Villa / Gite in France

Spendless

Which areas are you looking at now and upto what date in August can you go?

RACHIE77

I can any time around the last two weeks of August, and really need to stay in the Brittany or Normandy areas although north Poitou-Charentes would be okay I think??

I have found this one which is 350km from St Malo as thats where we could get the ferry to (from Portsmouth) and its available in the last week of August so is a definite contender!!

http://www.ownersinfrance.co.uk/default.cfm/loadindex.147/themeID.-1/typeID.-1/adcode.PS001115/searchType.shortlist/orderType.Random/page.1/chkSpecialAct.0/chkOoS.0/chkShortBk.0/chkSpecNeeds.0/lstRegions.all/lstPeople.all/lstDay.all/lstMonth.all/lstYear.all/lstBeds.all/lstLocation.all/lstPool.all/activityIcons.

EDIT: just phoned the owners and its already booked for that week!

ruthyjo

Rachie - getting a gite and ferry both from Brittany ferries is a possibility. They do an all inclusive price. The cost for both would come in at over £1k but I assume your 1K figure was for the gite and you expected to pay for the ferry on top?

I've had a search on the brittany ferries site. I can't find anything in normandy/brittany but there are a couple of possibilities in Western Loire.

Western Loire - property ref LM6009 is available week commencing 25th August as is QW5099.

In Loire valley you could try VI6992 or VI6010 - both available from the same date.

I've only mentioned the ones with a private pool - there are a few more with a shared pool.

Another site I like is chez nous - if noone's mentioned it that is another you could try.

Good luck!

tommie1shunt

Might sound daft but we bought ours off Ebay this year, 2 Gites/cottages in France, have a look, we found the prices very cheap.

RACHIE77

Just having a look at the Brittany ferries site as the prices seem pretty good as it includes the ferry crossing!!!

I have had a look on ebay, but not recently tho so mite hav to check that out too!! I'm getting a bit fed up with looking now, hope its worth it in the long run! :rolleyes:

:rotfl:

RACHIE77

I've just been through and chosen a place - it was all looking good and was £985 including ferry crossing, 4hr 30min drive, all good so far.... But then when I went to book the ferry there are no cabins or reclining seats available for the overnight crossing!!! Agh!! So that is going to be a real pain as I will need to get the kids to sleep or will have a real miserable few days afterwards!

So I chose the day before and thought we could maybe stay somewhere an extra night half way to the gite so the drive wouldn't be so much! And then when I get the final price, its £300 more than the 'all inclusive' price on the initial page!!!


Agh!

mman_2

Another recommendation for https://www.cheznous.com Lots of accommodation available.

ruthyjo

Rachie - it was me that recommended looking at the Brittany ferries site for all inclusive ferry/holiday deals. The upfront prices are a bit misleading as you really need a cabin on the way if you go Portsmouth to St Malo and this adds about £80 in my memory. There are then hefty supplements to travel at the weekend. We are sailing on a Monday and returning on a Wednesday to avoid this and thus our final price was only about £80 over the base price. There are some gites on the site which don't have a weekend changeover, but it might be hard to find one to book this late on. We use our week in the gite as a base and add a few nights in France on either end and brittany ferries are fine with this. Perhaps you could do the same? You posted that you were going for one week out of a two week period so do you have space on either side? Might as well enjoy a couple of extra nights in France rather than pay the weekend supplement if you can. There are lots of people on the site, me included, who could advise you on cheap chains of hotels etc.

I wonder if you have priced up the ferry crossing standalone and if you were expecting to get that out of the £1K budget? In my experience the crossing to St Malo works out at £five to six hundred anyway in school hols with a cabin so if your entire budget is £1K you really need to look at a cheaper sailing from Dover.

I'm really rooting for you to get something booked now. I'm sure you'd have a fab time with your family. My three love having a pool and all our best holidays are in France. We did book in 2006 for this summer though!

I always like to think we are saving money by bringing lots of goodies home. We have a seven seater and bring home wine and other stuff to last the year.
If one of your little ones is a girl you should be able to get some fab winter wardrobe items too.

Please come back and update us once you have something booked!

Fen_2

I second Ruthyo's idea of adding a couple of days either end (if possible): you can get further inland for your gite by breaking the journey, plus you see a bit more of the country by doing mini explorations. If you're not fixed on going by ferry, have you considered EuroTunnel? It can be lot faster than the ferries in total travelling time; plus, if you have to book a cabin for a ferry crossing then the ferry may actually work out to be more expensive.

squibbs25

We are going here in June

https://www.charente-gites.com

Stayed there last year, aboslutley fantastic.

Good Luck,

Squibbs

Forgot to say, if they are booked then you can always ask if they can recommend anywhere else