Product Description

Brittany With Your Family is a full colour, practical and accessible book for independently minded UK families looking to make the most of their family holiday. Get expert, family oriented advice on where to stay, where to eat and where to spend your holiday time enjoyably.

Discover a destination with:

• Delicious food and drink the whole family will love
• An ancient Celtic history
• Stunning beaches and pretty ports
• Dramatic coastlines with grand lighthouses
• Marine wildlife and unspoilt scenery
• Quirky shops and bustling local markets
• Colourful and historical festivals
• Unique museums and storybook castles

Let Frommer′s show you where your family can:

• Discover magical Arthurian myths and legends
• Be enchanted by tales of fairies and mermaids
• Enjoy life on a real Breton farm for the day
• Get up close with animals or take a pony ride
• Enjoy a picnic and walk in an idyllic forest
• Learn how to be a lighthouse keeper

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #267321 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
"a useful and well–researched guide…Invaluable for anyone travelling with children, it is full of genuinely useful advice about finding – among other things – the best castles, beaches, boat trips, museums and campsites." (The Sunday Telegraph, Sunday 29th April)

"Handy destination guide with family–friendly activities, dining and accommodation. Packed with useful advice." (French Magazine, June 2007)

"It is a very comprehensively written guide and I would certainly use it to plan my holiday to Brittany." (Families South West Magazine, July 2007)

Review
"a useful and well–researched guide…Invaluable for anyone travelling with children, it is full of genuinely useful advice." ( The Sunday Telegraph, Sunday 29th April)

 “Handy destination guide with family–friendly activities, dining and accommodation. Packed with useful advice.” (French Magazine, June 2007)

"It is a very comprehensively written guide and I would certainly use it to plan my holiday to Brittany." (Families South West Magazine, July 2007)

“Written for UK families by UK authors, these colour guides can take the hassle out of organising a family holiday”. Waterstone′s Books Quarterly May 2008

“Written for UK families by UK authors, these colour guides can take the hassle out of organising a family holiday”. Waterstone′s Books Quarterly May 2008

Review
"Written for UK families by UK authors, these colour guides can take the hassle out of organising a family holiday".

Customer Reviews

Very useful book - in my opinion, at least!
I've just read the previous review and feel obliged to redress the balance, having bought this book from Amazon prior to our own family holiday in Brittany this year.

In point 1. his review states that there isn't enough accommodation information but goes on to suggest in point 4. that they get rid of the accommodation details to make way for more information on attractions?! Which is it to be??? Do you want accommodation details in there or not!? What's more, with some 750 miles of coastline in Brittany alone, you're not going to easily be able to cover every beach, let alone every accommodation option or every attraction. That's just simply not realistic.

I bought the book having already booked our accommodation also for a recent family holiday, along with my wife and our two young boys. So, as it happened, the accommodation details were superfluous to us also, but only for that trip. I still found it interesting to read about other places and that information could yet prove useful to us for future visits which we will no doubt make (we had a great time!). Accommodation in the book is ranked according to price and value for money, both things that are critical to many families operating on a budget.

Where the book really wins out though, in my opinion, is in the niche that it caters for. I am not aware of any other books covering the area that specifically put families to the fore. And this is important - our needs are very different to those of couples or single travellers.

The needs of our children are foremost on a family holiday. If they're happy, we're happy. And it's obvious that the book has been written by someone with children as this is borne out in repeated family-oriented references to details that your typical reviewer wouldn't care about (high chairs, parks, changing facilities... that sort of thing). And, whilst the book doesn't cover every place to stay, every attraction, or every restaurant, it does highlight those that may be of particular interest to parents and children. That kind of information is gold-dust and not covered in any detail by other books.

I also recommend the book because of how current it is (published in 2007). Many of the places reviewed have literally just opened, or you get to hear about very recent changes at certain places, so you get a good insight into aspects that books that are even just slightly older simply won't have been able to cover.

If you're thinking of going to Brittany and have children, then go for this book. Don't be put off by the overly-negative review by Poppet's Dad!

great book
If you're going to brittany with children I can really recommend this book. Full of really helpful advice for families - where to go, what to do, etc. Must buy.

This guide simply isn't good enough
I was given this book to use during our family holiday in Brittany this year. It was a very kind gift, but sadly the book just isn't up to it's job, and I can't recommend it. Here's what we found:

1. Why would you buy this book? If it's to plan your holiday in advance, it really doesn't have enough accommodation information. And yet accom is a large chunk of the book. Instead of trying to identify a small number of "picks" in what is quite a large area, it might have been better to signpost good sources of accommodation - websites for gites, camping, whatever. If you have already booked your holiday of course, the accom sections are superfluous.
2. The attractions entries. I found these to be the wrong way around. OK, the book is subdivided into areas (which are actually rather larger than you'd want to travel comfortably with kids), but for each attraction you have to go to the end of the entry to find out where it is. So you can come across somewhere interesting, read about it, but only then discover that it's a two-hour drive away. Fine if it's just you, but with young kids on holiday, two hours each way is four hours out of a precious holiday day, and with fractious youngsters in the car ...
3. Attractions and locations. It would have been sensible to have the attractions marked on the maps. Then you could have looked at the map, seen what's "do-able", gone to the index (but see "indexes" below ...) read about it, and made a decision. Instead, you have to read through the whole attractions section (for multiple areas if you are near an area boundary), then try and work out where it is (but see "maps" below ... again!), then make a decision. Sure, you end up reading more about Brittany, but with a mounting sense of frustration.
4. Attractions generally. There must be more in Brittany than this? There is, but not in this book! Less text needed, more lists, more map-referencing (see below again, "maps" ...). If you get rid of most of the accom sections, there would be plenty of room. What do young kids want on holiday? Beaches! What do parents want to know about the beaches? Probably: Does the sand make sandcastles; is it clean or dirty/seaweedy; are there loos; is there a beach shop and/or café; is there a lifeguard; and are there additional things like windsurfer and boat hire?
5. MAPS! I have a thing about maps, and maps in books is particular. I always buy a good local map. And in books I expect places referenced in the text to appear on a map, if possible with an indication of where they are on the map (usually grid referenced in some way, row/column letter/number if not 6-figure OS). This book fails spectacularly on its maps, and shouldn't have. It's a guidebook - so guide!
6. Indexes. And if the maps aren't bad enough, not all things in the text, that you would expect to be, are indexed, so you find something interesting, go back later, and spend five minutes trying to find it again before you hurl the book across the room in frustration!

So there you have it. Bottom line: looks like someone had a good idea for a book series, looked around for people to take on titles, thought "oh yes, my mate down at the gym used to live in Brittany", and thought that was a good enough recommendation to write a book. Sorry, it didn't work.