Thank God for the French!

A few days ago, I finally got round to booking our summer holiday. Yes, I know I left it late, but I seem to have encountered some 'issues' over the last couple of years. Anyway, once we had sorted out the dates, and were pretty sure that Luc would have a replacement passport in time, I started the serious holiday hunting.

We are, as always, taking the two cats with us. This means we're limited to driveable distances, realistically no more than a day and a half in each direction. Except this year, because of the problems with dates, we're down to ten days - so make that no more than one day's drive in each direction.

Which puts us into northern or north/central France, and the Loire Valley or eastern Brittany at a push.

I mentioned we're taking the cats? Not if any British holiday companies have a say, we're not!

I started trawling through the big camping/mobile home companies. Some said quite simply 'No animals', but others declared 'Pets welcome!' - except when you read further/email/telephone them that means dogs. It's like labelling somewhere 'The perfect family holiday' then adding in the small print males under the age of 16 not permitted.

Apparently the reason for this is 'some people are allergic to cats and could have their holiday ruined if they stay in a unit where a cat has been the week before'. I've never had the nerve to point out that, even without being allergic, I can have my holiday ruined by other people's children. Memories of a father shouting to his tearaway children "Oi, stop playing with the football by our car, you might damage it; go over there" and poiting to where our car was parked come to mind. Not that they took the least bit of notice of him.

Even the Loire Valley site we have stayed at for the last two years is now off our list. Formerly privately-owned, small and friendly, they were bought by one of the big companies last year and are now full of 'attractions' that we wouldn't want - and no longer allow animals in their rental accommodation (although you're still likely to walk into animals on site, because mobile home owners are allowed to bring them).

Which left us with quite a problem.

We discussed not taking the cats - for no more than five minutes. We looked at gites and private rentals, but there was often the risk of fast roads within metres - on campsites people rarely drive at high spead and are looking out for children, so the cats are safer.

Then I looked at the website of Yelloh! - a French company. Guess what? 'Animals welcome' means just that. They clearly understand that a pet IS part of the family, and don't see why you wouldn't want to share you holiday with them. The French don't do PC, for which I am very grateful.

So we're going to just about the most eastern point of Ile de France, almost into Champagne. The accommodation is booked, the ferries are booked, insurance is sorted and eveyone (including Luc) has a passport.

Vive la France! Liberté, egalité, chaternité!