Pierre & Vacances Port-Bourgenay, Talmont

...for Port Bourgenay, run by Pierre et Vacances, as it looked like it was in a perfect location, is close to the beach, and there seemed to be a lot to do. It cost somewhere in the region of £1000 for the accommodation (£250 in deals) for seven nights and £300 for the return ferry.


~*~ Location ~*~

We live in the south west, so a Portsmouth - Cherbourg crossing is ideal for us. We always get the earliest ferry ...
...gives us plenty of time to drive to our accommodation and settle in by bed time. Or so I thought! This really wasn't the easiest place to find at all. We knew the main towns that we had to head towards: Rennes, Nantes, La-Roche-Sur-Yon, and finally onto Les Sables-d'Olonne before following the signs for a few miles to reach our destination. We estimated that this would take us about five hours, but given the good old French road signs, my map reading ... more

France is a familiar destination for us as a family. We have camped all over the country for the past eight years, and we have loved every minute of it, but now that our two children are older we decided that camping was no longer for us and we deserved a bit of luxury after years of roughing it (I say "roughing it" in the loosest sense; I always demanded an electric hook up for the kettle, toaster, cool box and hair straighteners, and I have been known to pack the gas barbecue!).

We were on a bit of a budget, so I decided to take full advantage of my Clubcard vouchers that I had saved up. After scouring the deals available, we eventually decided that French life was the way to go as they offered a huge range of self catering apartments, cottages and holiday villages. Generally speaking, most of the accommodation would have been beyond our budget if it wasn't for the Clubcard vouchers that are worth four times their face value, but after much debate and research we plumped for Port Bourgenay, run by Pierre et Vacances, as it looked like it was in a perfect location, is close to the beach, and there seemed to be a lot to do. It cost somewhere in the region of £1000 for the accommodation (£250 in deals) for seven nights and £300 for the return ferry.

~*~ Location ~*~

We live in the south west, so a Portsmouth - Cherbourg crossing is ideal for us. We always get the earliest ferry (around 9am) so we arrive in France around 3pm which gives us plenty of time to drive to our accommodation and settle in by bed time. Or so I thought! This really wasn't the easiest place to find at all. We knew the main towns that we had to head towards: Rennes, Nantes, La-Roche-Sur-Yon, and finally onto Les Sables-d'Olonne before following the signs for a few miles to reach our destination. We estimated that this would take us about five hours, but given the good old French road signs, my map reading and stopping for a wee and not being able to get back onto the motorway, we arrived at about 10.30pm, somewhat beleaguered and I had a headache due my husband constantly moaning at me for not letting him get the Sat Nav upgraded for Europe (we will next time!)

~*~ Check in ~*~

Arriving late and tired had a silver lining. The one bedroomed apartment with pull out beds in the living room that we had booked were all full, so we got upgraded to a two bedroom apartment for six people. The check in process was really easy even at such a late hour, and the reception staff spoke good English. We had to leave a £200 refundable deposit on our credit card, and we were issued with wristbands that would allow us free entry to the pool. We never put ours on because we didn't want tan lines, and carrying them with us seemed to suffice. We were handed the remote control for the TV, our room key and a cleaning pack that would last us the week; scourer, duster, washing up liquid and seven dishwasher tablets. We were given a detailed map to direct us to our accommodation and told where we could park.

