Campsite in France for a week ‘working from home’

[SteveE]

I’m looking for some recommendations for a campsite in northern France (possibly Normandy) for a week at the end of July. It needs to be somewhere we can easily drive to in one day from Calais (max 6 hours driving). Ideally also walking distance from a nice beach/river/lake and a town (doesn’t need to be much of a town just somewhere for picking up supplies).

And now the tricky bit… I need to know before I get there that there is good mobile/internet signal. My wife is a teacher and will be off for the summer holidays but I’ve only got two weeks off, so we’re looking to extend the trip by bolting on an extra week where I can work during the day but we can still enjoy some lunchtimes and evenings exploring somewhere new.

Grateful for any suggestions, it doesn’t need to be Normandy… it’s just an area that appeals. We’ve used aires a lot in the past but for this, we’re really after a campsite so we have a guaranteed space for the week. Thanks

 

[Soycd]

Séjournez au camping près de Calais

Découvrir les Hauts de France, ça vous tente ? Le camping Saint-Louis vous accue

www.camping-saintlouis.com

 

[Reallyretired]

I've never found campsite wifi to be much use. The exception being some camping car park aires if you can get a pitch close to the barrier as that's usually the only place you can get a signal. 4g or5g is usually everywhere with a UK sim as all the networks can be used.

 

[Steve N Tracy]

Camping Haliotis at Pontorson has good WiFi and phone connections being in the town, pets are welcome and there is the path outside along the River Couesnon to walk dogs, supermarket just a short walk for supplies.
https://www.camping-haliotis-mont-s...ersion-camping-haliotis-mont-saint-michel.php

 

[Nomadics]

Although allowable to work in France, be aware of any gdpr implications or your company rules......but only if they knew....

Export control may be an issue. If you’re accessing data from uk work email, network file storage, the laptop HDD, or even joining a Teams call to share/observe information, that is deemed an export.

All information has an export control rating depending on what the info is, what it could be used for, and whether it has any Defense or dual use purpose.

So by war off example, if you’re working on an automotive additive manufactured part design, that technology I believe is export controlled and will require an export license to be able to export it to France before you can work on it.

So don’t know what you do in the automotive sector, I cite worst case. You may well work in HR in which case EC unlikely will apply and you’ll just be crossing borders with company sensitive information which may not be permitted and will need to remain GDPR compliant as Wh05apk mentioned.

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[kontiki649]

Thanks to everyone for the campsite and aire suggestions! Really appreciated. Sorry if my original post wasn’t clear enough… I’m planning on using 4G router for internet connection, rather than any campsite WiFi… as I’ve had similar experiences with lots of campsite WiFi, which often seem to get saturated to a point where they are pretty much useless (with some exceptions).

As to the work visa points, thanks to those who raised it but… I think I’m just gonna go with it (it’s only a few days) as long as my boss/employer doesn’t object. It looks like the ‘extra’ week away will be at the start of the trip not the end… but if we can switch it around then we’ll try and reccy a good spot and stay/return there for the last week.

Thanks again to everyone who has replied, really appreciated.

Google Travel

www.google.com

I’d recommend this place. Quiet but yet 10 mins from some great sites. I’ve been going for about 30 years. Mobile signal has never let me down.

Enjoy your break where ever you end up

 

[PlacidoD]

Export control may be an issue. If you’re accessing data from uk work email, network file storage, the laptop HDD, or even joining a Teams call to share/observe information, that is deemed an export.

All information has an export control rating depending on what the info is, what it could be used for, and whether it has any Defense or dual use purpose.

So by war off example, if you’re working on an automotive additive manufactured part design, that technology I believe is export controlled and will require an export license to be able to export it to France before you can work on it.

So don’t know what you do in the automotive sector, I cite worst case. You may well work in HR in which case EC unlikely will apply and you’ll just be crossing borders with company sensitive information which may not be permitted and will need to remain GDPR compliant as Wh05apk mentioned.

Are you speaking some sort of coded Martian dialect?!!

 

[Brains]

Are you speaking some sort of coded Martian dialect?!!

No, but it's taking the rules to extremes.

I used to travel globally for work, often out of the UK more than I was in it.
I've had to sign the Official Secrets Act, and I was "Develop Vetted" where they go back to your school teachers, friends and previous employers to make sure you are not a newly inserted sleeper agent or being Blackmailed.

The rules outlined in the post above would only come into play if war was declared, and even then only in certain sectors.
Corporate level security is good enough for most work based tasks, unless you are involved certain very specific sectors.
I think in 25 years I only had to go to the local British Embassy to do work twice.

