ADVERTISEMENTWalking through the grounds of her French château one evening last summer, Philippa Girling was relieved to hear the sound of laughter.
Specifically, women’s laughter. This was precisely the goal that the CEO of Camp Château had set herself when co-founding a women-only summer camp, and on that very first night, it tinkled across the lawn.
Now in its second year, there’s no doubt that the camp in the southwest region of Quercy is a success. Come autumn, 500 happy campers will have passed through the doors of the old Château de Béduer. The waitlist for summer 2025 is 11,000 names long.
“I went from being excited about it to actually feeling bad for the people on the waitlist who will never be able to come because [it] would take 20 years to clear,” she tells Euronews Travel.
Only two years in, Girling and her co-founders are considering how to expand so more women can get the unique R&R they deserve at the camp.
What’s special about a women-only summer camp?
Camp Château’s raison d'être is refreshingly simple: to provide women with a joyful, all-inclusive summer camp experience.
After 30 high-flying years in banking - “a very patriarchal industry” - Girling was tired of the way women and minorities are pressured to fit in.
“We created Camp Château with the idea that you can arrive and not work on yourself,” she says. “You can just relax, curate your experience, do whatever brings you joy and tranquillity and some restorative time.”
Each session lasts six days, and campers have an abundance of instructed activities to choose from, such as foraging, candle making, cheese tasting, horseback rides, yoga and silent disco.
You can do as many or few of these small-group ‘electives’ as you like, with some women preferring to spend most of their time simply lying by the pool.
“Women, when they're together, are amazing,” says Girling, who grew up in the south of England, often holidaying in Quercy, and now lives in California.
The 50-strong camp is sociable, of course, with shared bunks in the château or glamping tents for two. Dinner is taken en masse in the Grand Hall every evening, with apéro hour for those keen to sip and chat.
But the accent is on self-determination. There’s no need to worry about ice-breakers or a barrage of organised fun in this French idyll.
“The whole design of Camp Château is so that you will naturally meet people if you want to,” says Girling. But there’s space to be alone too: “We try to make it really very high permission to do what you need to do, but be kind to each other.”
Almost as soon as they arrive, Girling sees people’s shoulders drop. “It's an instant feeling of relief because most women, even when they're on holiday, are organising everything,” she says.
ADVERTISEMENTAt Camp Château, all you need to decide is whether it's time to lounge or play.
Who is Camp Château for?
Women from all walks of life are welcome. It's unsurprisingly popular with Americans, drawn to the historic setting. When we speak in early August, however, the camp is hosting an eclectic mix of campers from Andorra, Canada, Egypt, England and Nigeria.
Ages have ranged from 19 to the late 70s (with a lower limit of 21 for guests without a chaperone).
A lot of arrivals are solo travellers - some old hands, others newbies who see Camp Château as a safe environment to test out their wanderlust.
ADVERTISEMENTSmall groups come too, and mothers and daughters - Girling particularly loves these duos because “one of them has thought of the other.”
Girling’s own daughter Leah Lykins is a co-founder, bringing teaching expertise. This triptych of ‘leading ladies’ is completed by Lynda Coleman, whose background is in events planning.
Remarkably, Camp Château is 100 per cent owned by 140 women and/or gender-diverse founding members. They get special access with two founders-only sessions at the start of the summer.
For the rest of the world’s women, the price is €2,178 for a six-day five-night stay, which includes everything except travel shuttles from Toulouse Airport and on-site massages. (Pick up from the local train station at Figeac is free).
ADVERTISEMENTThat’s obviously prohibitively expensive for some would-be campers, but Girling says they have tried to make it affordable. “We didn't want to create something exclusive that only people with a high income could come to,” she explains.
This is why they have shared rooms and camp experiences rather than a luxury spa. With demand so high, some people have even questioned why they don’t raise the price. But Girling says that’s not going to happen.
A quick scroll of Camp Château’s 250k-followed Instagram shows how much it means to people.
“The first thing I’ll do when I have an income again and my loans are paid off,” comments Camilla. “I want this for my post-cancer treatment trip!” writes Wendy, “Is there rosé?”
ADVERTISEMENT“How can we make sure that the women who want to come can come?” Girling is asking herself, faced with that mammoth waitlist. One avenue they’re exploring is extending the season into autumn, by winterising the drafty castle. They are also considering opening a second location.
Where is Camp Château?
In Lot département, just south of the popular Dordogne, “Quercy is sort of a secret piece of France,” says Girling, largely only known to French tourists.
Château de Béduer enjoys verdant views over the Célé River valley (previously dubbed Paradise Valley), with Figeauc market town just 9 kilometres away.
A slice of sky between Célé Valley and Rocamadour to the north is known as the ‘black triangle’ because it has the lowest light pollution in France. Guests can see the Milky Way from the château terrace with stargazing also on the list of activities.
ADVERTISEMENTInside, the 800-year-old château has a rich history to explore - some particularly fascinating chapters star women in the last century. In 1939, Château de Béduer was bought by Jeanne Loviton - a journalist and novelist also famed for her many love affairs, some in high places.
The German-French Jewish film critic Lotte Eisner also spent time here during the Second World War, archiving and hiding French films from the Nazis. There is a plaque in her name outside the château dungeon where she accomplished this task in freezing conditions.
Girling tells these women’s stories in a weekly history talk, during apéro hour.
She is also struck by the “many beautiful stories” that today’s women bring.
ADVERTISEMENTGirling found one woman last year in the courtyard, staring at the walls. “Are you trying to soak it in?” she asked. “Yeah, I’m just trying to soak it in one last time before I leave so I can remember,” she replied.
Girling shared a thought about why the camp was working so well: “My theory is all the women who are here this year are brave because they all came to something that didn't really exist yet.”
But the woman thought otherwise: “We all hoped it was real. So we all had hope,” she said.
“That was really beautiful, and really absolutely right,” says Girling. “Every woman who comes comes with this really positive, hopeful expectation that there's going to be a lovely time. And then of course they make it a lovely time.
ADVERTISEMENT“And because you put 50 women together who all come with that lovely, positive hope… Then it's just a beautiful week.”