Nic posted this on the forum after what looks like a great family holiday in the summer of 2008.
We have just returned from holidays in France with our two young children - almost 6 and a year. We didn't want to take the camp site option, and looked for something a bit more rural and quiet but where there would still be something for the kids.
Quite by chance, I found La Vielle Fromagerie on the net. It is a B&B and gite complex run by a British couple - Janet & Dougie. 3 gites and 3 rooms in the B&B.
It's in the Poiteau Charentes just south of Poitiers; about a 6 hour drive from Roscoff depending on traffic - but getting that far south means that we had reasonably decent weather. The gites are really well equipped - a good gas cooker, microwave, washing machine and dishwasher and large fridge with a decent freezer compartment and they supply stairgates, highchairs, baby monitors, blenders etc. There is a line and clothes pegs provided and an iron and ironing board in the gite - if only I'd realised I could have done with half the clothes, we could have taken more wine back!
The pool is fenced off and has a child proof lock and alarm and in the little field beside it (but fenced off from the pool) there are swings, slide, and a sand-pit, a badminton net and football net. There is lots to do in the region - Les Valles des Singes is 10 minutes drive away and Futuroscope about 40 minutes. It's also just 10-15 minutes stroll to the little village of Brux where there is a decent little shop and a bar which does lunches.
What really made it extra special for us (and why I think they deserve the recommendation) is that the couple who run it, work really hard to keep it pristine and to provide hospitality to their guests. The gites and B&B are all in one building and on front of each house there is a little patio and then a shared garden. Janet will provide dinner to guests on 24 hours notice - and it is served in the garden, weather permitting, which is like eating in your own garden. She is a great cook - and some of the fruit and vegetables are home grown. They also do a barbeque once a week which was great fun.
Definitely worth checking out if thinking of holidaying in that region. You can find details of the gites on their website which you should get if you google La Vielle Fromagerie and their phone number is 0033 549 39 39 18.
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