La Garangeoire Vendee Campsite

[francohoops]

Hi
Really like the look of this place for a summer holiday - great reviews

Has anyone on here been? I was thinking of flying to Nantes and hiring a car - don't fancy a massive drive/ferry . Was thinking of a week in August and hiring a mobile home/chalet

Was thinking - is a car necessary? Could we get a bus/coach down from Nantes? What is the public transport in France like?

Our boys are 5 and 8 - the site looks like there's loads to do for a week so maybe we wouldn't need to hire a car.

Advice / suggestions welcome
Thanks
F

Ok. I am a bit of a Garangeoire guru. You need to book now because most bookings are made as people leave and you get told in November so phone asap.

Good things
Pitches are large
The restaurant is very good
Beaches nearby - go to Dunes 2 at Bretignolles in the morning. Lovely beach shack eaterie there.
The staff are good but strict. Owners are very hands on. Misbehaving teens are put to community service and they can and will throw people off.
Do go on the walk run by Anne the owner - it is very good.
Lots of activities and the kid club is very good
Try and get a pitch away from the bar area because it is noisy in high season
Loads of lovely, peaceful walks
Fishing lakes
Horse riding and standard of care of horses is superb
There is the most amazing patisserie called Fred's in St Giles - eat in. Tis unforgetable but closes for lunch (yes, we have lurked outside waiting for opening time)
Nantes and the Iles de Machine has to be visited.
Many people go year on year. We've made lifelong friends there. Sad not to be going back but decided to give it a rest for a couple of years.

Cons
In high season, it can get a bit noisy in the evenings, especially after the entertainment is finished. We noticed over the years that whereas they used to patrol round, now they do but more kids are up later. This mmight be less of a problem in the statics/rented.
You jave to clean on leaving like your life depends on it if in their own accommodation. The inspection of EVERYTHING, including ice box, bbq, behind curtains is very thorough. I spent all the last day sodding cleaning. Pay the cleaning charge.

Really nice rental (and quieter end) is near the Canvas statics. There is some minor road noise but not bothersome and it's nice down there. Or, the statics near the big play field are great for younger children because they are massive pitches and you can sit on the balcony while they go play with friends in the middle field.

If you ask what is availble and then pm me, I can tell you what the locations are like. All the pitches have names rather than numbers and I think I have my site map somewhere. The Vanillle huts looked nice.

Good luck.

As you may

Thanks

How do you usually get there? We were thinking of flying to Nantes and getting bus down - or is that not an options - would we be better to hire a car?

How is best to book - via the Eurocamp website or direct?

With direct you might get some element of choice as to your pitch, Eurocamp you won't. Not sure as to price difference but usually cheaper direct but eurocamp or canvas or Thompson might have more availability. The Thompson vans are in a good location but think they will be fully booked. Thompson and Canvas courriers are usually older and better than Eurocamp who are older teenagers so cleaning is a bit more hit and miss.

Getting there. We've always driven. First year we did Dover Calais but it was soooooo long and knackering. Then we've done Portsmouth to Caen or St Malo or Le Havre. Go DFDS as it is a lot cheaper. Can you only do a week? If you can do longer then driving might be an idea however if you live a way from the ports then I can see the attraction of fly drive. Driving in France is easy but be aware that the weekends in the beginning of August get busy with French all going on holiday - usually to Brittany, La Rochelle so routes and payages can get clogged up. Canvas allow you to book Wednesday to Wednesday and I think Eurocamp you can book any day to any day - might be worth putting up with a bit of cleaning to do that.

The site is pretty much in the middle of nowhere so if you want to go to anywhere off site (beaches, supermarket etc.) while you're there then you will need a car. As you say, there is lots to do on site you may not need to leave but it will be expensive buying food etc at the campsite shop compared with shopping at an outside supermarket.

We did the overnight from Portsmouth to St Malo which is great as you arrive at St Malo around 8am, think was about 4 - 5 hours drive from there.

We booked direct with the campsite - have done this at lots of sites in France and is always cheaper than with Eurocamp and the sites own mobile homes / chalet always nicer than the eurocamp ones and better located (as pp says though you may be too late for this year). The end of stay cleaning is a total pain though as curtains says, they are really strict! The cleaning charge is usually huge and feels like a total rip off but is really worth it (and still comes in cheaper than eurocamp!)

Also - if you're too late to book La G then have a look at the Castels website - it's a group of campsites that La G is part of and all of very high standard - we have stayed in a few and all been excellent.