Huttopia Les Châteaux

superb location for many chateaux and for recreational easy cycling , all on off-road quiet routes suitable for trailers / children, and almost entirely flat so no great fitness required. Multiple "velo vert" routes pass through or nearby to Bracieux, right out the door of the site. You genuinely can do Chambord , Cheverny , Billesavin by bike easily, and Blois if you're keen. bloischambord.com gives you the routes. Site washblocks are the cleanest I have ever seen in france , and would pass muster at a flagship CMC uk site as well. And they have paper! Pitches are a little awkward with a large unit - trees are randomly distributed around the site - they are not sown in rows or edges or whatever, they've grown randomly over time. these can be almost in the middle of pitches. Our originally allocated pitch we could not get into with a twin-axle, due to a low tree branch. fortunately there were plenty of other free pitches we could move to. then we had a motorhome using the neighbouring pitch parked within 2m of our caravan, but they couldn't really go anywhere else on that pitch because of another tree. if they'd not been leaving next day I'd have asked them to move. As the site was more than half empty (3rd week of august) we asked reception to block that pitch for any future arrivals and they did at least do that. I therefore suspect it would feel cramped in the main mid-july:mid-august peak if all pitches were in use. great outside that peak. water: is a faff if you are in a caravan so be prepared. there's a motorhome service point right at the entrance so alright for those.. The washblocks, have no taps that are easy to fill a caravan barrel from - nothing with a threaded nozzle or a hose connector, and all are over basins of one sort or another. you need to bring a hosepipe with a large flexible funnel end that you can push or hold onto a tap (the taps are quite big) and a pipe that is long enough to reach barrel on floor whilst going round a large sink. There is ONE standpipe in one corner of the camping area but its very well hidden we only found it couple of days before we left. There are also no grey waste emptying points. I took mine to the site's perimeter hedge every night. given the supermodern wash block, these two points are baffling to me. many other french sites have a tap and drain per pitch. there was an all-night rave (9pm-9am) last weekend of august somewhere nearby, loud enough to keep awake most of night. nothing you could do. other than that, very peaceful! shops - bracieux has the basics and is walkable, but the village carrefour express is small and isn't up to much more than basics. Much better intermarche super in mont-pres-chambord. then there's a huge Auchan hyper on the S side of Blois in St Gervais La Foret that has everything. Go to the chocolate factory next door: they do tours, tasting, have gourmet chocolates for sale, and superb ice cream.

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This was a lovely campsite, Huttopia advertise themselves as “the promise of escape and adventure in the heart of nature” and the site was set amongst trees, yet only a short walk to the centre of the village of Bracieux with its weekly market and two small supermarkets as well as a couple of places to eat. There is a small swimming pool on site and we did use it but it would have benefitted from being cleaned of leaves and flies a bit more regularly. You can order bread/croissants the day before at Reception, and in high season there is food available in the bar area. The water tap is at the entrance, so fill up on your way in. We were able to choose our own pitch, the site wasn’t busy as we stayed in early June. The shower blocks, toilets, wash-up areas were all clean with plenty of hot water. The bike routes to Chambord and Cheverny were well-signposted following the green bike route signposts and we had a couple of lovely days out. I’d say they were slightly under-staffed (hence the lack of attention to the swimming pool), but then it was still low season in early June and all in all we’d recommend this site if you’re looking for a quiet place to stay.

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Staff very friendly and helpful, and speak good English but had the patience to allow me to practice my french on them! Large campsite - most campers used their bicycles to get around. Pitches were open spaces in a wooded area not generally separated. Not a single camper used a windbreak to mark out their "property"! There were tiny flies, coz it was boiling, but not the biting sort. Ground is uneven and there are no manicured lawns - you feel outside like you are proper camping. It was very peaceful, the most noise coming from a grasshopper nearby. There is a great little swimming pool, bar/restaurant, ice-cream, baguettes and pastries delivered every day to order. The toilet block is mixed ladies and gents, all in the same block with an open space under the roof so you can hear noises all over - people in the toilet, showering or washing dishes. It was all immaculately clean. The location of the site is brilliant, especially if you cycle - and virtually everyone had electric bikes - except us on non-electric! There are lots of "Velo Routes" with safe, child friendly routes of varying distances, and it is almost completely flat - I don't think we found a hill anywhere! Lots of Chateauxs nearby that you can drive or cycle to, ie Chambord, Cheverny, Blois. Chambord - I think the largest - unfortunately, was covered in scaffolding. There's plenty of local wine distilleries. The town shops are within easy walking distance. We couldn't find anything to complain about. We would definitely recommend it to families and couples - though it might not be quite so good for those with mobility difficulties due to the rough ground.

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