Caravan And Holiday Ideas In The Rhone Alpes With A Special Focus On The Delights Of The Flesh

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France may well have introduced the world to nouvelle cuisine but the fayre you are likely to find in even the finest of restaurants - and the region boasts more than sixty Michelin starred chefs - in the Rhône Alpes is far heartier and more satisfying. Most of the famous dishes of the region - duck pates, rosette sausages to name but two - take meat, foul and offal as their starting points.

The region only became a part of France once and for all in the seventeenth century and has a rich Roman and Celtic history. Lyon, an important city in Roman times is, today, the capital of the Rhône Alpes region.

No true foodie would visit Lyon without eating at bouchons, a traditional restaurant serving Lyonnaise cuisine. The delights of the menu will include various types of sausage (blood sausages are typical on Lyonnaise menus) served with warm, sometimes spiced, apples; the region's wonderful dumplings made from ground fish - quenelles - and sweet, luxurious tartes of caramalised apples and, a regional favourite, praline tart.

For the most authentic experience and guaranteed local ingredients, ensure the bouchon you visit is one of those officially certified of which there are only twenty, though you will see establishments claiming to be bouchons just about everywhere in the city.

The menus of Lyon and the Rhône Alpes region generally, are heavy with offal. Tripe (cow intestine) is a typical ingredient in the region's cuisine and is used in soups, eaten breaded or as the main ingredient in andouille a tripe sausage which is served cold or even just boiled up with onion and garlic and eaten with crusty bread.

There are many, many famous cheeses produced in the Rhône Alpes. Raclette, named from the French "to scrape," is a salted, semi firm cheese of the Savoy area which is also the home of the hard Savoie Gruyere, the grassy Beaufort and the nutty, soft in the middle Reblochon which is commonly used in creamy gratins and another of the Rhône Alpes contributions to world cuisine, fondue.

Fondue is found on menus in the Rhône Alpes' more Alpine areas such as Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (more commonly referred to as Chamonix). If the sticky, yet greasy cheesy goo that passes for fondue at many a British dinner party has put you off then Chamonix really is the place to become reacquainted with this fabulous and fun dish. Usually a mixture of local cheeses its base is most often Reblochon and a glass or two of white wine for good measure. Fondue is best enjoyed with slightly stale crusty bread and friends who won't mind getting a bit messy!

Now, all this cheese, meat and offal needs to be washed down with a good red wine and the Rhône Alpes produces that which is, arguably, the best - Beaujolais. This AOC wine and its younger sibling Beaujolais nouveau is made from the gamay grape variety which is low in tannins making for a sophisticated wine that slips down rather easily hence its world wide popularity.

The Côtes du Rhône area more than makes up for its poor output of white Beaujolais wines (less than 1% of their total output and all chardonnay). Its reds and rosés are, in the main, made from the Grenache grape variety and its whites from grenache blanc. It was the Romans who first started making wine in this region where relics associated with of St Valentine are located giving the area the badge, "La Capitale des Amoureux," which translates as "the capital of romance," a title Paris has long since been trying to steal.

You might prefer a soft drink with your meals, in which case the mineral water, Evian is sourced in the Haute Savoie départment at Evian le Bains, a spa town that was a favoured haunt of novellist Marcel Proust. Of course, Evian's water is available absolutely everwhere. Should you pay the town a visit be sure to call in on what was one of the world's most luxurious (and expensive) hotels during the decadence of La Belle Epoque of the 1920s, the Royal Hotel.

Rhône Alpes Campsites For Caravans and Motor Homes-Open All Year Round There is only one camp site open throughout the year in the Rhône Alpes region... ...but it's a very good one:

Camping Les 2 Glaciers is located in the Alpine resort of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc in the Haute Savoie départment, right between (as the name suggests) two glaciers. The views are breath taking, stunning, jaw dropping... The camp site has pitches for tents, motor homes and caravans or you may wish to rent one of the site's chalets.

This family run and family friendly camp site is jam packed with fantastic facilities. There are electrical hook ups ranging from 2amps to 10 amps, laundry facilities with dryers, hygiene facilities (hot showers, toilets, water points all in heated blocks), drinking water points and waste disposal points. As well as that within the camp site you will find disabled facilities (accessible baths, showers and toilets as well as all public areas being fully accessible), parent and baby facilities which includes baby baths, free wi-fi and internet access with a dedicated wi-fi zone, a take away, a bar, a restaurant, a playground for the little ones, table tennis and...wait for it...skiing!

The restaurant serves breakfasts, lunches and dinners of traditional meals made with local ingredients and, weather permitting, meals and snacks can be enjoyed al fresco on the restaurant's terrace.

Should you feel any need to go off site, nearby you have access to water based activities such as fishing, swimming, kayaking, canoeing and as well as horse riding - the perfect way to take in the scenery - and all the outdoor activities you could wish for.

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