 

[Two Owl Ones]

I’m looking for some recommendations for a campsite in northern France (possibly Normandy) for a week at the end of July. It needs to be somewhere we can easily drive to in one day from Calais (max 6 hours driving). Ideally also walking distance from a nice beach/river/lake and a town (doesn’t need to be much of a town just somewhere for picking up supplies).

And now the tricky bit… I need to know before I get there that there is good mobile/internet signal. My wife is a teacher and will be off for the summer holidays but I’ve only got two weeks off, so we’re looking to extend the trip by bolting on an extra week where I can work during the day but we can still enjoy some lunchtimes and evenings exploring somewhere new.

Grateful for any suggestions, it doesn’t need to be Normandy… it’s just an area that appeals. We’ve used aires a lot in the past but for this, we’re really after a campsite so we have a guaranteed space for the week. Thanks

I’m looking for some recommendations for a campsite in northern France (possibly Normandy) for a week at the end of July. It needs to be somewhere we can easily drive to in one day from Calais (max 6 hours driving). Ideally also walking distance from a nice beach/river/lake and a town (doesn’t need to be much of a town just somewhere for picking up supplies).

And now the tricky bit… I need to know before I get there that there is good mobile/internet signal. My wife is a teacher and will be off for the summer holidays but I’ve only got two weeks off, so we’re looking to extend the trip by bolting on an extra week where I can work during the day but we can still enjoy some lunchtimes and evenings exploring somewhere new.

Grateful for any suggestions, it doesn’t need to be Normandy… it’s just an area that appeals. We’ve used aires a lot in the past but for this, we’re really after a campsite so we have a guaranteed space for the week. Thanks

Hi, we stay at Camping L'Hypo site, which is nice and quiet, we've been there a few times and it's close to Port En Bessin, Huppain which is also a nice place. On one occasion, we have travelled from Calais and have driven the 6 hours just past Caan to the site, near Omaha Beach, Normandy.
On another occasion, we got the ferry direct to Caan from Portsmouth, which included a dog friendly cabin for us. The ferry was 6 hours, and was a good relaxing start to our holiday. Once we arrived in France it took around 40 minutes to Camping L'Hypo site and it was much better than driving the 6 hours which we did the first time.

We also stayed a week just parked on the beautiful Omaha Beach front, which was our base and a lovely view every morning before our walks.

Whatever you choose to do, you will have a lovely holiday in France.

 

[barryd]

Things have thankfully improved comms wise in the last decade or so. I can remember in the noughties riding around on the scooter with a wifi antenna trying to find SFR Fon wifi hotspots on peoples houses so I could do IT support sat on the bloody bike with a laptop.

Best job I remember was two hours remote support sat with my feet in Lake Maggiore drinking cocktails and using the beach bar wifi. Very satisfying emailing an invoice straight after.

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[Onemanandhisdog]

Things have thankfully improved comms wise in the last decade or so. I can remember in the noughties riding around on the scooter with a wifi antenna trying to find SFR Fon wifi hotspots on peoples houses so I could do IT support sat on the bloody bike with a laptop.

Best job I remember was two hours remote support sat with my feet in Lake Maggiore drinking cocktails and using the beach bar wifi. Very satisfying emailing an invoice straight after.

You should have headed to the mountains, in the days when a Nokia 3310 was state of the art and you could impress people playing 'snake' on your phone, we used to drive to ski resorts and there was always a signal, , even at the bottom of the deepest valleys, guess that's a safety thing.

 

[starquake]

I remember doing a project and fixing technical issues when on holiday once using the old Nokia communicator around 1999-2000 remotely using a dialup modem on it.

Fixing IT problems whilst abroad in anothther country before even modern data (or wifi existing) was revolutionary!

Nokia - 9000 Communicator

The Nokia 9000 Communicator was announced at the CeBIT exhibition in 1996. It was the first product in its Communicator range. Six further Communicator...

www.mobilephonemuseum.com

 

[Onemanandhisdog]

I remember doing a project and fixing technical issues when on holiday once using the old Nokia communicator around 1999-2000 remotely using a dialup modem on it.

Fixing IT problems whilst abroad in anothther country before even modern data (or wifi existing) was revolutionary!

Nokia - 9000 Communicator

The Nokia 9000 Communicator was announced at the CeBIT exhibition in 1996. It was the first product in its Communicator range. Six further Communicator...

www.mobilephonemuseum.com

A friend used to tether his old company black and white mobile to his work laptop, worked in various European countries, France, Germany nothing too weird, his first monthly bill was £4.5k, he was asked to tone it down a bit and got in to the 2,000's the next month

 

[barryd]

I remember doing a project and fixing technical issues when on holiday once using the old Nokia communicator around 1999-2000 remotely using a dialup modem on it.

Fixing IT problems whilst abroad in anothther country before even modern data (or wifi existing) was revolutionary!

