
All kids love music and in a car especially, it’s a great way to keep them occupied. All right, so you were hoping to listen to Michael Buble rather than the Pirate Club hits, but at least this way you’ll have a quiet life.

If you prefer to fly-drive, there are a few things to consider.
 

Protecting your child’s ears on the plane
Taking off and landing can be painful for both adults and children. Allow your tot to suck either your breast, bottle or chew a gum during take off and landing since pressurisation of the cabin on take off and depressurisation on landing is tough on little ears. The flight attendants are usually very helpful on all flights about providing blankets for privacy if you ask.

Some popular ways of preventing ears from getting blocked during the flights are:

Hot Towels: place one hot towel over each ear. The heat expands the air in the middle ear relieving the negative pressure on the eardrum.

Blowing: if your toddler knows how to, get them to blow through their nose, while you hold the nostrils closed. This pops the ears and relieves the pressure.

Screaming: this is the easiest for toddlers to do, despite being annoying for others. Screaming in fact reduces the pressure on your toddler’s eardrums and eases the pain.

When travelling to Europe it is very easy to get hold of the usual baby items such as nappies and food, so don’t worry about filling up the car with two weeks worth of supplies.

You can also hire out many of the essential items, including travel cots, baby baths, buggies and high chairs from as little as 50p per night.

What are your top tips for keeping kids entertained on the holiday journey?

For full information on train travel to and in France, the best resource is the excellent website www.seat61.com

Prices
Cheap fares are available but BOOK EARLY, as fares only go up as you get nearer the date, not down.

Look at going via Lille or via Paris — the former is easier but there is far less choice, so cheap fares are harder to find.

Prices vary by destination. La Rochelle, half way down France’s west coast, can be done for as little as £400 from London and back for two adults and two children travelling via Paris, but these fares need to be dug out and will be more difficult to find at popular times, such as Saturdays in summer.

Onzain, in the Loire Valley, is more like £300 (via Paris) with the Paris to Onzain bit being easy to get cheaper fares as it’s not on the TGV (France’s high speed rail network). It’s the Eurostar part of the journey that you need to book early for.

Advantages of taking the train
The main advantages of train versus flying are the much better general experience, especially with kids (it feels like part of the holiday!), the transparent pricing with no extra ‘add-ons’, the lack of baggage restrictions, no security hassles and, of course, the environmental benefits.

Also, the reliability and punctuality of the trains is probably better than many short haul flights.

Main disadvantages of trains are the length of time it takes to travel anywhere other than Paris/Lille and from anywhere outside south east England. It’s likely you will face a whole day travelling, changing once or twice (especially if you need to cross Paris with luggage and kids). You have to put in a lot of effort and pre-planning to find cheap fares, especially compared to the airlines who make it easy to book flights.

Trains aren’t perfect, strikes do happen and SNCF customer care can be variable, ranging from quite good to the verbal equivalent of a Gallic shrug of the shoulders.

Proximity to siblu parcs
None of the siblu parcs are within walking distance of train stations, so you need to plan in car hire as part of your journey.

The nearest parcs are Le Bois du Valmarie, l’Hippocampe and La Sirène (all in Languedoc) and Le Montourey (Provence), Domaine de Dugny (Loire Valley) – all of which are a few kms from train stations. Siblu parcs in La Carabasse, Lac des Reves and Sables du Midi (Languedoc), Le Bois Masson and Le Bois Dormant (Vendée), Les Charmettes, La Pignade and Bonne Anse Plage (Charente Maritime) and La Réserve (Aquitaine) are all 15-20 kms from the nearest stations.

Managing connections
If you are travelling to Brittany or south west France you will have to transfer from Paris Nord station (destination of Eurostar) to Montparnasse, where you can catch the TGV for part two of your journey. It is easiest to take a taxi, or to leave yourself lots of time, as you have to travel 14 stops on Metro Line 4 and then make a frustrating journey from Montparnasse metro station to the mainline station.

If you are taking a TGV to Languedoc or Provence on the south coast of France you have to make the much easier connection from Paris Nord to Gare de Lyon, which takes just two stops on RER line D and involves much less walking.

If you are travelling to Onzain in the Loire Valley you have to get from Paris Nord to Austerlitz, which means taking Line 5 and does not involve too much walking.

