Shortened stay.
La Venise Verte
We were booked here for 7 nights in mid-May and received a very friendly welcome from the young ladies on reception on arrival. We had booked an extra large serviced pitch and were allocated one of the largest we have ever been on, 140m2 to 180m2. All pitches are on grass with small hedges and trees between. Bear in mind ‘fully serviced’ often means shared tap and waste points in France as in this case. I always carry a ‘splitter’ however for the water thus enabling a private supply direct to the caravan without inconveniencing a neighbour. As we only use our own facilities I cannot comment on the toilets/showers. The pool didn’t open until mid-June so we didn’t use that either but it didn’t appear to us to be very attractive and seemed totally overshadowed by trees. The advertised shop wasn’t open; bread etc being purchased from reception. The bar and restaurant were fully operational and we enjoyed a very good evening meal there with excellent service at reasonable cost.
This is a pretty area dissected with canals and waterways and is best appreciated by boat, cycle or on foot. The short walk to the local village of Coulon is a must and has boat and cycle hire and a number of attractive restaurants. The nearest town of Niort was a disappointment with little to recommend it to us but we enjoyed a day at La Rochelle which is altogether more vibrant and interesting though something of a one-way system nightmare to negotiate. We are not cyclists but there are many cycle routes throughout the waterways and being essentially flat they are ideal for both on and off road cycling which many on site did.
The weather was disappointing with frequent rain showers making the already soft pitches wetter and so having booked to stay 7 nights we cut short our stay and moved on after 5 having done most of what we set out to do.