Nokia - 9000 Communicator

The Nokia 9000 Communicator was announced at the CeBIT exhibition in 1996. It was the first product in its Communicator range. Six further Communicator...

www.mobilephonemuseum.com

I remember setting up something similar for one of the guys I worked with back in the late 90s with a Nokia. He went off to France and needed to connect into their MIS system back in Scotland with a laptop which thankfully was thin client (stuff had to be then as you will know) and it worked a treat. Cost a bit I think from memory with charges but it worked. We just loaded the client software on his laptop, dialled into his office MIS server and it worked.

Thank God for stuff like Google remote desktop now though and decent internet on the go. Doddle these days.

 

[barryd]

You should have headed to the mountains, in the days when a Nokia 3310 was state of the art and you could impress people playing 'snake' on your phone, we used to drive to ski resorts and there was always a signal, , even at the bottom of the deepest valleys, guess that's a safety thing.

It was all wifi then. I don't think we really had internet on our phones. It was a right PIA when I first started touring in the late noughties. Then the Repeat IT usb wifi antennas came out and so did FON. I had an SFR Fon login and it was a game changer. I remember me and Addie from Motorhome WiFi competing to see who could grab the longest distance wifi connection. I think he managed about 14km across the Bristol channel once.

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[Nomadics]

No, but it's taking the rules to extremes.

I used to travel globally for work, often out of the UK more than I was in it.
I've had to sign the Official Secrets Act, and I was "Develop Vetted" where they go back to your school teachers, friends and previous employers to make sure you are not a newly inserted sleeper agent or being Blackmailed.

The rules outlined in the post above would only come into play if war was declared, and even then only in certain sectors.
Corporate level security is good enough for most work based tasks, unless you are involved certain very specific sectors.
I think in 25 years I only had to go to the local British Embassy to do work twice.

I work in aerospace, marine and powergen sector and like you, I am also beholden to secrecy for some of the applications I've worked on.

You may be confusing export control with official secrets and the two are completely separate. The latter intends to protect from information, know how, materials, methods of manufacture, designs and components that could be used to create weapons, from being exported. An export is not limited to a physical component leaving UK shores, but also electronic transmission say via Teams call, email or data on a hard drive which crosses a border.

I don't know what the OP who plans to do work in France actually works on, but worth checking with the company to ensure nothing is export controlled. Then off you go about your working travels without a worry.

 

[maison]

Well, what can I say that you haven't all heard before?
Gravelines fits everything in your list, twenty mins from the tunnel. Seriously. 4 Euros a night at the moment but think that might go up to 8 in April.

Lacking in WiFi though isn’t it, nor is it Normandy for that matter.

Sorry, just seen of the advice the telephone data.

 

[chaser]

Lacking in WiFi though isn’t it, nor is it Normandy for that matter.

Sorry, just seen of the advice the telephone data.

Actually gravelines does have WiFi don't know where it comes from but you can log in to it, I suppose it's for the boats but to be honest it's not much good nowhere near a 5 g phone signal but just setting the facts right.

 

[maison]

Actually gravelines does have WiFi don't know where it comes from but you can log in to it, I suppose it's for the boats but to be honest it's not much good nowhere near a 5 g phone signal but just setting the facts right.

Sounds a bit like the CCP Aires that we use. WiFi is great near the entrance, any further away and it is usually non-existent.

BTW I like the Gravelines Aire. So much so that last year we went there for the Christmas Market. Unfortunately, we were five days early and it hissed down all the time we were there.

We hope to have better luck on our next visit, probably in September. (Although that will also be too early for the. Christmas market.).

 

[chaser]

Actually gravelines does have WiFi don't know where it comes from but you can log in to it, I suppose it's for the boats but to be honest it's not much good nowhere near a 5 g phone signal but just setting the facts right.

Right there is a thread from 2015 called
Gravelines - everyone knows but me
Thread startermjltigger Start dateAug 22, 2015
And in post 17 on there someone describes the WiFi.

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[SteveE]

Thank you to everyone that has offered campsite/aire recommendations as well as various other thoughts and advice that I hadn’t considered.

I don’t do anything for work that is secret but as I mentioned before I won’t do this without my employers agreement anyway… they may have some concerns around data security but hopefully not! Thanks again!

 

[MichaelT]

Thank you to everyone that has offered campsite/aire recommendations as well as various other thoughts and advice that I hadn’t considered.

I don’t do anything for work that is secret but as I mentioned before I won’t do this without my employers agreement anyway… they may have some concerns around data security but hopefully not! Thanks again!

If you don't tell them they won't know

 

[BrochMike]

If you don't tell them they won't know

My company would have known (by virtue of the location/IP address/type of connection, etc)...

... and there would have been serious consequences if I hadn't cleared it with IT, HR, Security and Export control before travelling.