Vendee Cottage

The local area is fully of interesting things to investigate.

The closest village is La Meilleraie Tillay, this has a small shop, bar, post office, children's play area, boulanger, tennis club, library etc.

20 km away is the Grand Parc du Puy du Fou, this is a really interesting place to visit, find out more at www.puydufou.com/UK/, be sure to investigate a visit here before traveling as it is highly advisable to book in advance.

Pouzauges is the closest town, with all the usual amenities, supermarket, local shops, swimming pool, swimming and fishing lake, ancient church with well decorations. More information about Pouzauges can be found here, only in French unfortunately.

Also very close by is Le Boupere which has a beautiful ancient church, well worth a visit.

Close by is the village of Vouvant situated high on a hill on a bend of the river Mere, this is one of the most picturesque villages in France, it has stout defensive walls, from which you can look down on to the meandering waterway below, there is an 11th century church and at the side of the main car park the Melusine tower. The village has many beautiful walks around the river, or ramparts. There are also plenty of areas for picnics, or to enjoy a glass of wine by the river Mere. Pedalos are available for hire in the village. Nearby is a swimming and recreation lake, and the Mervent forest, with walks, cycle tracks and picnic areas.

Further a field are the towns of Fontenay, Niort, Nantes and La Rochelle, to explore.

La Rochelle has an Aquarium and beautiful Atlantic beaches, there are a whole host of beautiful beaches along the coast, about 1 hours drive away. 

Also about an hour in the other direction, on the outskirts of Poiters, is the Futuroscope theme park.

A whole host of information about the Vendee, including activities, sailing, golf, walking, fishing, directions, a calendar of events, etc. can be found here I can also highly recommend the book from the same author.