TOM OGG and his family recently spent a week at Domaine des Ormes in Brittany, France – a holiday which included spending a night in a treehouse and four nights in a “Disney-like” wooden cottage, as well as braving zip wires and “tree adventure courses”

IT was May 2024 when my wife and sons first visited Domaine des Ormes in Brittany, France, for a week-long holiday.
You’ll notice that I didn’t write “my wife, sons and I” – and that’s because a) it would have been grammatically incorrect (“me, my wife and sons” would be the correct term), and b) I didn’t go with them. I couldn’t get the time off work. And so I stayed behind in Jersey, not entirely reluctantly I might add. “Oh well, I’ll just spend the week watching films and listening to music with my feet up,” thought I, anticipating a relaxing week sprawled on the sofa with a beer in one hand and a takeaway in the other.
It wasn’t to be. I had to go to work every day, for starters, so there was that. And my spare time was largely spent looking at photos of my wife and kids having an absolute blast at Domaine des Ormes, which just left me feeling ever-so-slightly jealous. Suddenly, lazing about on the sofa with a cheap can of Foster’s and a slice of greasy pizza didn’t seem quite so magical.
Given this, there was absolutely no chance of me missing out when a return trip to Domaine des Ormes was arranged last month.
The popular family-friendly campsite kindly offered us five nights of free accommodation during the Easter holidays, and this time I was right alongside my wife and kids – Teddy (6) and Alby (4) – as we journeyed from Jersey Harbour to the picturesque Brittany countryside.
As anyone who has ever visited will know, Domaine des Ormes is a truly must-visit holiday destination, with an 18-hole golf course, an enormous aquadome (with both indoor and outdoor pools), activities, arcades, restaurants, pony rides, walks, trails, ponds, lakes, playgrounds and oodles more besides.

So gigantic and varied is the 200-hectare site that it could just as easily accommodate a family with children – pre-teen or teenager – as it could a couple searching for a romantic break, or even a thrill-seeker looking to launch themselves through the air from as high a platform as possible (about which more shortly).
Our own stay was divided into two, with the first night spent in one of the many Domaine des Ormes treehouses – yes, that’s right, a treehouse. I think the last time I had been inside a treehouse was sometime in the late 1980s, back when I almost broke my neck trying to clamber in and out of a rectangular pile of hastily-nailed-together planks of wood halfway up a lopsided Oak in William Page’s back garden.
Suffice to say, the treehouses in Domaine des Ormes are altogether safer and more impressive.
The treehouses are dotted around the vast woodland and lakeside areas of the site, and they vary in size, shape and height, with all of them divided into three distinct categories. First, there are the “family treehouses”, which stand anywhere from four metres to seven metres off the ground. Then there are the “zip wire treehouses”, which are available for those aged 16 and above, and which, as the name suggests, are accessible only via zip wire and assorted monkey bridges, wooden bars and high-wire netting. And, finally, there are the “ladder treehouses”, some of which stand a whopping 19 metres off the ground, and all of which can be reached only by climbing up and down a rope ladder. Not recommended for those who like to get sloshed in the pub and then stagger home to bed.
Needless to say, we were staying in one of the family treehouses – Treehouse “Tapis vert”, to be exact. The house – the name of which translates as “green carpet” in reference to its close approximation to the golf course – is nestled halfway up a 150-year-old Oak, with a set of wooden spiral steps leading to and from the house, and with the trunk of the tree growing right through the middle of one of the two bedrooms. In total, the house sleeps up to a dozen people, with two double beds and eight single beds, and there are also two dining areas: one inside and one outside on the balcony. Mattresses aside, everything in the house is made out of wood, from the bunk bed frames to the toilet (yep, there’s even a lav!).
“Magical” is a much-overused word, but it is a word which was spoken often during our overnight stay in Tapis vert, and deservedly so. It truly was a magical experience, akin to sleeping inside some kind of real-life Disney cartoon. It was like being in the Seven Dwarves’ cottage. Up a tree. At times I half expected Grumpy or Sleepy to come wandering into the bedroom.
Two particularly magical moments stand out from our time in the treehouse: the first was when I woke in the middle of the night – I’m a terrible sleeper – and ventured outside to stretch my legs. I was glad I did. There were so many stars above that there seemed almost to be more twinkling blue-white lights in the night sky than there was black, while the silence was such that every single owl hoot or cricket chirp seemed to echo around the balcony.
The second magical moment came in the morning when, having first enjoyed a walk around the adjacent lake with Teddy and Alby, breakfast was delivered at the foot of the treehouse.
The brekkie consisted of various delicious French breads, pastries and jams, as well as cutlery, cups, dishes, teas, coffee and flasks of hot water, and it all arrived carefully wrapped inside a large wicker basket, which we then had to pull up to the balcony using a rope and pulley. I just about stopped myself from yodelling “Heigh ho, heigh ho…” as I hauled it up.
The weather was warm enough that we were able to sit outside and eat brekkie on the balcony, as the rising sun shone through the surrounding trees, and as red squirrels eyeballed our pastries with envy.
Did I mention that there is no electricity or running water in the treehouses? No, I didn’t, because it doesn’t matter. When you’ve got sights and sounds such as these on your treehouse doorstep, who needs plug sockets or showers?
The remainder of our stay was spent in another unique accommodation: a Domaine des Ormes wooden cottage. These cottages are akin to Doctor Who’s Tardis, in that they look tiny on the outside, but they’re surprisingly spacious inside, and all are a short walk from the shops, restaurants, activities and swimming complex.

