Photo: The campsite is set in amongst those trees. Surprisingly there were few midges and mosquito's and the only little annoying things were crying babies. Also in photo the typical layout of Eurocamps tents. Not a lot of space between them, enabling you to get up close and intimate with your Dutch neighbours!

We chose to camp in Tuscany. We couldn't afford hotels and we thought that campsites might offer a bit more for the kids. We booked in one with Eurocamp. I like camping and although Eurocamp is more like 'glamping', nothing quite beats the smells, sounds and freedom living in a tent brings. Of course you have to get the right site and hours of searching through websites led us to http://www.campinglepianacce.it/ Camping Le Pianacce near Catagneto Carducci. I dreaded being stuck with a load of Brits and campsites where they spoon feed people someone's idea of entertainment. What we wanted was somewhere to be left alone, but space to opt in to the stuff going on site without having to be friends for life with some awful family from Gateshead who latch on to you simply because you are from the same shores as them.
We arrived early at the campsite. First impressions last and I was impressed with the neat terraces of pitches for the tents, set against the hillside. They were all enclosed by pine trees and a winding road that reached the great heights of the campsite with spectacular views. It was tidy, not over sized and family orientated. Miriam, the girl at reception let us in early so we made a bee line for the pool whilst we waited for our Eurocamp reps to roll up. It bought us time to check out the facilities. Lets face it, when you go on holiday you are looking for clean loos, good showers, space to wash up and places to eat and a shop. Throw in a few sports facilities and that's more or less what we had go. The only criticism was the tents were very close, and later in the week when babies in neighbouring tents woke up crying, or when people were snoring, it sounded very close. The terraces allow you to spy on the tents below, and as we sat out on the chairs each night, we did a lot of people watching in between games of Monopoly.

Tom & some other gap year type youngsters were our reps. We didn't really need them but I can imagine some holiday makers put on them an awful lot. We did however nick his table tennis stuff and helped ourselves to the many books and games freely available to the campers. There is a whole row of tents for the offices of these holiday companies. I had a snoop in the others to see what goodies they had, but kept getting caught so I had to pretend to be lost and came out empty handed.

Our tent was okay. For readers thinking of going to Eurocamps then here's what the budget tents involve.
- A double wire bed. Not bad but will do.
- A separate bedroom that has a curtain to split it. 3 wire beds and linen.
- A cooker and grill with a couple of shelves. Pots, plates, etc.
- Electricity
- Tables and chairs outside, with a few sun loungers.
I think other firms offered slightly more luxury's such as outdoor lamps and better kitchens, but at what price i do not know.

No loo, but the campsite loos are very clean, plentiful and never far. It also has a laundry so save yourself space in your suitcase and to some washing instead. A good washing up area where you can meet people as you do your dishes. Great showers and an outdoor wash area with shaving points.

So we moved in, set up home for 2 weeks and realised we were one of the few British families there. The rest were Germans, Dutch or Spanish. We were soon to learn how to deal with them in the hostile territory of the swimming pool.



Photo: Inside a tent wearing a quality souvenir from Florence