ANGELA BIRD'S
PRACTICAL DETAILS ABOUT THE VENDEE
Check this
section out for:
Camping / Cottages / Hotels and B&Bs / Money / Telephoning / Maps
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THE EURO |
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The Vendée has almost 400 classified camp sites, plus
numerous "campings à la ferme" - small sites (see Gîtes de France Vendée web
pages) on working farms - for the independent camper, where children can
often play in the fields or help to feed the animals. Many British companies offer luxury camping in mobile
homes or ready-erected tents at four-star sites both on the coast and inland,
backed up by the services of cheerful couriers. |
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Le
Pas Opton is a four-star site near the attractive resort of
St-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie. It is owned by Spring Harvest, a British company with
a strong Christian ethic. Peter and
Shelagh McClearns run the attractive Val de Vie campsite in a
tranquil setting above the lake at Maché, just 12 miles from the coast
(tel/fax: +33 (0) 2 51 60 21 02).
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Holiday cottages can be rented through the Gîtes de France
organisation (Vendée office tel: +33 (0)2 51 37 87 87; fax: +33 (0)2 51 62 15
19) - you can order the current Vendée directory on-line, by credit card.
Another well-known rental organisation in France is Clévacances. There’s a wealth of tourism information, as well as some
delectable gites for rent, at the Holidays
in Vendée website. If you're hoping to bring any pets with you from
the UK, make sure (a) that the property you are intending to rent will agree
to accept animals, and (b) that you comply with the strict regulations laid
down by the UK's DEFRA . It is
particularly important to note that you have to start the whole process at
least 6 months in advance.
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HOTELS Among some other delightful
independant establishments are: |
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BED AND BREAKFAST |
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Chantal and Jacqueline Grolleau have eight attractive
B&B rooms in a comfortably converted
barn, in a rural setting between Chantonnay and Pouzauges, and
conveniently located for the Puy-du-Fou. With shared pool and pretty garden. |
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See website for pictures |
Chantal Corbière and her husband (who speaks excellent
English) have newly-converted B&B accommodation in their old stone barn, La Ferme Sainte-Marie, near
Aizenay. Phone +33 2 51 94 83 87; email lafermesaintemarie@wanadoo.fr |
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Château de la Verie, nr Challans;
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La
Fraternité, left, is a working farm
and B&B located near Apremont and Aizenay. It's run by Ian and Janty
Pike, a charming English couple who offer a couple of super first-floor
rooms, both with immaculate en-suite facilities, beneath the beamed roof of
their traditional Vendean family farmhouse. May aso be rented as a
self-contained apartment. Open year-round. Tel: +33 (0)2 51 55 42 58 . |
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Or - if you are looking for somewhere outside the Vendée,
yet within reach of the picturesque Marais Poitevin - why not try an old
watermill? Jason and Marie-Laure Satterthwaite offer B&B at the Moulin Lacombe, 28km south-east
of Niort and just to the south of Melle. |
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OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION
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Here’s a useful
link to the site for the town of Moutiers les Mauxfaits, where a local British
resident has compiled a list of tourist attractions, restaurants and some
hotels that are accessible to wheelchairs, noting also whether they have WC
facilities for the disabled. Mr
Hubbard also lists beaches that have “tiralos”, a kind of beach buggy on
which a person can by pushed into the sea to “swim”. |
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DRIVING |
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NEW RULE FOR MOTORISTS Since 1 July 2008 it is compulsory
for any vehicle being driven in France TIP Buy these items before leaving
home! |
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Good travel insurance is vital for peace of mind on
holiday. Vehicle cover: Most
UK insurance companies no longer issue Green Cards - which is a pity, as
French police seemed to be reassured by being shown a document that resembled
insurance documents issued in France. However, there should be a French
phrase printed somewhere on your UK Certificate of Insurance to the effect