Well Katy Holland does a great job of arguing the merits of a mobile home versus villa in The Independent’s travel column.

She identifies four points that can help to settle the argument – cost, friends, entertainment and freedom.

The idea of your own villa sounds dreamy, but the reality is that kids don’t do dreamy, they do running around, and playing sports, and mucking about with other kids, and making noise, and all those things that don’t quite work if you’re on your own in a villa.

And the standards of modern mobile homes are great, with en-suite facilities, powerful showers, proper ovens, comfy beds… in fact everything you need for a comfy stay.

So I’m going to stick my neck out, and say villas are okay if there’s only grown ups, but they’re a terrible option if you are travelling en famille.

The west coast is especially good for brilliant coaches with small secret coves, golden sands at the edge of rolling forests and town beaches packed with activities in evocatively named areas such as the Côte de Jade (Loire Atlantique), Côte Lumière (Vendée) or Côte Sauvage (Charente Maritime).

I’ve listed below a small number of the highlights for French beaches in 2010, but what I really want is a list of the beaches you think are best. Feel free to add your comments.

Côte Lumière

The St Jean-de-Monts tourist office has announced a programme of family activities on the town’s stunning sandy beach through the summer, ranging from baby games to Thai fitness. Visitors are encouraged to take part, but it can be difficult to drag yourself away from your lounger once you have settled on the immense Côte Lumière beach. Stay at Le Bois Masson siblu parc.

Côte de Jade

The Côte de Jade in Loire-Atlantique is popular with water sports enthusiasts who practice their skills on the region’s long sandy beaches. Les Pierres Couchées holiday parc is a short walk from a great beach where guests can now try kite surfing. A two-day introductory course starts from €166.

Côte Sauvage

The Côte Sauvage in Charente Maritime has the sunniest weather on France’s west coast, massive sandy beaches screened by forests of pine trees and fun seaside towns, making it a favourite family destination. There are more than 100 beaches to explore, including the seaside resort of La Palmyre, where the sea is gentle at low tide but the waves crash in at other times. Try Les Charmettes siblu holiday parc.

So, which French beaches do you recommend?

Les Charmettes holiday parc on the Côte Sauvage in Charente Maritime has a giant swimming pool complex with slides and waterfalls that the kids will love. The region’s many beaches are screened by pine trees, and surfing and cycling are favourite activities. A 12-night holiday at Les Charmettes from 7 August starts from £1,435 for a family of four, with a January saving of £221. Dover to Calais return ferries are included.

La Réserve siblu parc, in Aquitaine, sits on the edge of Lake Biscarosse, which has a gentle beach and shallow waters making it the ideal play area for parents with young children. A 12-night holiday at the parc, which also has indoor and outdoor pools and free children’s clubs, costs from just £1,090 starting on 3 July, with an early-booking saving of £175. Dover to Calais ferries are included.

Lac des Rêves is a truly relaxing family site in Languedoc, close to the Mediterranean coast and Montpellier (it’s where I took my wife on our first wedding anniversary, old romantic that I am!). There is a highly rated pool and large sandy beaches nearby, and this is the biggest wine region in the world. A 12-night holiday, giving families plenty of times to try out the beaches, swimming pools and vineyards, starts from £1664 for a 24 July departure, saving £152. This price includes Dover to Calais ferries.

So, our new French Language Classes for children are a brilliant way to bolster their confidence to use the French they’ve learned at school, and to bring their school lessons to life.

Our five-day Fun With French classes run at two siblu parcs and have been specially formulated by a professional teacher to appeal to 12-16 year olds. Best of all, they cost just £10 to take part in, and that include a last day meal.

Each Fun with French course includes five 90-minute group sessions with themes such as celebrity life, holidays, TV and films, shopping, restaurants and winning the lottery. The focus is on conversation, games and fun, and  courses are designed to increase each child’s self-belief when speaking French.

The classes have been designed to get kids talking French on their holiday. Even one week of speaking French will benefit them greatly when they head back to school.

Fun with French is available at two siblu parcs – Bonne Anse Plage in Charente Maritime and Le Bois Masson in the Vendée. Classes take place during the Whitsun week school holidays (from 31 May 2010).