WE ARE grizzled veterans of endless drives through France – long hours of journeying along motorways and route nationales to camping holidays on the Med and the Atlantic coast.

We have enjoyed these holidays enormously, but last summer, with less than a week available for our break, we decided it was time to take it easy and sample Picardy, a lesser known region which is much closer to home.

We cut our driving time further by avoiding the horrors of the M1 and M25 to get to Dover, instead driving for just an hour to Hull to take P&O’s overnight ferry to Zeebrugge.

After a good night’s sleep in our cabin, soothed by the distant thrum of the engines, it took a morning to drive along relatively empty motorways and dual carriageways from Zeebrugge to the medieval, ramparted port of St-Valery-sur-Somme. We were staying courtesy of Keycamp in a campsite set in lush meadows a couple of miles from the town, in the grounds of Chateau de Drancourt.

We arrived in warm sunshine, and found our mobile home set among the trees of picturesque wooded gardens. We were staying in a Villagrand, a two bedroom affair that was possibly the most luxurious mobile home we have experienced to date.

At one end was the en suite master bedroom, at the other a twin room with a third bunk available, where our son and daughter stayed. In the middle was a central living/dining area and corner kitchen, while outside was an area of decking, which helped us avoid bringing mud inside when rain started falling the morning after we arrived.

A welcome pack was waiting for us, containing wine, water, fruit juice, sachets of tea and coffee, milk and salt and pepper, and linen was also provided, ensuring we did not have to bring sheets with us.

Aware the forecast was not good, we unpacked swiftly and headed for the three pools and sun terrace to take advantage of the heat and sun. Then it was time to check out the facilities: a well-stocked shop, a takeaway, a restaurant in converted stables and a bar in part of the chateau itself, all quite impressive.

Sadly, we awoke the next day to the familiar patter of raindrops on the roof, and I half wished we were making that long trek south after all.

A visit to one of the region’s many wide sandy beaches was definitely not on, so we headed instead for a look round St Valery, with its walled and gated citadel and brightly painted quays.

Also worth a visit was Abbeville, a city which was enormously picturesque until being bombed to rubble by the Nazis in the Second World War.

After re-building, it is a mainly modern town, but several attractions remain, including St Vulfran’s Church, built in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, and a good market.

The weather remained poor for much of our stay, but the sun emerged for one of the highlights of our holiday, a visit to the gardens of Valloire Abbey. The abbey was built in the 12th century by the Cistercians, but the gardens are not monastic in style and have a modern feel. They were created in 1989 by landscape gardener Lenient Gilles, using more than 4,000 rare plants, and they are quite beautiful.

Fact file

• Keycamp offers self-catering holidays to more than 100 parks across 11 European countries, now including Greece and Denmark, plus the USA and nine in the UK. A seven-night break in April for a family of two adults and up to four children, staying in a Supernova mobile home with decking at Keycamp’s Château de Drancourt, would cost from £278, including a return Dover to Calais ferry crossing. Alternative ferry crossings or fly-drive packages to Beauvais are available through Keycamp at a supplement. For further information or to make a booking, visit keycamp.co.uk or call 0844 406 0319.

• Sailing from Hull to Zeebrugge: Prices start from £122 each way for a car and four passengers (two adults, two children), inclusive of ensuite standard cabin. An upgrade to Club Class accommodation costs from an additional £45 each way. For more information, or to book, customers can call 08716 64 64 64 or visit our website at poferries.com