that you have adequate cover, so you should take that with you and show it
instead. You still have to advise your motor insurance company of your dates
of travel, even if they no longer issue Green Cards. Again, there are many
vehicle breakdown schemes on the market, so shop around for the best package
for you. Hospitals in the area: a
newspaper survey of casualty departments (Urgences) in late 2000 showed
excellent centres at the hospitals of La Roche-sur-Yon and Cholet (the latter
being useful for anyone on the north-east of the département). Nantes or
Niort would obviously be a good bet, too for those on the north or the
south-east borders of the Vendée, respectively. Here is a link
to the “Urgences” (hospitals with A&E departments) of the Vendée, shown
in decreasing order of size (largest first). 2005: After an
agonising bout of toothache, Sarni writes: |
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Of course, it's wise to take money in several different
forms with you when you go on holiday. On 1 January 2002 France switched to
the Euro, so obviously this is the only currency to take now. You may not have realised that your UK cashpoint card -
the one you use to extract money from holes in the wall back home - will
often work just as well abroad, providing that the machine you use bears a
logo similar to the one shown on your card. Just stick your card in - the
machine usually recognises that it is British and brings up the instructions
in English. Tap in your PIN, and state how much you'd like to take out
(withdrawal amounts are usually pre-set choices). If your account back home
can stand it, you should have no trouble getting money out, which can be very
useful on Mondays or on unexpected bank holidays. Note: there is a charge
made for this, which will appear later on your bank statement. THE EURO In early 2010, So calculate roughly £1 to 1€ and you will not be
too far out. The French franc (the currency till January 2002) is no
longer accepted in shops or banks. So you could either - simply use your UK cashpoint card in cashpoints bearing
the same logo as that on your card (though this involves a transaction fee
each time – check with your bank to see whether this is acceptable to you)
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The Vendée has plenty of mainstream supermarkets and
hypermarkets: Leclerc, Super-U, Intermarché and so forth. Most have websites
so you can check out where the nearest one is to the place you are going. There are also more and more branches of Lidl and
Leader-Price, and of Netto (stores that the French call “hard discount” –
pronounced “ard-disscoont”) |
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Telephoning within France: French telephone numbers now have 10 digits, so
if you have an old eight-digit number it needs a prefix. Vendée phone numbers
(most starting with 51), Maine-et-Loire (41) and Loire-Atlantique (40) have
been prefixed with 02; Deux-Sèvres (49) and Charente-Maritime (46) are
prefixed with 05. Mobile phones work
well, though if you have not used yours abroad before you may need to check
with your supplier whether any further formalities are needed before it will
function overseas. TIP 2: LIN SMIT WRITES EMAILS If you have your laptop with you, you will find wi-fi hotspots throughout the Vendée, usually adjacent to a tourist office. You can connect free to check out local tourism information; however any further surfing, collecting emails etc has to be paid for. This is at the astonishingly reasonable rate of 1 euro for 24 hours’ use – which can be paid online by credit card in a very simple process. Cybercentres are becoming more numerous, si if you do not have your
own computer with you, ask the nearest tourist office for a place to check
your emails. Some four-star campsites offer
their clients internet facilities, and many hotels and even upmarket gites
and B&Bs have free Wi-fi access for guests. It may also be worth trying
the "médiathèques" (media libraries) of small towns; some of
which do have connexions. TIP: If you need to look up a French telephone
or fax number try the on-line
Minitel telephone directory-enquiry service from your computer. Pages
Jaunes is of course Yellow Pages (businesses); Pages Blanches is White Pages
(residential). |
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It’s vital to use up-to-date maps for your holiday. It’s a false economy to try and use 10-year-old
maps and road atlases, because so many new motorways and bypasses open each
year in France that you will end up thoroughly confused (and bad-tempered!). Most widely available outside France is the yellow-backed
Michelin series (1:200,000): Number 316 (Loire-Atlantique/Vendée). It
should be available in W.H. Smith, Dillon's, Waterstone's and other good UK
bookshops; Sat-nav |
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