Breuil-Barret
85120
Vendee
The
House
The house is a large ex-mill house, built in 1697, on
the meeting point of two very old rights-of-way.
It has four bedrooms, plus a large study/games room upstairs,
a large kitchen, a small snug and a storage room,
with the old mill machinery still intact, a large dining
room-come-sitting room and a small room at the back,
which we have no idea what to do with yet.
The
Garden
The house has 3 acres of land, mostly mature woodland
or steep hillside.
There are several hundred trees, both scrubby elder
and mature trees, three ponds and a small stream
flowing through the grounds, with three bridges across it and
what might well be a roman ford.
Flowers are very beautiful, including a quite unusual and widespread
carpet of purple toothwort in the spring.
Amongst the wildlife we’ve seen are red squirrels, a
hedgehog, a coypu, lot of butterflies, hummingbird moths,
damselflies and dragonflies. Pictures of
various insects
Admin
for Visitors
Please click here for admin stuff
There
and back again
Flying:
The house is 1-11/2 hours distant from
three airports
Nantes has the best service. There are direct flights
from the UK, Ireland and Schipol (though Schipol costs a fortune).
Ryanair flies from Stansted to La
Rochelle and Poiters. KLM/Air France flies from City
airport to Nantes.
Car hire at Nantes is quick and easy
Train:
You can also travel by TGV. TVG Map of France: http://www.tgv.co.uk/FlashMaps/france.html
The closest and most convenient station is Niort. You
can take the train from Paris or (morning and evening) from Charles de Gaulle.
Routing through Paris is slow, as you need to change
from Gare du Nord to Gare
Montparnasse, which cannot be done in less than 45 minutes.
The Paris-Niort trains take 2.10-2.30 hours;
alternatively, there are Poitiers trains which take only 1.30-2 hours, and
aren’t that much
further away if you are being picked up or hiring a car.
The
Region
We are in the Vendee in Pays de la Loire, close to the
border with Deux Sevres in Poitou-Charentes.
Vendee: Deux Sevres:
This is the Multimap link
direct to the house: http://www.multimap.com/our
house
Niort is the closest large town, with Poitiers a bit
further away and a bit bigger. Fontenay-le-Comte is 20
minutes away. The Vendee has no big towns.
A good intro guide to the Vendee: http://www.the-vendee.co.uk/intro.htm
Wikipedia’s history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vend%C3%A9e
Climate
and Weather
The climate is warm in summer but pretty chilly in Dec-Feb.
It’s in a ‘sun pocket’
and claims to have nearly as much sun as the Cote d’Azur
(though it’s nothing like as hot). Spring and summer both come early. June-August
is the classic summer.
By March everything is blooming and the raspberries
are ripe by June.
The nearest Yahoo site: http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/FRXX0166_c.html.
Some
Child-friendly attractions:
Futuroscope http://www.futuroscope.com/
(not been yet, to be honest)
The extraordinary Puy du Fou: http://www.puydufou.com/uk/
(which is open in the summer
only but must not be missed if you are a newcomer).
The Parc de Pierre Brun in Mervent forest http://www.mervent-foret.com/
(which is aged and rickety
but still pretty good if you have younger kids)
Some
Stuff to Do:
Sitting
drinking wine and listening to the river. My personal favourite.
Its an agriculrual area of rolling farmland, a bit like Oxfordhire or parts of irelabd,
very strong aming community, not particularly exciting
geographically.
Cycling
Ballooning
Golf - There are at least five
courses in the Vendee and three in Deux Sevres.
Vendee:
Golf des Fontenelles - http://www.golfethotel.com/golf-france-detail.cfm?idGolf=44
Golf de St Jean de Monts,
Golf des Olonnes,
Golf de la Domangere - http://www.golfethotel.com/golf-france-detail.cfm?idGolf=428
Golf de Port-Bourgenay -http://www.formule-golf.com/fr/visitez_les_golfs/Port-Bourgenay-Golf/Accueil.aspx
Deux-Sevres:
See http://www.golfniort.fr/golfniort/
Les Forges - Golf Club
Chateau des Forges, off the D524 between Vasles and Coutieres (east from Parthenay).
Mazieres-en-Gatine,
just south of the town on the D743 between Parthenay
and Niort, has a Formule Golf chateau hotel.
See http://www.formule-golf.com/fr/visitez_les_golfs/Mazieres-en-Gatine-Golf/Accueil.aspx
Horse riding
The Tank Museum. We went to the tank museum at Saumur and thought it was outstanding for
boys and older boys.
All sorts of tanks from WW1 on .
It is the Musee des Blindees, 1043 Route de Fontevraud,
49400 Saumur. Opening hours are on www.musee-des-blindes.asso.fr
Restaurants
There are several restaurants in villages around 10-20
Km away. In La Chateraignerie, there is
The blue restaurant at the end of the road (Walking distance)
S very nice pizza place in St Hilaire de Viost
L’Auberge de la Terrace in Le Chataigneraie (Fancy)
Hotel de la Poste (nice and
simple) in le Chataeigneraie.
We have’t really done this justice though (children).
Shopping
Farmers’
markets etc. Oysters are plentiful as
most are local; lots of local produce, including quite a bit of small game,
rabbit etc.
Lots of
seafood.
Wine and
cheese obviously very good. Well,
better than that. Truly outstanding.
For practical shopping, Fontenay
or Niort are best. For fashion, best just not.
Fishing
Extraordinarily
popular in the area. We are close
to the very large Pescalis: http://www.pescalis.com/.
Its pricy and practices catch and release, both rather
spoiling the point in my book.
Surfing
Very popular and seems pretty good but haven’t tried
yet.
http://www.sciences.univ-nantes.fr/info/perso/permanents/trichet/source-surfGB.html
Seaside
A little too
far away for a day trip unless you make an early start.
The big centre is: http://www.lessablesdolonne.fr/, but
La Rochelle is closer, prettier and has excellent cafes and seafood.
Bungee Jumping
Yep, just round the corner. Only runs a few times a
year. Le Grand Sot is its name. Hmmm…..
Wine
We are an hour from the Loire valley
And two from Bordeaux:
Local Vendee Wines ("Fiefs Vendéens) are not particularly well known. The
main ones arer around Brem,
Mareuil, Vix, and Pissotte.
-
Brem Fiefs,
-
At Beaulieu sous la Roche, the Cave de l'Atrie,
-
Mercier Frères
- http://www.mercier-groupe.com/Anglais/AGroupeMercier/Avignoblesmercier.htm,
-
closest vinyard to us is La Pissotte: http://www.welcome-vendee.com/vendee/vins-pissotte-coirier.htm
Sightseeing
-
Fontenay-le-Comte and
the nearby region is worth a visit. http://www.ville-fontenaylecomte.fr/
-
The Marais Poitevin is close by, south of Fontenay,
and is said to have great bird watching
-
The Châteaux
of the Loire valley are an hour and a half away and some are truly amazing.
-
Vendee Revolutionary
battlefields seem to abound also.