~*~ Accommodation ~*~

Because we arrived late, the car park was quite full, but we managed to find a space about 5 minutes away from our first floor apartment. I always enter holiday accommodation with a dreaded sense of the unknown, but I had nothing to worry about; our room was spotless, not a speck of dust even under the beds! It consisted of a bedroom with a double bed (the bed wasn't all that comfortable) and double wardrobe and a smaller bedroom with bunk beds. Clean linen was left for us to put on the beds, and plenty of individually wrapped towels were left in the bathroom. The bathroom had a double sink, bath with powerful shower over, and a few toiletries. A separate toilet was located across the hallway, again spotlessly clean but with a fairly loud extractor fan. An open plan living/dining/kitchen area was extremely light and spacious, with a huge table where we could sit down and eat comfortably, and a living room area with an LCD TV (mainly news channels), where the four of us could relax comfortably in the evenings around the coffee table. The kitchen area was extremely clean and well equipped with all of the necessary crockery, cutlery and basic utensils. It also had a dishwasher, four ring hob and microwave - no oven or grill which might have been useful, but we managed. We had a large balcony which had four chairs and a table which looked out over a lake and part of the golf course - I spent many a happy hour during our stay soaking up the sun whilst witnessing countless golf balls disappear into the water, then watching the hapless golfer searching for his ball in vain (sorry to the golfers amongst you, this must be really frustrating!), and I also noticed that a lot of golfers happily cheat if they think that no one is watching!

In the daylight the next day, we decided to go for an explore and we soon realised that Port Bourgenay holiday village consists of dozens of blocks of apartments, studios and small houses, centred around a stunning lake and village square with shops and eating establishments. The car parks are around the edges, so the centre is a car free zone which takes the danger out significantly if you are holidaying with very young children. A golf course, swimming pool complex, various activity plazas, outside play areas and a small farm are incorporated into the village over ninety hectares, meaning that you really wouldn't have to leave the village for the duration of your holiday if you didn't want to.

The golf course seems to be the draw to the village for a lot of people, but as golf doesn't interest us at all, I'll skim over the details if you don't mind! It has 18 holes and has a par of 72 of 5900m (means nothing to me, hope that made sense!). There is also an 18 hole pitch and putt, and a 35 bay practise area, ten of which are covered.

~*~ Pool area ~*~

The swimming pool complex consisted of one large pool, a toddler's pool and two water slides descending into a splash pool; I am informed by my children that they were fast, I didn't try them for myself as I don't like getting my face wet! These pools were all heated, but that didn't stop your stomach from disappearing inside you when you entered the water! The temperature took a bit of getting used to, but once you were acclimatised, you could spend hours here. We never had a problem finding sun beds because there seemed to be a high turnover of people. Again the pool area was spotless and well attended by lifeguards.

~*~ Kids Clubs ~*~

It was possible to put your children into kids clubs; these were available from 3 months to 18 years (I'm sure an 18 year old would be chuffed to bits to be dumped in one of these!). I personally stay away from these because we go on holiday to spend time as a family, but if these interest you the kids always looked as though they were having a fantastic time. Activities included team sports and tournaments in Archery, tennis, football, hockey and much more. There were also nature trails, beach walks, treasure hunts, bike rides, circus skills, trampolining, drama....the list goes on and on. Costs vary across the ages, but generally speaking you are looking in the region of 16 Euros for a three hour session.
The clubs meet in a building just outside the pool area. Also located here are a few arcade games, air hockey tables and racing games; all money swallowing machines that quickly gobble up your holiday cash!

~*~ Shopping ~*~

We used the onsite supermarket sparingly because it wasn't particularly well stocked and was expensive, compared to the nearest hypermarket which was only a ten minute drive away. We found that a trip to the air conditioned supermarket to stock up on essentials and fresh goods broke the day up and provided welcome relief to the heat! We used the boulangerie on site several times and we were thoroughly delighted with the freshly made baguettes and croissants. The gift shops were ideal for picking up postcards and other novelty items that you simply have to buy whilst on holiday (Do I really need another oil drizzler? Apparently so!) The ice cream vendor served up the most delicious flavours, and it became a ritual to try a different one each night whilst out on our evening stroll.

Once a week an outside market descends on the village square in the evening which is delightful to browse through, and it really makes you feel as though you are on holiday! Here you can pick up pottery, handmade jewellery, local foods, fabrics, toys and clothes. It is probably more expensive than the town markets, but you are definitely paying for the atmosphere.

~*~ Restaurants ~*~

There is a club house on the golf course open to everyone, and the menu is extensive and varying but it is quite formal and very expensive. I wouldn't want to take children in there - I don't think that I could afford to!

