- 2+ years plus
- Fun family activities
- Simple family rooms,
- Full board
- Summer
Welcome to Château de la Baudonnière. Nestled in the bucolic Normandy countryside, our 100-acre estate provides a beautifully natural backdrop to your holiday. With a lake, river, meadows, woodlands and rolling lawns, there's plenty of space to choose for adventure or relaxation. Along with sports pitches, aeroball, climbing wall and a mini-farm, we have room for everybody to explore.
By day, our experienced instructors lead a full schedule of activities for all ages - either around the grounds of the Château or out exploring local producers, markets or the stunning Mont St Michel. In the evening, you can enjoy dinner and a relax in the convivial atmosphere on the terrace. Meet new friends over a glass of our homebrewed Normandy cider or get competitive with with a game or two of pétanque.
With a range of adventurous, active and creative games and projects to join in with, your whole family are catered for on a Family Adventure Holiday. The over 8s can even take optional French lessons. Magnifique!
Take a look in more detail at the activities tab to see what's on offer each week throughout the summer.
During term-time, Château de la Baudonnière is a French language school, and we are able to offer this fantastic family holiday at a great price because of the basic accommodation—still, we guarantee that no compromise is made on the cleanliness.
The majority of the rooms at the château are bunk bed only. All family rooms are equipped with private bathrooms. A limited number of rooms with double beds and interconnecting rooms are available, so enquire early for the best chance of securing one for your stay.
Complimentary tea, coffee and water can be found in many of the communal areas. Linen is provided, but guests are asked to bring their own towels.
All family rooms have private shower/toilet facilities. The bedrooms themselves are basic and are made up of bunk beds and storage spaces for clothing. Some of our rooms contain double beds, please ask at the time of booking to check availability. Families either stay together in large family rooms or can pay a little extra to have two rooms.
Tea & coffee facilities can be found in many of the communal areas.
Our family programme has been tried and tested to maximise enjoyment and it offers something for every age group, from toddlers to teenagers and parents to grandparents. All activities are fully supervised with trained English-speaking instructors to create a memorable week of new experiences. All activities, admission to excursions, equipment and tuition with qualified instructors is included in the price of the holiday.
We've also designed activities for the whole family to enjoy together, such as our assault course, 'It's a Knockout' competition and local visits to beautiful Mont Saint-Michel with a guided walk across the bay and unique quicksand experience. And if that isn't enough, in the evening, test your general knowledge at family quiz night, dress up as a superhero at our fancy dress party or make some shapes at the family disco.
Children aged 8+ can also join French Club to improve their language skills (additional charge).
Note that all excursions require your own transport.
Click on the activity descriptions below to see some of our family favourites.
Fun-filled canoeing sessions take place on our beautiful on-site lake. Whether you're a seasoned pro or this is your first time canoeing, the forested lake is a safe and idyllic setting for this holiday highlight. Children should be confident in water, but do not need to be skilled swimmers to get involved.
Put your wits—and your teamwork—to the test in this competitive challenge! You'll find out who the natural leader is in your group in no time as you work together to design and build your very own raft. Which team will build their raft the fastest, and more importantly who will stay afloat and who will sink?
Learn French songs and sing along while mixing, kneading and baking your prized le pain. Experience tells us it's not only the children who get covered in flour during this activity...
On our own purpose-built climbing wall, you will take it in turns to climb whilst those not climbing will encourage and coach alongside our qualified instructors. The easy part of abseiling comes after you have reached the top of the tower! All ages enjoy this session and after you’ll feel a great sense of achievement. Harnesses, helmets and other necessary safety equipment are supplied by the château.
The obstacle course is quickly becoming the Château’s most popular activity. In true military style you will crawl through tunnels, under nets, climb over obstacles all set beside our trickling river in beautiful forest land.
You will be taught map reading skills using orienteering games and courses in the Château grounds. Orienteering is an excellent motivational and recreational activity, which increases love of the outdoors and promotes environmental awareness.
Within the beautiful Château grounds you'll find our wonderful mini-farm which attracts young and old alike. During this session children will be able to pet and feed our pot bellied pigs, rabbits, cockerels, chickens, horse and lama. Wandering wild within the grounds you will also see rabbits and a couple of peacocks. If you visit the veranda you'll meet our resident parrot, ‘Jam’ with whom the children love to chat with!
Aeroball is another of our very popular activities, among adults and children alike – it is a totally unique trampoline-basketball-volleyball game, suitable for all ages. It is played by two teams of two, who are guided by their team members.
Enjoyed by our Swans & Herons children’s groups and accompanied by our animateurs, the children will venture around the Château grounds, looking for clues to find the hidden treasure. Last year our animateurs were dressed in the rather appropriate theme of pirates, which the children loved.
Children 8 and over can join French Club, which consists of 8 x 45-minute interactive French language sessions and activities across the week. The lessons are taught by our native-speaking animateurs who gently encourage children participating to use French during their stay. There is an additional cost per child.
Gear up for an unforgettable guided barefoot trek across the stunning bay that surrounds Mont Saint-Michel. Woody, our local expert, will show you and your family how to sink (and escape!) from the quicksand in the bay.
After the obligatory safety talk, families will learn how to shoot arrows in our purpose built archery arena. The session is finished off with a balloon shooting competition. Our qualified staff will teach you how to perfect your target skills and ensure your children will become little robin hoods.
The Château is set in beautiful wooded grounds near a small village called Les Chambres (named because it was a place for pilgrims to overnight en route to nearby Mont Saint-Michel).
Château de la Baudonnière is situated in Lower Normandy at the base of the Cherbourg peninsula about 12 km north of the Cathedral city of Avranches. Find us at Château de la Baudonnière, Les Chambres 50320, La Haye-Pesnel, Normandie, France.
Most of our families opt to self-drive via a ferry channel crossing or via Eurotunnel. You will need your own transport for the off-site activities.
Read our article on the top 5 cross-Channel options for your holiday.
|
Holiday weeks commencing: 1 August / 8 August / 15 August 2026 |
Adult |
Child |
Child* |
|
|
Family Bunk Bed Room |
£659 |
£559 |
£299 |
|
|
|
Room upgrades |
|||
|
Family Room with Double Bed |
Total family price + £200 |
|||
|
Family Duo (2 rooms close to each other) |
Total family price + £350 |
|||
|
Family interconnecting rooms (one with double bed) |
Total family price + £350 |
|||
Read our article on the top cross-Channel options for your holiday.
*Children aged 2 and under stay for free
We know that not every family consists of two adults and two children, which is why you only pay for each adult and each child in your group on our full-board activity holidays. So if you are a parent travelling solo with children, or you have a large family, or you want to bring cousins and grandparents, you are very welcome at Château de la Baudonnière!
Secure your holiday with just a £75 deposit per person and pay nothing until 12 weeks before you travel.
Self-drive travel to Normandy and some excursions, plus channel crossing, tolls and your own insurance.
Leave a few details for our founder Lisa to start planning your family adventure!
Enquire now