Camping Val de Boutonne

We spent 3 nights here in our touring caravan. The calm, relaxed site was clean, the staff were friendly, and the facilities were new. The pool is small but clean. There's also a restaurant by the lake, a playground and a putting green. We cycled along the river, and you can walk or cycle into town for shops, cafes and restaurants. A large supermarket is 5 minutes away by car. The location is fantastic, and we could walk with our paddle boards to the lake beside the site.

The pitches are good, though on some you'll need a long cable to reach the electricity. The pool was excellent, but there's no shade. A bike helps you get to a boulangerie or somewhere to eat. We happened upon a music evening in town and really enjoyed it. Tricot Combo were playing, totally bizarre and extremely funny, even though I don't speak French. Many thanks for the very prompt reply, Camping Val de Boutonne. I'm afraid your baking wouldn't suit us. We don't have bread, croissants or pain au chocolat for breakfast. We prefer to support the local boulangeries, where we can buy traditional baguettes (what we call sourdough in the UK) and those wonderful French pastries. I'm sure you'd understand our loyalty to the French baker. We've just spent another 3 weeks in France, and this was the most expensive pitch so far, €24/night for a campervan with electric. The toilets had no toilet paper, and my phone popped up an offer of WiFi for €3/day. What a rip-off this campsite is.

There's plenty of space on the pitches, and the site is well kept. It's ACSI too, so good value for money. The team were all really friendly and spoke perfect English, and the very modern shower block was spotless. My only negative was the lack of toilet paper and toilet seats. I couldn't see anywhere on site to buy paper, and if someone gets caught short, who knows what might get used and flushed? Kitchen roll came in handy. I'd recommend the site, but bring your own toilet rolls. It's a lovely, quiet campsite beside a river and lake. While we were there, a new footbridge connecting the campsite with the lake and park was being installed, a great addition to an already lovely area.

The riverbank site is peaceful, and the beautiful town of St-Jean d'Angely is a 15-minute walk away. BUT half the available toilets were locked, leaving men and women to share just 5 toilets across the whole campsite. There were NO seats, NO paper, and the two wall soap dispensers were empty. The urinals are STILL on show! WiFi, 3 EURO... Come on!!