'You're travelling to the Mediterranean ...by car?...with the kids?" Some people were more sympathetic than envious when I revealed my holiday plans. They probably felt that after driving 950 miles across England and France over three days, with two children in the back, they would need a holiday just to get over it.

Our decision to make the journey was sparked last year when my family had an enjoyable but meteorologically-challenged camping holiday in Brittany.

This year, when a Eurocamp holiday was offered to me, we decided we wanted sunshine pretty well guaranteed. And if that meant driving to the south of France, so be it.

We were determined to approach the journey there and back as a big adventure, and indeed it turned out great fun for all the family.

The night-time crossing to Le Havre from Portsmouth on P&O's enormous Pride of Portsmouth ferry, sleeping in a four-berth cabin, proved a source of high excitement for my children. The children's play area was the best we had ever seen on a ferry, and there was an enormous duty-free shop as well as bars, restaurant and even a small swimming pool. We also had smooth crossings both ways - what more could we ask?

We also enjoyed staying for one night on the way down, and again on the return journey, at Parc des Alicourts campsite, south of Orleans. Driving was relatively stress-free on the incredibly empty motorways and dual carriageways, and our trip also took us through some spectacular scenery as we crossed the Massif Central mountains. And we also had a chance to stop en route for a look around Chartres Cathedral, with its splendid stained glass windows.

And when we finally got to the Med: had it all been worthwhile? Do the French like wine?! We basked in nine days of warm sunshine, with the only rain a thunderstorm in the middle of the night. And this was while York was shivering in its washout Spring Bank Holiday.

And the site, Les Sablons at Portiragnes Plage, near Beziers, had superb facilities, including several well-equipped play areas, a football pitch, table tennis, direct access on to a wide, safe and sandy beach and a heated pool with small slides (and another unheated pool), where I and my son swam a mile.

But the highlight for my children was probably the three trampolines, equipped with safety nets to stop them falling off. My daughter also liked the free activities organised morning and afternoon by two Eurocamp couriers.

Our Verona mobile home was fairly well shaded from the midday sun and of a modern, open studio style. It was spacious, particularly in the cooking area, and had welcome extra features, such as an electric fan.

Off the site were some beautiful and historic towns and cities to visit, many relatively unspoilt by tourism. These included Beziers itself, Narbonne and our favourite, Pezenas, full of narrow, cobbled streets, courtyards and very old buildings, and with an excellent street market.

We also drove for an hour along the motorway to visit Carcassonne, an astonishingly spectacular medieval walled city that even puts York's Bar Walls in the shade and which was the location for the film Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. Its fame has made it rather too popular a tourist hot-spot and I imagine its narrow streets become intolerably crowded at peak times. In some ways, we preferred our visit on another day to a gorgeously picturesque village in a mountain gorge.

As we reluctantly returned to England, we decided it had been one of our best family holidays. And definitely worth the drive.