So Ferry, Across the ....

This route into Normandy costs less than a third of peak season prices into the Brittany ports further west along the coast. And if you add up 5 budget airline tickets, and baggage check-in fees, not to mention the rumored euro to pee charge – remember 4 kids full of 7up and orange juice – then the ferry is bay far the better option.

It might only be a narrow strip of water, but there are huge variations in the cost of taking a car across - with some routes seven times more expensive for a crossing on the same day.

Long criticized for their complex charging structures, ferries have become much more like airlines - with websites showing a much more transparent range of port-to-port prices rather than selling themselves as floating holidays with package tour tariffs. And after years in the doldrums, ferries have been making a modest revival, boosted by the soaring number of French holiday homes bought by Britons and by a disenchantment with the overcrowding and stress of airports in summer.

And just think of all you’ll save on your ferried home French vino, stinky cheese and plaits of onions