Mostly open-plan, our cottage included three single beds, two double beds, a bathroom, a toilet, a sizeable kitchen area and two dining areas, one inside, one outside.
As with the treehouse, everything that could be made out of wood was made out of wood, and a distinctly Disney-esque vibe once again permeated the accommodation. If the dustpan and brushes had suddenly started sweeping the floor of their own accord, I wouldn’t have been wholly surprised.
The following highlights just how nice the cottage was. Prior to our visit, we had planned to have dinner at one or two of the restaurants and eateries on site at Domaine des Ormes, but in the end we didn’t. Why? Because it was so lovely sitting around the table on the patio outside our cottage that we just ate there every evening instead. We’d stockpile French breads, cheeses, pickles, sausages and salads from the on-site supermarket and then sit munching it all in the sun. Bliss.
In total, we had four full days at Domaine des Ormes and we never once struggled to find something to do. The highlights included me and Teddy braving one of the high-wire zip wires. Well, I say “braving”, but Teddy was entirely unperturbed as we climbed the wooden spiral staircase, higher and higher and higher, and he was equally unbothered when it came to attaching our harnesses to the wire and then hurling ourselves off the wooden platform into thin air. Clearly, he hasn’t inherited his dad’s fear of heights. “Is he nervous?” asked the instructor, perhaps sensing my uneasiness. “He’s not nervous, but I am,” I replied.
As it is, the zip wire was bloody brilliant, and me and Teddy immediately raced back up the steps and had another go. And then another.
My youngest, Alby, would likely have been right up there with us if only he’d been tall enough to take part, but, thankfully, he was able to take part in one of the “tree adventure courses”, of which Teddy conquered several courses.
The courses are all marked green, blue, red or black depending on their level of difficulty, with all participants kitted out in safety helmet and harness. They must then wend their way through net tunnels, across suspended bridges, over monkey bridges and more besides. A highlight for Alby was sitting on the back of a wheeled wooden horse, two metres off the ground, and then rocketing from one tree to another.
Elsewhere, the swimming complex was visited daily, usually for several hours at a time, with both boys – and, if I’m honest, me – particularly loving the Tarzan-like rope swing whereby swimmers whizz through the air and then land with an almighty splash in the water.

The boys also enjoyed a pony ride around the perimeter of the park, while we all spent a fun-filled half-hour riding a peddle boat around one of the lakes, watching as fellow holidaymakers zip-wired over our heads. The boys couldn’t stop laughing when one lady unwisely chose to zip-wire while wearing a hat, which naturally blew off her head and landed in the water (it was retrieved by a Good Samaritan peddle-boater).
So, how good was Domaine des Ormes? Put it this way: more than a month after our visit, Alby is still wearing his Domaine des Ormes wristband around his wrist. He won’t let us cut it off, presumably in the hope that keeping it on means we’ll return.
And that, funnily enough, is exactly what we intend to do.

*For more details on Domaine des Ormes, or to book, visit lesormes.com