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French language school trip to Le Moulin aux Draps, Northern France

Our most flexible & accessible language immersion trip to our 3* hotel in Hauts-de-France gives students the chance to practise their French while enjoying a mix of fun excursions led by native-speaking French staff.

  • Voyager owned
  • Key stage 3 - 4
  • Native French animateurs
  • Year round
  • Evening entertainment
  • Workbooks
  • Carbon offset
Overview

An immersive French trip with optional school exchange

Stay at our residential centre, just a short hop across the Channel from Dover. The Opal Coast features historic towns, vast sandy beaches, chocolate factories, goat’s cheese farms and everything in between making it very popular with French learners and first-time visitors to France.

Our experienced French-native animateurs will lead your school trip to the Opal Coast and provide a full evening programme to create an immersive French experience. They'll build your students' confidence and encourage them to speak French at every opportunity. But perhaps above all else, they are here to make sure it's fun!

Optional French exchange

A brilliant optional extra to this programme is the opportunity to spend a morning or day at a local French school. We will pair you with a French school that matches the age and level of your children, giving your group the unparalleled opportunity to practise their language skills with their French peers. Experience a real cultural exchange that’s certain to inspire a love for learning French. Contact us to find out more.

See how this immersion French trip links to the MFL curriculum →

Itinerary

4-day sample itinerary

All activities, excursions and evening entertainment is conducted in French by our experienced animateurs.

Day 1

  • Board your coach for your trip to France
  • Arrive in France 
  • Students enjoy their first visit in France - the snail farm  
  • Check in to Hotel du Moulin aux Draps and meet your animateurs
  • French quiz evening

Day 2

  • French activity "Market mission"
  • Boulogne town trail
  • Local bakery demonstration, in French of course!
  • Nausicaa National Sea Centre or Treetop adventure and high ropes
  • French games evening

Day 3

  • Guided history excursion to Vimy Ridge
  • Fun at the Rando Rail adventure
  • French games evening

Day 4

  • Checkout 
  • Board the coach for your Channel crossing back to England
  • Arrive back at school

 

Location

Located less than an hour from Calais and within very easy reach of the stunning Opal Coastline, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Le Touquet, Arras and the WWI battlefields, our Moulin aux Draps centre is the perfect destination for schools looking for an affordable/short French language immersion school trip. The language centre is exclusively for the use of school groups meaning there are few distractions for students.

Our French-native animateurs and centre managers have considerable experience in looking after school groups and catering for the needs of British teachers and pupils. The centre is contained within 22 acres of car-free French countryside, giving students plenty of space to explore. Supervision is easy as the grounds are within view of the main building and teachers can relax in the evenings as the Voyager team will deliver a programme of evening entertainment for your students.

Click here for more information about this residential centre owned by Voyager School Travel.

Excursions
Boulangerie
Bakery workshop
Boulogne town trail
Boulogne town trail
Nausicaa tunnel
Nausicaá National Sea Centre
French language immersion school trip to the Opal Coast of France
Market mission
La Coupole
La Coupole
Le Touquet Beach
Le Touquet
Rando Rail France
Rando-Rail
Thiepval Memorial to the missing
Thiepval Memorial
Lochnagar Crater
Lochnagar Crater
Vimy Memorial
Vimy Ridge Memorial
Opalaventure
Treetop Adventure Park
Desvres Museum of Ceramics
Museum of Ceramics tour & workshop
Chocolate making workshop in French
Chocolate workshop
Goats cheese farm
Goat's cheese farm
Blockhaus dEperlecques
Blockhaus d'Eperlecques
Bellewaerde
Bellewaerde
Etaples Cemetery
Étaples Military Cemetery
Escargot snail farm
Snail Farm
Boulangerie

© Monica Arellano-Ongpin

Bakery workshop

At a local boulangerie, a baker will perform a baking demonstration for your group in French. Students will walk away with a croissant and a pain au chocolat each!

Boulogne town trail

Boulogne town trail

Maximise your group's language learning with this fun animateur-led challenge—designed to give students opportunities to improve their French comprehension & speaking skills in situ.

Nausicaa tunnel

Nausicaá National Sea Centre

The largest marine life centre in Europe is home to 1,600 species and promotes sustainability and marine management. This is a fun and educational cross-curricular visit for groups.

