France holiday help please!

[reddaisy]

We want to go on our first family holiday abroad next year and we think we would like to go to France.
I would like a gite with a pool and children's facilities (DC will be 6 and nearly 4 when we go), ideally near the beach and it would be ideal if we were within walking distance of nice restaurants/boulangerie etc but could be within driving distance too.
Some places I have looked at are fully booked for next summer already, so I want to get organised.
I was thinking La Rochelle because I don't want to be in northern France but will happily consider other areas and we want to fly from Stansted if possible. Any suggestions please?

The OwnersDirect.co.uk site is excellent. You can filter by area, pool, bedrooms etc. (As the name suggests) you deal direct with the owners so they can often be a bit more flexible with arrival dates etc.

If you need specific baby items www.babyfriendlyboltholes.co.uk/ has properties in France too.

Thank you! I will have a look

I have just returned from a break with totstotravel.co.uk they have lots of lovely properties in france.

Try the Chez Nous site too. We've hired lots of gites through them.

In my (quite extensive) experience, it's much harder to find places that are walking distance from shops. Most gites are deep in the countryside, not near villages, because that's where there are old agricultural properties suitable for doing up as gites. It's not impossible, but it's hard!

I can PM you a link to a place down in the south of France (ryanair Stanstead-Nîmes) which is very spacious, in a little village (boulangerie, a restaurant or two, etc.) and a little pool which is great for DCs. I know the owner, who is lovely and very helpful re flexibility.

Ooh la chette would you mind pm'ing that to
Me too please?