The Vendée is
located between Nantes on the Loire river to the North and the elegant city of
La Rochelle in the neighbouring département of Charente Maritime to the South. The Vendée is the most southerly of the départments
that make up the Pays de la Loire.
The
gites are located in the south of the Vendée, between the towns
of Fontenay-le-Comte and Luçon, in the villages of Le Langon (for Les
Alouettes & Les Roches) and Mouzeuil St Martin (for La Maison du Blé & Les
Chardonnerets). The gites are approximately 30 miles from the coast, and 180 miles south of the
nearest Channel port (St Mâlo), and about 30 miles from the nearest airport
(La Rochelle). Calais is only six-and-a-half hours drive on excellent roads.
The
region is well served by motorway links from Normandy / Brittany (via the A83)
and from the Paris area (A10 / A87)
Arrival by Ferry /
Channel Tunnel
Please find below a list of ferry companies serving the Channel Ports, with
links to their websites. Please note that we
participate in a discount fares scheme with Brittany Ferries
(who serve the nearest port of St Malo and the second nearest at Caen) that
can save up to 30% on their published tariff from the UK. We can provide
details of this at the time of booking.
We have made the run from the
Vendée via Calais a number of times and as we are travelling with three young
children make an overnight stop to break the journey. We have found these
hotels to be good:
Canterbury (about 30
minutes from Dover): Acacia Lodge B&B (www.acacialodge.co.uk)
on London Road is family run and has a "family area" catering for parties of
up to five in two interconnecting rooms. The owners are delightful and the
property is easy walking distance to Canterbury city centre.
Escalles (about 20 minutes
from Calais): Hotel L'Escale (www.hotel-lescale.com)
is in a village just to the south of Calais. The adjacent restaurant is very
good, and the hotel has family rooms and adjoining rooms.
Rouen (just over 2 hrs
from Calais and 4 hours from the gîtes) is a good stopping point between
Calais and the Vendée. 3 choices here, the
Mercure offers family rooms for 3, or interconnecting rooms.
Besthotel is fairly basic,
but has family rooms and a surprisingly good buffet style restaurant.
Campanile
north of Rouen is neat and clean, breakfast is good.
Arrival by Air
The nearest airports serving the Vendée are at La Rochelle
(approximately 35 minutes drive) and Nantes (one hour).
La Rochelle and Nantes are served from the UK
and Eire by
a wide range of airlines including Flybe,
Easyjet,
Jet2 and Ryanair.
Please consult their websites for timetable details (click on name for link).
La Rochelle
Nantes
Ryanair
FlyBE
Easyjet
Jet 2
FlyBE
Ryanair
Easyjet
Stansted
√
Gatwick
√
√
√
East Midlands
√
Birmingham
√
Southamption
√
Bristol
√
Leeds Bradford
√
√
Manchester
√
Edinburgh
√
Shannon
√
Dublin
√
√
Cork
√
Note - Routes have
been checked for July 2012, some routes may be limited to the summer months.
Other
nearby airports include Poitiers and Tours (served by low cost
airlines from the UK), at around 90 minutes drive.
Further
afield, Bordeaux (2 hours), Limoges (2 and a half hours) and Paris (about 4 hours) are well served by
international carriers.