The Pizzeria on the lake side offered a huge range of pizzas and other fast food which can be eaten on the decking overlooking the lake, or taken back to your apartment. We had a light lunch here once; the prices were reasonable (a large pizza was around 10 Euros, and a portion of fries about 2.5 Euros) and the food was of a good quality and freshly cooked to order.

A "pub" style restaurant is located in front of the lake, and you can eat inside or out. There is no air conditioning inside, so it can get a bit stuffy. The menu consists of the usual burgers, nuggets, omelettes and chips - nothing particularly inspiring, but they do serve crepes that are to die for. Again the food is reasonably priced, but the drinks seem to double the bill. The service is fast, and the staff were always friendly and spoke good English and it all felt clean and hygienic. It is lovely to just sit here and watch the world go by with a glass of wine in hand, and we would have done it a lot more if we hadn't had children with us!

We ventured into the nearest town and the nearby marina a couple of times to eat, and had some wonderful meals, so I would say that if you want to experience authentic French food you have to leave the village. I generally threw together most of our meals in the apartment and because of the heat; we ate mostly salads, fruit, cheese and bread accompanied by the odd glass of wine, heaven!

~*~ Getting about ~*~

As I have said, the village is spread over a massive area (mainly flat), and our apartment seemed to be the furthest away from the village centre (about a 15 minute walk). Most people had bikes, and we wished that we had taken ours too, at least for the children as they got tired walking so far every day. If you do take bikes, there are plenty of bike racks dotted about the village, and outside your accommodation so that they can be left securely. It is possible to hire bikes, but for a family of four over the week, the cost would mount up considerably.

The beautiful, clean beach is a twenty minute walk from the holiday village centre (so way over half an hour from our apartment) across the coastal path. This isn't too bad on the way there, but on the way back when you are sandy and tired from the sun and swimming, it can be a bit much. Thankfully you can board a land train which takes you directly to the beach through the local village along the main road. It is a pleasant trip which takes about twenty minutes and it is totally free of charge. The train stops at various points around the village, and none of the stops are more than two minutes away from your apartment. There are two trains, and they depart from the beach and the village every half hour from early in the morning, untill late at night six days a week; Saturday sees no service as this is changeover day. We found this facility invaluable, and made use of it most days.

~*~ In the evenings ~*~

We liked nothing more than to stroll down to the picturesque marina in the evenings and watch the sun set. At the marina there are several street front restaurants and cafes, offering a wide variety of food. One cafe served freshly made crepes and waffles which were delicious and I would highly recommend for an evening snack; let's forget about the calories, you're on holiday!

We also hired a pedalo twice and pedalled around the huge central lake watching the birds, ducks and the resident otter who likes to entertain! (Incidentally, my profile picture was taken whilst on a pedalo, see how contented I look?!) This cost us £3 for half an hour.

The kids club and the staff provided entertainment a few times in an open air wooden auditorium. You could come and go as you pleased, but we stayed for most of it because we enjoyed it. The weekly market and some circus performers made a change and created a lovely atmosphere for a couple of evenings, but generally speaking we were happy just to walk around the village stopping occasionally whilst the children played in the outdoor play areas.

You can get as much or as little out of this holiday depending on what you are looking for. The range of activities is immense, but if you just want to sit and relax, there is plenty of opportunity to do that; especially if you head towards the beach. The whole village is clean and well maintained and the setting is beautiful, and even at the height of summer it didn't feel at all busy; I would say that the British make up around 25% of the clientele. Checking out was particularly easy, we simply posted our keys and remote control into a letter box and drove away. I would definitely go back here, and I would recommend it to anyone; especially families with young children as you have the freedom and flexibility to do whatever suits your mood. The Vendee region in itself is beautiful and well worth the journey, and although the weather is never guaranteed, we have been here several times in August and never had a bad week.

www.pv-holidays.com

Also posted on Dooyoo under emmachilcott
 

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