Advice needed - Vendee - Please help

[parno]

I am taking the plunge and taking my dc to The Vendee in June. We have booked into a Key Camp site - L'Oceano d'Or in Jard sur Mer. I am driving down from Calais and planning on doing it in one day. The dc are great in the car and we have stops planned. I suppose I am bricking it, driving on my own for the first time in a foreign country. Advice on all elements would be much appreciated. I suppose we will be on the beach/pool most days but defo planning on visiting Puy du Fou. Was contemplating a trip to Nantes but the train is silly money -alternative transport tips would be great. Reassurance much needed!

Hi I haven't driven on my own abroad, but I do do all the driving abroad as my DH learnt to drive very late and we both know that he would just find it horrific driving on the wrong sied of the road. I hated it at first, but think the best thing is tyo get into the mindset of always thinking about what might happen on the road - a bit like a new driver - for the first day or so, and there are these wind screen sticker things that you can get in Halfords that remid you the right way to go round a right-hand-drive roundabout, which I have found invaluable .

Vendee is lovely - I went there every year as a child and we take the kids every year now. Afraid I don't do much tourism when there, as I love Jard (which is also where we stay) and am very happy just mooching around the beach / tiny street with shops on and merrygoround (my kids are still young!)

I know others have visited La Rochelle and loved it and am sure I went as a child but can't remember it).

The main thing in Jard is the Port in the evening, where everyone goes for a wander and ice cream - heaven.

Have a great time - I am jealous of you as we aren't going til AUgust!

Thank you so much. I have been told to keep the mantra elbow to kerb, elbow to kerb in my head. I assume they mean the right one :) I have been loosing sleep about roundabouts so will pop down to Halfords. I suspect I am trying to fit about a months worth of stuff into just 1 week as first time abroad so perhaps should just relax.

You'll be fine. It is an eay drive down from Calais. The only tricky bit is round rouen. Just keep watching out for signs to Le Mans and you'll be fine. From Le Mans follow signs to Bordeaux until you find signd to Les Sables d'Olonne (I know bordeaux seems odd but it is the right direction and is always signposted.

It is motorway pretty much all the way, and motorways are easy, just follow the other traffic.

You can drive to Nantes then do park and ride, but TBH I wouldn't bother. La Rochelle is lovely though.

For Beaches St Vincent sur yard has more rock pool type stuff, And head down to Les Conches for my favourite beach of all.

Puy du Fou is a must do. And the Chateau des Aventurieres at Avrille is a nice afternoon out. Depending on the ages of the chldren Indian Forrest is good (Go ape type thing in trees) but it is no good for under 5s.

June is a great time to visit, but it can get very hot. As it is so far west it is actually 2pm til 4pm that is the hottest period.

Thanks. You have mentioned 2 other places that were on my hit list. Obviously my research has come up trumps! Top tip for the drive down. I was struggling with the map and directions around Rouen. So would you avoid Nantes. We wanted to see the workshops for La Machine as we saw the Spider in Liverpool a couple of years ago but it can wait until next year!

Oh and Monday is market day in Jard - it has usually started by end of June - and is quite a big weekly thing (it's all relative - Jard is very small !).