The south of France is a long way – around 1,300 miles there and back – and that's just from Calais, never mind from Hampshire where you live. It means 20 hours of driving, a two-day affair each way unless you're prepared for an exhausting 12-hour trip including brief refreshment and fuel stops.
Driving all the way is definitely the cheapest option, particularly for a family: autoroute tolls from Calais to Narbonne are around €64 (£53) each way, fuel a further €100 (you can check both, and the best routes, at viamichelin.com). A hotel halfway will cost around €100 for four, plus meals.
Unfortunately, what was the best alternative to driving the whole way, Rail Europe's Motorail from Calais to Narbonne, is no longer in operation. But there are still motorail services which – if you exploit the best deals – make a reasonable alternative.
One option is to drive to Paris (about three hours/€20 in péage tolls from Calais) to the Gare de Bercy terminal for SNCF's Auto-Train (www.autotrain.voyages-sncf.com/dynamic/autotrain-webapp/homeControl.action) which goes to several destinations in the South of France, including Nice, Avignon, Marseilles and Toulon, from around €89.
Then it's a 400-yard walk to Gare de Lyon, where passengers take their own train (www.raileurope.co.uk), from around €19 per person, each way, for a TGV day train or from €40 for a night train with couchette (a bunk in a shared compartment with shared bathroom along the corridor).
You collect your car – usually from the same terminal that passengers arrive at – at journey's end.
Alternatively, you could take the Norfolkline Ferries (soon to become DFDS) service from Dover to Dunkirk (www.norfolkline.com, from £36 return for car and four people), then drive to Düsseldorf in Germany (three and a half hours, tolls €32.48) and catch the DB Autozug Motorail (www.dbautozug.de/site/dbautozug/en/start.html)
It seems a roundabout way to go but if you get a good deal and don't want a tediously long drive, it's worth considering. It's comparatively swish, offering a modern, upmarket cabin with en suite and dining facilities, and your car goes on the same train. One-way tickets for the 18-hour journey cost from €149 for car and driver, passengers from €60 each.
Finally, I agree that a glance at a map suggests that taking a ferry to Santander, then driving across the south-west corner of France to destinations such as Perpignan or Montpellier might work (you don't say where you will be heading), but don't be deceived. The journey from Portsmouth to Santander takes virtually a day, costing from £366 return for two people plus car in low season, while the drive from Santander to Perpignan is a seven-hour trip, costing around €95. Hardly worth the bother if, say, your destination is Provence.
So, if you're determined to arrive fresh and relaxed, Motorail is definitely an option, but, including tolls and petrol to and from terminals, it will be more costly than driving – and coordinating ferries, trains and villa changes over days can be tricky.
I'd share the driving, buy a DVD player for the children, pack some good music and stop at a nice hotel en route.
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