Camping La Brande

The pitches were a good size, and the pool area seems to have had some recent work done, as it’s better than a lot of older reviews suggest. Château d’Oléron is close enough to cycle to for dinner, even with our small children, aged 3 and 5. The beach is nearby and still nice, though swimming isn’t really possible: at low tide the water disappears, and at high tide it’s too shallow. The main frustrations were the facilities and getting breakfast. They’re adequate, but when the campsite is full there aren’t enough toilets for everyone, and cleanliness gets worse the longer it’s been since the daily cleaning. Our pitch also smelled strongly of urine when it rained, so I suspect some people don’t always walk to the toilets. You couldn’t reserve bread for the morning, and the shop’s supply was usually gone 20 minutes after opening. We got up shortly after 9 and never managed to buy baguettes or croissants. Other campsites we’ve stayed at, even two-star ones, let you reserve bread and collect it when ready. That would have been helpful.

The children’s highlight was the water slide, but this was the most expensive site of the four weeks we were away, and the worst one. I wouldn’t recommend it. We arrived in our caravan and met a rather bewildered staff member who said we could choose a pitch, but only showed us one, beside the bar. It turned out to be noisy until about 1 a.m., with rowdy shouting. We asked to move and had to go back twice to speak with “the boss” before it was allowed. We were moved somewhere quieter, but nobody checked whether the new pitch was all right. The facilities are run down. The mini golf is falling apart, the toilets and shower blocks are dirty and broken, and the pool is tiny and overcrowded. The site isn’t close to a beach, and Château D'Oleron town centre requires a drive. It doesn’t deserve five stars.

The welcome at reception was nice, and there were flowers at the entrance. But €49 for one night for two people in a minivan with a small dog, arriving after 7 p.m., was far too much. It was the most expensive campsite of our two weeks travelling, and nowhere near the best in quality. The bathrooms at the back are old, have no soap, and provide just one mirror per unit. Everything else was closed when we arrived. We only needed two croissants for breakfast, but couldn’t reserve them at 7 p.m., and there weren’t a couple of extra baked goods available either. A shame, because Île d'Oléron is wonderful and deserves the kind of simple, natural, peaceful campsite we usually like. Maybe we just didn’t find the right one. No worries, mistakes are part of travelling.

The staff were friendly and helpful, but the campsite needs a serious tidy up and a lot of maintenance. It felt packed and busy even though it was less than half full. The pitches were either bare earth covered in last autumn’s dead leaves or overgrown with weeds. The shower block and toilets were very old, with lots of cracked tiles. The pool area is small, has nowhere to sit outdoors around it, and offers no shade. The footbath was grim. The beach is just across the road, which is good if the tide is right, but at low tide the sea is so far off you can’t see it. It might once have been lovely, but it feels very tired now.