PILED chaotically and impossibly on top of each other, the reddish boulders that give the Cote de Granit Rose its name are almost worth the trip to Brittany's north-west coastline on their own.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the Pink Granite Coast is one of the world's great wonders, but it is a spectacular sight nonetheless. Anyone familiar with Brimham Rocks, in North Yorkshire, can take that mental picture, make the rocks bigger, more oddly shaped and more precariously balanced, and, of course, paint them a deep pink, almost crimson, and there you have it.

On a warm early summer evening, with the sun slipping slowly away, the reddening skyline helps to give the coastline an almost alien appearance. It would be a natural location for a film set on Mars. It is definitely a great setting for a romantic walk and, for that matter, a bizarre game of children's hide-and-seek.

The pink granite is the consequence of 300 million years of erosion. Effectively, the earth has been washed away leaving a pile of giant pink, rounded pebbles.

Many of the lumps of stone have names: there's the Sorciere (Sorceress), Bouteille Renversee (Upturned Bottle) and Tortue (Turtle), and we dubbed one Free Willy because of its flipper-like shape.

This surreal landscape, stretching nearly five-and-a-half miles, runs alongside and into Le Ranolien, one of a group of 19 holiday parks - all but one in France - run under the Yelloh! Village Holidays banner.

In many respects, Le Ranolien is typical of most other holiday parks - there is a bar, restaurant, creperie, takeaway, supermarket, souvenir shop, laundry, library, gym, sauna, games room, a multi-purpose sportsground offering, tennis, basketball, table tennis, football, and boules rink.

What makes it different, and rather special, is its location, hugging such a unique stretch of coastline, with its odd shapes and colours, and the peacefulness of its 15 hectares of former grazing pasture, particularly in low season.

It also boasts one or two other unique features. One is an 18-hole crazy golf course that, rather bizarrely, picks its way around, under, over and through an immense chunk of pink granite. However, unlike the many naturally-occurring pink granite outcrops throughout the site, this is man-made and very cleverly integrated with the pink granite concept.

The other is Le Ranolien's water park, similarly characterised by replica granite structures, which features no fewer than six heated pools (one indoors), a giant toboggan, multi-slides, cascades and Jacuzzis.

Outside the park and within a few minutes' drive are an 18-hole golf course, a horse-riding and pony club, sailing school, canoeing/kayaking, a Gaulish Village mini-theme park (well worth a visit), sea aquarium, planetarium, flying club and casino. Pretty much something for everyone. Nearby are the principal resort of Perros-Guirec and the small and pretty Port de Ploumanac'h.

By 2005, Le Ranolien's owner Marcel le Saux will implement plans to almost double the size of the water park to 2,500sq metres, with more pools, slides, rapids and other features and with more of the pools covered to the benefit of low-season visitors.

Marcel lives in a stunning house (with an equally stunning wine cellar) on the edge of Ploumanac'h, overlooking one of the prettiest stretches of the Cote de Granit Rose and within walking distance of his holiday park. He once owned the stretch of coastline but donated it to the town to allow it to develop the coastal path.

Locally-born, he made his money through a chain of camera shops in Paris, sold up after tiring of the flights between the capital and home, and took the local tourism industry to his heart.

He runs the site with his two daughters, Marie and Cecile, but is also a co-owner of two other major local attractions: a miniature port in Perros-Guirec, where children (mostly) can pilot a variety of mini-ships, and a fleet of small cruisers that take visitors on tours of Les Sept-Iles archipelago.

Les Sept-Iles are a case of mistaken identity. There are in fact only five islands, which were known to Bretons as the Saint Isles (written in Breton as Sept Iles) as monks lived on one of them; but some hasty Frenchman, clearly as poor at mathematics as languages, wrote them into history as The Seven Islands.

Digressing slightly, the Breton language throws up a number of oddities. For instance, it does not offer a direct translation of airplane, which Bretons call "carriage of the sky", nor for the telephone, which to them is a "speak from far away".

Back in the archipelago, apart from a small research station shared by weathermen and ornithologists, this is the undisputed kingdom of birds. The islands shelter 27 species of nesting birds, including 13 species of seabirds. The main island sanctuary, Ile Rouzic, is home to France's only colony of gannets (nearly 15,000 pairs), as well as puffins, cormorants, razorbills, guillemots, fulmars and various gulls, and a dozen or so grey seals, which daily allow themselves to be "stranded" on the rocks at low tide.

Every day, five mini-cruisers take parties on excursions around the archipelago, lasting one-and-a-half to three hours and the longer trips including a landing on Ile aux Moines, the only island where humans are allowed to set foot. In a typical year, the boats make 1,400 trips, carrying about 100,000 tourists.

Not surprising, a boat excursion is high on the list of just about every visitor to Le Ranolien.

Marcel says buying the holiday park was a life-changing decision - visiting his beloved park and this wonderful region of France may not change your life, but it will make a lasting impression.

TRAVELFACTS

Dave Horsley and his family travelled courtesy of Yelloh! Village Holidays to le Ranolien, near Perros Guirec, Brittany. The family stayed in a cottage for six for 14 nights in April. The 2003 price for a 14-night holiday like Dave's is £519. This price is valid for a family for up to six people and includes a return Dover to Calais ferry crossing for car and passengers. Dave and his family chose to travel with Brittany ferries from Plymouth to Roscoff. These crossings are available at an extra supplement of £142.

For further information and bookings contact Yelloh! Village Holidays on 00 800 88 739 739 or visit their website at www.yellohvillageholidays.com. For further information on Brittany Ferries call 08705 360 360 or log on to www.brittanyferries.com

Boat trips to The Sept-Iles archipelago are available from February to November. Prices vary from 12 to 14.5 euros for adults and 7.5 to nine euros children, depending on the length of journey and the time of year.