Camping Municipal, Beaumont sur Sarthe warning!

We, like many others in the Caravan Club, have been using the municipal site at Beaumont sur Sarthe for many years. It is a favourite stopping off site for us and we always spend a few days there on our way home. Mme Triffault who managed the site was a most friendly, hard working person who always greeted us in the usual French way. She would raise the barrier to let us onto the site any time of day up to 8pm. She retired two years ago but I am sure many will remember her well.

This year we’ve used the site in July and again in September, however on our last visit we found that the office was closed noon till 4pm., arriving at 1.30 meant a wait in the car park above the site.  Those of you, who know the site well, know that the entrance is on a gradient and if you drive too close to the barrier, anticipating it will go up and it doesn’t, reversing is a problem. During our wait this happened twice and drivers experienced slipping and burning clutches. Two or three others stopped further up the hill and when they realised they would have to wait till after 4pm, decided to drive on, annoyed that one of their favourite sites was not accessible.

Once on site and talking to other caravanners of various nationalities, it became apparent that they too had the same experience on previous days. One English couple had managed to get onto the site when a kind person raised the barrier for them as they just couldn’t reverse. The new warden spoke rudely to them and nearly asked them to leave!

Having heard this we went to the tourist office in the town to enquire why access was being restricted and told them of the problems it was causing. To their credit they phoned the Marie and within 5 minutes the deputy Mayor was there to speak to us! My wife, speaking in fluent French, explained the situation. He was very concerned, apologetic and worried that people were not staying meaning loss of revenue. He has assured us it will be different next year. We will wait and see. You have been warned.

The next nearest municipal at Fresnay sur Sarthe is about 20 minutes away. We went to visit this as an alternative for next year. We were warmly greeted by the warden who gave us free access to look around. He told us that he had noticed an increase in people now using the site because of the problems at Beaumont. He told us Beaumont had not been inspected under the new regulations of 2011, and that local rumours were of closure, but I cannot verify that! The site at Fresnay is excellent, easily accessible pitches and spotless facilities. We’ll be stopping there next year!