Cani-Rando and Cani-Kart Autumn Camp at Saint-Nectaire

A week spent with a pack of mountain dogs, led by a professional musher. Children start by meeting the dogs and learning how they live, then take to the footpaths on cani-rando, harnessed to a dog; try cani-cross over obstacle courses and games; and ride in a cani-kart pulled by a team. Caring for the dogs is part of every day — after each outing they are brushed, fed and given time to recover. Creative workshops, a talk on the different breeds and the making of a cani-rando lead to take home fill out the programme.

The published rate covers the stay at the manor, accommodation, meals and the activity programme; the operator states that rates are quoted excluding options. Supervised travel to the centre by train or coach from a choice of departure cities is charged as a supplement and listed separately — a departure city runs only with a minimum of three participants, and timings are sent with the departure documents about a fortnight beforehand. Families who bring their child to the centre themselves pay the base rate. A health record form and a copy of the vaccination record are required.

The Manoir du Viginet is a restored manor house that has kept its medieval character, standing on an estate of nineteen hectares. Accommodation is in rooms of one to nine beds, with the addition of four-bed gypsy caravans that have their own sanitary block. Stated capacity is 95 people.

Meals are cooked on site by the centre's own cook and served in the manor's dining room, which is arranged around a large fireplace. The centre offers half board or full board.

Cani-rando on the footpaths harnessed to a dog, cani-cross over obstacle courses, cani-kart pulled by a team of dogs, and care of the pack after every session. Creative workshops display the children's drawings while the musher talks through the breeds, and each child makes a cani-rando lead to keep. Games run through the week on the same theme — locating breeds on a world map, recognising dogs blindfolded. Sports challenges on the estate use electric scooters and electric quads, and the leaders add grand games and evening activities.

The estate covers nineteen hectares and has a heated indoor swimming pool, a BMX track and a road-safety training track. Inside the manor there are four classrooms, a large activity room for group sessions and evening events, a dining room with a fireplace and a central courtyard. There is also a vegetable garden, and sports equipment for quads, scooters and BMX.

Supervision runs at one adult for every eight children, with a director holding the French BAFD qualification and a leader qualified in first aid (PSC1). Children arrive at the centre in the late afternoon of the first day and leave in the morning of the last. The setting is the Auvergne volcano country: the Sancy massif, the Chaîne des Puys, the lakes of Chambon and Pavin and the château of Murol are all within reach.