French language immersion school trip to the Opal Coast of France

Market mission

Visit a local market with your animateur where teams of students will be given money to buy food for lunch. Students will be tasked with ordering in French, creating a great opportunity to interact with the friendly stall owners in their native language. Students will also have free time to pick up some souvenirs.

La Coupole

© Damian Entwistle

La Coupole

This huge dome in the hills was built to house & launch rockets in WWII—now, it's a museum & planetarium. Learn the interesting story of how the mission pivoted from war to space exploration.

Le Touquet Beach

© Alec Brown

Le Touquet

The seaside town of Le Touquet has miles of white sandy beaches for school groups to enjoy some down time on. In the centre of the town, you will find quaint cafés and confectionery shops.

Rando Rail France

Rando-Rail

Immerse yourselves in the French countryside as you pedal your way along a 10 km-long disused railway track in a 4-person kart! This fun outdoor activity is sure to be a hit among your students, especially if you’re travelling in the summer.

Thiepval Memorial to the missing

© David Nicholls

Thiepval Memorial

The largest British war memorial in the world is known as the "Memorial to the Missing". A moving tribute to the 72,000+ servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme in WWI.

Lochnagar Crater

Lochnagar Crater

The massive carter was created by the explosion of a mine during the WWI Battle of the Somme. The site has since been preserved to act as a war memorial dedicated to the fallen soldiers.

Vimy Memorial

© Timothy Shawn Hack

Vimy Ridge Memorial

The striking Canadian National Vimy Memorial is dedicated to the memory of the Canadian servicemen who lost their lives in WWI—particularly in the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

Opalaventure

Treetop Adventure Park

Want to add a bit of adventure to your trip and give students a chance to overcome their fears? Add a visit to an outdoor activity centre where groups can climb, swing and soar through the great outdoors.

Desvres Museum of Ceramics

Museum of Ceramics tour & workshop

Desvres has a thriving ceramics industry thanks to the area's raw materials. Enjoy a guided tour & partake in a workshop where students will learn about the production and craft their own souvenir.

Chocolate making workshop in French

Chocolate workshop

We can arrange for this workshop tour, where your group will learn how a local French chocolaterie produces their chocolate, to be led in either English or French. Students will even get a chance to taste the chocolates too!

Goats cheese farm

Goat's cheese farm

Visit a local goat's cheese farm to meet the goats, find out how cheese is made and try some for yourself!

Blockhaus dEperlecques

Blockhaus d'Eperlecques

Located near Saint-Omer, this WWII bunker was built as a V2 rocket launch site. Your group can see the result of the ally bombing of the bunker and explore various in & outdoor exhibits.

Bellewaerde

Bellewaerde

Boasting among other things the highest water chute in Europe, Bellewaerde Park is just across the border in Belgium. Enjoy thrilling rides, marvel at exotic animals and explore the park.

Etaples Cemetery

Étaples Military Cemetery

Étaples Military Cemetery is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in Étaples, near Boulogne on the north-west coast of France. The cemetery commemorates over 11,500 lives lost in WWI and WWII.

Escargot snail farm

Snail Farm

Escargot may not actually be a staple of the French diet but that's no reason not to indulge in a bit of fun on this popular visit. Your students are sure to love (or wince at) the accompanying snail tasting.

Included

Our Opal Parle French language immersion programme includes:

  • A fun programme of student activities led in French by our own highly trained team of French-native animateurs
  • All centre-based French language games, activities, lessons and evening entertainment
  • A French-language activity workbook per student
  • Full board and lodging including snacks
  • Free teacher to student ratio approx 1:8 (coach trips) / approx 1:10 (air groups)
  • Private teachers’ lounge area
  • 24-hour emergency support
  • Teacher evening wind-down activities such as cheese and wine tasting evening
  • Your choice of return travel; coach travel, with ferry crossing, applicable tolls and taxes included, or return flights and overseas transfers
  • Coach to take your group off-site for visits
  • Comprehensive travel insurance
  • Subsidised centre inspection visit for you and a colleague
  • The opportunity to carbon offset your trip. 

Extras to budget for

  • Off-site excursions
  • Meals on journeys
  • School to airport transfers (if required)
  • Visa charges, collective passports
  • Supplements for small parties, single rooms and additional adults

Planning resources

Planning resources for this trip

These ready-made trip resources are designed to reduce your admin and help speed up the process of planning, promoting and getting approval for your trip:

Learning Links

Gallery

From

£307 pp
3 day/2 night with animateur & on-site activities included 
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