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Thanks! If it's rubbish I could be swimming home...

H Tiny

We visited there two years ago and are returning this year back end of August, so that should tell you something.

There's a small adventure park adjacent which is very popular with the kids(although ours are too grown up to come with us now). Fishing on site, games on site, bike hire on site.....

Brissac is a nice town, and there's plenty to see and do in the area.

Let me know what specifically you want to do/know and I'll bore you for hours.

Hi Rambling Sid...

Keep going - tell me more!

I found the site details by luck on campingfrance.com & we've booked for 2 weeks... In the past (pre-kids) we toured France every summer, only staying a day or 2 before heading somewhere else. Am really looking forward to staying put & chilling out for a change. We've been to Angers/Saumur once or twice before but that's going back a couple of years or 10. Hoping to track down a winegrower we found one time nr Angers - name of Sorin. Will be made up if he's still there...

Back to the campsite - go for it. Will just fetch a glass to get in the mood...

Set just outside Brissac, which has nice pub food, a lovely weekly market, a chateau set in lovely grounds, a wine co-operative (got to stock up there on the way back). A nice riverside stroll takes you into town for all your over indulgences.

If you don't mind driving, there are some gorgeous places to visit varying from tiny hamlets where you can idle away hours over a nice pub lunch to bigger places like Angers where  there is an antiques market on Saturday mornings, or better still (in our opinion ) Saumur. Nice zoo for the kids at Doue la Fontaine, and a Troglodyte (people living and working in caves) at Rochemenier.

There are places where you can take the kids to riverside beaches with canoeing or paddling. Other place where the heady scent from the park's enormous herb garden is out of this world..

I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Tiny J

Can't really add much more than the comprehensive information from Rambling Sid except to agree. We stayed about 3 years ago. Its a fairly new site which has been extended over time. The new pitches will have less shade. We found the people that run it very friendly. The site (and a sister site near Saumur) is owned by an organisation that specialises in providing work for youngsters who are disabled or have learning difficulties. The site has very good facilities and does have some entertainment of a folksey nature on one night a week.

David

Hi Sid,

great info. If I were you, I'd edit your post to delete your mobile number. You never can tell who's reading these boards?

David & Sid

Thanks for your replies. Sounds like it could be brownie points for me after all! We're after somewhere quietish but with enough to keep no1 son out of mischief.

Sid - Brissac sounds my sort of place & walkable from the site is a bonus. Wonder how many bottles I can carry back on foot? Better pack rucksack! Will take us around 10hrs to get to site from home (Wirral), stopping in Bourg Achard o/night if it's still OK there, so will fancy losing car keys for a bit... Where's the herb garden? Is that part of the site? Can you hire canoes nearby? I know the kids can do canoeing from the site. Any idea what the river current's like? I read somewhere there's a mushroom cave nearby. Have you heard of this?

Dave - thanks for advice on shade or possible lack of. Not always easy to strike the right balance & everyone else always seems to get the better pitch! (Bit like our back garden). Hope the folksy entertainment isn't too toe curling... have been to a few 'son et lumieres' & though my French is pretty bad the atmosphere was usually great. At a Breton 'story telling' once we got a reduction 'cos we couldn't understand a word. Hubbie is Welsh & thought he would be able to follow the lingo... no chance whatsoever! The cake & wine was good though!  I like the idea of how the site's run. Couldn't decide between Etang & Chantepie - went on the web pics & instinct... hope I made the right choice...

Just need ebay bid to go through so we have half decent tent that will fit into boot! Cheers again for your replies. Sounds a good place.

Tina

Tina

I can't comment on Bourg Achard as we've never used it.

The herb garden is in a park in a village South West of Brissac on the way to Cholet(which we didn't like) at a place called Chemille. There's a nice creperie tucked away behind the shops in a triangular square(??) where lunch can easily spin out to an hour and more.

The canoeing I referred to is on the Loire at Rochefort Sur Loire, west of Angers. I suspect that kids would have to be accompanied by adults as the Loire is no mere trickle. There are some backwaters for paddling even for toddlers though. Last year we cycled through the woods there and came out in a small hamlet. Whilst waiting for a tractor coming the opposite way across a samll bridge, he clipped a tree and sent a shower of fruit onto the road. What I initially thought was crab apples turned out to be walnuts. Guess how many you can get in your panniers!!!

The mushroom caves are heavily promoted in the area and are closer to the Chantepie site on the Eastern side(I think) of Saumur. Didn't go there as I just wanted to be in the outdoors all the time.

In my opinion L'etang is a better choice than Chantepie as the latter's position is on a hill - so the return journey from walking anywhere is a b***er; one man's meat etc, etc.

You describe your outfit as old...caravan or canvas?

Sid

Canvas - & just added another to the collection today - an Outwell Colorado 5 but it's been too wet here to try it out... typical Bank Holiday!

Thanks for your comments on L'Etang & Brissac - very useful & reassuring! Sounds our kind of place. Can't wait to get there - only another 11 weeks or so to go...

I'm sure Rochefort Sur Loire is where the winegrower is that we've been to a couple of times before - Monsieur Sorin. Will take a look when we get there.

Here's hoping the next few weeks go quickly & some sunshine for us all at the other end.

Well, what was it like?

Sid