Also take a look at the Logis "group".
They are an affiliation of privately owned hotels who get together, in terms of publicity, to compete with the chains - they can be a bit more pricy, but they don't have to be so; you also tend to get a more personal service by dealing with the proprietor rather than an employee.
I have used booking.com (there are loads of other equivalents of course) for finding places and making bookings; as usual, you can find good prices via internet bookings, certainly compared with pitching up on the day, un-announced; even booking ahead by as little as a few hours, while on the road, can make a difference.
I like the search system in booking.com which can find all the available hotels inside your own ideas of where you want to stay.
Also, you say there will be 7 of you: basically, you are running a tour, so ask for discount based on that fact - for everything including the channel crossing.
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Dave
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