ANGELA BIRD'S

COUNTRY COTTAGES FOR RENT

If you are interested in any of these delightful houses to rent in the area
please click on the links and contact the owners direct

 

 

 


A beautifully restored
farmhouse at La Malvoie, near the
coast, outside Talmont-St-Hilaire ...

 

 

 


…a good-sized farmhouse, with
secluded garden and large pool, near
St-Christophe-du-Ligneron …

 

 

 

 


…a newly-converted barn, in a rural setting near Aizenay with pool,
with UK satellite TV, and with broadband internet connection…

 

 

 


...a charming cottage in the south Vendée, just 15 mins from the
sandy beaches of La Tranche-sur-Mer , that also has UK satellite TV…

 


...a beautifully restored gîte between Chantonnay and Pouzauges, with swimming-pool and attractive garden…

 

 

 

…an immaculately-renovated cottage,
with large garden,
near Moutiers-les-Mauxfaits.
 


 

 


…a pretty cottage in the heart of the countryside, near Challans…

 

 


…another cottage in a quiet rural setting near Beaulieu-sous-la-Roche…

 

 

 

...a delightful barn conversion near Chantonnay, with telephone, wi-fi, and view of the local château...

 

 

 

…an elegant house, with pool, in the South Vendée….

 

 

 

 

 

…a recently-renovated
farmhouse and adjacent cottage,
with pool, near Aizenay…

 

 

 

… a pretty, first-floor apartment located on an English-run farm
near Challans and Apremont.

 

 

 

 

…and a couple of grand country houses near Luçon…

 

...AND THERE'S MORE!
Here are some other websites devoted to holiday accommodation in the area:


Villa des Roses - a gite and B&B rooms, with pool, in the delightful old town of Luçon.
Le Tournesol – a farmhouse, with pool, near historic Fontenay-le-Comte.
Vendee Gites – a site listing more than 20 holiday homes with pool, mostly in South Vendée.
La Petite Chauvetterie – a pretty gite, in the countryside near Luçon.
Les Mazes - a group of gites in the countryside near Chantonnay, near to some good angling.
HolidayVendée - villas for rent near the coast, in the Notre-Dame-de-Monts area.
RentAHolidayHouseinFrance.com - A site for holiday cottages, with several in the Vendée

 

In the South Vendée the Mélusine-Accueil association is a network of 80 professionals in the tourist business who run carefully-vetted bed & breakfast accommodation, gîtes, restaurants, local produce, leisure activities.

 

And you can always return to the Practical page for further suggestions.

 

 

GETTING THERE

FERRY CROSSINGS
Nearest ferry port is St Malo (served by Brittany Ferries and Condor), 3 hours' drive away, almost all on dual carriageway.
Brittany Ferries' ports of Roscoff (5 hrs away), also used by Irish Ferries; the Normandy ports of Caen (4 hrs) and Cherbourg (4.5 hrs) are served by Brittany Ferries , and Cherbourg also by Irish Ferries.
The toll-free dual-carriageway road across Normandy (Caen-Avranches-Rennes) makes for very easy driving from Cherbourg or Caen. 
In 2006 the new section of the toll motorway was opened from Rouen to Alençon, Le Mans and Angers, linking with the Cholet-La Roche-sur-Yon motorway, making the drive from Calais/Boulogne considerably quicker.
Dover to Calais is convenient for many (roughly 8 hrs to the Vendée), with P&O, Hoverspeed, SeaFrance and others. Eurotunnel’s “Shuttle” whisks cars and their passengers under the Channel in just 36 minutes. Anyone travelling from Scotland and the North of England might want to consider P&O's ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge or the Superfast Ferries route from Rosyth to Zeebrugge (around a 8-hr drive - mostly on motorways - to the Vendée).

OTHER METHODS

Anybody joining you without a car can fly from London Stansted to La Rochelle or Poitiers, or from Nottingham or Shannon to Nantes, with Ryanair, and hire a car. Easyjet also operate flights to Nantes and La Rochelle in the summer months. Air France have been operating a flight from London City to Nantes, during 2009.

Train passengers can take Eurostar from London St Pancras to Lille-Europe, then travel by the French Railways TGV to Nantes from the same station. (Note: Lille has another station – Lille-Flandres, about 10 minutes’ walk from Lille-Europe. No direct trains to Nantes run from here).
From Nantes there are connections by local train on the branch to Challans and St-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, or another branch to La Roche-sur-Yon and then either to Les Sables-d’Olonne, or to Luçon and La Rochelle.
Alternatively, travel by Eurostar from St Pancras to Paris (Gare du Nord); cross Paris by métro or taxi to the Gare du Montparnasse; and take a direct TGV to La Roche-sur-Yon and Les Sables-d’Olonne.


Coach travel from London's Victoria Coach Station is provided by Eurolines , though considering how long it takes (overnight, via Dover) it is surprisingly expensive.
There are no coach destinations actually in the Vendée; the nearest are Nantes, Niort and La Rochelle.
Once in the Vendée, you are not well served for public road transport. Click here to see the Sovetours bus services within the département (click on “carte du réseau” to see routes, and then on individual route numbers to see the timetables.

More information on Getting There on http://www.the-vendee.co.uk/intro

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

| index page |
| activities | beaches | calendar | cottage rental |
|guidebook | guidebook update | history |
| introduction to the vendee | links | markets |
| practical info | property-owners' pages | restaurants | themed pages | wines |

| mail webmaster by returning to the bottom of the index page |