Le Bontemps

Arrived at this site at about 4:00 pm after a long journey. Went to book in at the office where there were 3 members of staff sitting around talking. We were greeted , half heartedly, in French- no problem I speak the Lingo , well enough to know what was said !!. They had obviously had to wait for us to arrive before they left work. We booked in and were told our pitch number- not shown to it. This site has a mixture of chalets and tourers , so having driven around the chalets, looking for said pitch, avoiding low branches and tight corners, we were eventually shown to our pitch by some nice chalet owners. The CMHC really do need to re-asses this site. ‘A well tended site” - no not at all . We walked the site and found taps and drains that hadn’t been tended for a long time. I would add we were in the main touring area not the overnight stopover area. “ a large heated swimming pool with slides” - yes but when was it last cleaned? Algae prevalent around the sides and on the slides. Pool showers out of service as were pool toilets. So what happens? Swimmer use toilet and shower block closest to the pool. We’ll get onto that next. Number of toilet blocks - described by the CMHC 3 . In reality ONE, which was shared with swimmers. That one toilet block had 4 showers and four toilets !!!. One of the toilet blocks had been decommissioned some time ago(I was told this by one of the site staff)The other toilet block was out of order. Apparently a problem with the hot water boiler. This site has apparently been open since 12 April. It is now 21st May. The reception was supposed to have been open 9-12 and 2-6. I tried to get my bread from the office after 9:00 but no one to be seen so stopped ordering bread after day two. Their brochure does state that bar and restaurant not open in low season so we have to accept that. A previous reviewer mentioned tourist tax. In nearly 30 years of travelling to France I have never paid such an extortionate rate. Didn’t realise it was down to the local mayor though. As for location very limited to do things unless you enjoy cycling and walking. I really do think that the CMHC should review whether or not this site should remain in its brochure. It was probably an excellent site years ago but it is now very tired and needs money spent on it. I would hazard a guess that it is under new ownership but irrespective this is a very poor site by normal standards. Would not recommend even for a stop over. 

Comment from the Club:

The site has now changed ownership and we have raised concerns with the new owners of the site. This group already owns a number of high quality sites with well kept facilities and we have been assured that the concerns raised will be addressed and resolved. We will be monitoring progress very carefully to be sure this is the case and be satisfied that the site meets our required high standard.

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My family (2 adults, 2 kids, 2 grand parents) spent 10 days there last August. The site feels very unloved and uncared for, certainly not as the clubs description depicts. We couldn't find a close water tap so had to walk from one end of the site to the other. Swimming pool was freezing, kids paddling pool was dangerous, with missing drain covers that leave a large hole which you can't see through the water. The cleanliness of the pool area wasn't great. The crazy golf course was a mess and broken in places, the tennis court doesn't exist anymore. The outside excercise area has broken equipment. At some point you could see that this site would of been wonderful, with beautiful gardens and well kept pitches, unfortunately it isn't like this now. If you want a basic and cheapish site then this just about achieves that, however it certainly isn't up to the CAMC standard, I suspect it hasn't been checked by the club for quite a while.

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We stayed for one night at this campsite on our way to the south of France. On arrival we were charged nearly 10 Euros in tourist tax for just 1 night - this is 10x the normal tax rate in France. Apparently it is the local mayor who decides on the rate - he should know that this greed will certainly be putting me off ever returning. The receptionist gave us very little advice about which pitch we were on - we were just told to find one within quite a wide area. We moved the caravan away from the reception building and immediately hit problems with a very tight site with little turning opportunities and very few pitches available - it was a bit of a nightmare finding one - no staff to help us and took 1 hour of searching. The animations team did approach on their buggy but instead of helping they all tooted their horns and laughed at us. We eventually found a group of 4 pitches that were free - we were so relieved and got pitched up. My wife and daughter went to the pool area and I got everything set up. It was only then that I discovered the reason for the 4 empty pitches - the electric did not work. In fact all other caravans within the area were leading cables into trees and other electric points - it was a mess. So clearly the management knew that these pitches had no electric and did nothing to warn us. I went back to the reception to discover they were now closed (it was only 6:30pm) and there were no details of who to contact. I pressed the button for 'emergency assistance' and stood there for 15 minutes and no one arrived. So, we spent our night without electric. Before the pool closed I joined my wife and daughter who was now on the water slides. On the top area was covered with green algae and lots of people were slipping over on it - so dangerous, filthy and clear that no one had bothered to clean for some time. We got going very early then next day - so happy to leave and will never return to this campsite. There was one up-side to this experience though... when we arrived at our final campsite in the south of France it was SO much better that it made this horrible experience all worthwhile!!

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Just stayed overnight at this site and have done so over 20 years. On arrival on the 27th july there was no wifi, the electric point needed 2 x 25 cables, could not use the water tap on pitch as it was faulty. The bar was closed. The onsite restaurant was closed, the onsite shop was closed. The chemical waste toilet broken. The whole site was near empty (not surprised) and it looked very unkempt. Cannot blame covid as we came from another Kawan site that had everything open and was full.

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Excellent. Despite turning up in the low season, food and drink still available. The coldest beer in three weeks of testing across Europe. The "Stop & Go" plots are an excellent idea. Beware of getting lost in Vernioz. Rush hour and a rubbish sat nav made it a.challenge. Worth the effort though.

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Used for night halt, difficult to get to from north, ACSI, club website and Caravan Europe all give different directions. Seemed like miles down country lanes. Some nice pitches but ours was only ok. Nice swimming pool. Easier to return to motorway if heading south as there is what i think is a new junction on southern side. Probably wouldn't use again unless staying longer doesn't merit the effort of getting there!

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Very nice site with good facilities but quite difficult to get to and from the motorway.

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This was a stopover en route to the Ardeche. The fabilities we saw were OK. Nothing special. Extremely loud music suddenly started about 7pm continuing until about 11pm which wasn't great. We were met in reception by a young man who seemed too busy to shut down and go home to fill us in with details of the site. An OK stay.

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Stopped off for 2 nights at end of May on way to the Med. Pleasant site with good sized pitches and immaculate facilities. For one night stop offs, they have numerous "Stop and Go" pitches by the gate so unhitching is not necessary. Pull in, park on hard standing and out other end in the morning. Brilliant idea. Had a day by the Rhone but did not venture far due to fuel shortages. The only noise was by day, for pitches by the bouncy castle inflation fan. Nice pool and flume for the kids.

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Excellent shower facilities and heated at the time of our visit, mid September. Good sized pitch with hard standing and reasonably priced good evening meal at the restaurant. 

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