Neither do most Europeans, who bring their designer dogs and satellite dishes, and choose hard-roofed accommodation from mobile homes to fairy-tale cottages. Des Ormes (The Elms) has an 18-hole golf course, hotel with spa, equestrian center, three restaurants, pub, three pools (two outdoor with wave pool and slides, one indoor with steamy jungle plants), playgrounds, turf field for sports, lakes with fishing and paddle boats, and a treetop adventure course featuring log bridges and zip lines. The heroes found themselves in modern-day Les Ormes defending their "castle," the owner's residence — and appeared live at the pool, with dozens of extras, to duel the villain. At high tide, the sand's been swallowed up; six hours later, you can walk a quarter-mile (half kilometer) into the Atlantic, in bath-like calm, before your feet leave the muddy sand. Hundreds of parked bicycles — and zero cars — mark the beach entrances, flanked by surf schools and catamaran clubs. Fortunately, three nearby villages of whitewashed homes with pastel shutters — Le Bois Plage, with a daily market and old-school amusement rides, fortress-enclosed Saint Martin de Re, and yacht-filled port of La Flotte — offered buckets of atmosphere, seaside dining and competitive superstores. Wildlife around our tent included feral kittens, rock-hopping lizards, and a praying mantis. An hour's drive south past La Rochelle and Rochefort lies the oyster capital of France and, inland, one of the finest family campsites, Sequoia Parc, on the grounds of a grand chateau. A four-pool complex offers water slides for every age, even toddlers; a lazy river; and sundeck with non-alcoholic bar. There are pony rides and weekly visits from a traveling circus featuring acrobats, jugglers, camels and stunt cats, including one who escaped under the bleachers. Companies like CanvasHolidays and Eurocamp can help book itineraries with varied lengths of stay and locations.
Reported by SeattlePI.com 7 hours ago.
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