Camping trap style in Eure-et-Loir
“Let’s walk in the forest before the wolf is gone…” Who hasn’t sung this rhyme? In the magnificent forest of Senonches, this refrain flutters in the wind under three hundred-year-old trees, some of which have been described as “remarkable”. The song finally disappears into a trap tent or Canadian-style log cabin under the Village Huttopia Senonches. Built around Badulo Pond, this base camp offers comfort and many delights, from marshmallows roasted over a wood fire to heated pools (including outdoor) through to Nordic baths… Not to mention many nature-related activities, such as basketry, plant printing on fabric, making perfume from ingredients collected from the forest…
Village Huttopia Senonches(Tel. 02 37 37 81 40). From €80 per night in a canvas and wood tent (sleeps 5) and €120 per night in a cabin (sleeps 6), including certain activities.
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Living on Texas time in Gatina
Have you ever heard of sliding stops and reversals? These are the basic characters or patterns of reining, an equestrian dressage discipline based on human-horse communication that was created by American cowboys. It is at Bo Ranch, on the edge of the Fontainebleau forest, that the biggest European competitions are held. What to taste, whether you play or not, the atmosphere of this USA-made sport, whose public is traditionally showy. Rather than hit the road again, we sleep at Escale Bellifontaine, a beautiful farm-turned-bed-and-breakfast ten minutes’ drive away.
Bo Ranch(Tel. 07 68 81 73 07). Lunch menu, €28; in the evening: menu about 30 euros. Bellifontaine stop(Tel.: 06 16 84 07 94). €105 per night.
Play with Californians in Hosegore
Les Landes, with its French California air, offers new accommodations with the spirit of a family home. The third property in the Iconic House collection, 1920s Basque Country architecture with luxurious facilities to share with a family or tribe, opened in early July 2022 in Hossegor. We are greeted by the “villa manager”, a kind of reference concierge. An electric Mini Moke, surfboards and paddle boards await you in the garage. Breakfast is served every morning, and home-cooked meals with local produce. What to escape to, during the week, in almost hotel luxury.
Iconic house Hosegor(Tel.: 06 18 74 90 62). From €10,000 to €25,000 per week for 12 people (plus 3 children in a dormitory). Transfer from Bayonne Station or Biarritz Airport is included.
Serve up beautiful madness in Morbihan
More than a hotel, La Belle Folie, not far from Carnac and the Quibero peninsula, is a place of life suitable for families where ecology, everywhere, rhymes with good humor and tranquility. The rooms here are cabins scattered in the property’s woods, some of which can accommodate up to 4 people. A caravan planted on a menhir, or conceptual wooden cactus, the apartments were designed and built by students from the Nantes National School of Architecture. Beneath the greenhouse where the vegetables are grown, the restaurant-ginguette serves simple cuisine with market produce: langoustines flambé, oysters with ginger, chicken with cider, nothing but local produce. For beach walks, La Belle Folie offers picnic baskets and each cabin is invited to enjoy a 38°C outdoor Nordic bath (by reservation). For children, the activity leader organizes giant hide-and-seek games, creative workshops with forest scavengers, cabin building and other festivities to teach them to love and respect nature.
Beautiful madness(Tel.: 02 97 06 02 38). From 140 euros per night for 2 people including breakfast.
Cross the Verkorner by mule caravan
The great old-fashioned journeys to the frontiers of the East inspired this itinerant hike in the mountains with mules and bivouacs in the middle of nature. The experience of the Upper Asia caravans of the adventure makers and guides adds a real flavor to this journey. We love camping in the evening with furniture, spacious and elegant tents, where we enjoy gourmet and local cuisine by candlelight. The site of this crossing of the East Vercors, a stone fort erected between the rivers Isere and Drome. The pine, beech and oak forests of the Haut Diois, the luxuriant mountain pastures, the majestic ridges of the high plateaux and the summit of the sculpted Mont Aigil.
Liotard equipped(Tel.: 06 52 18 94 39). €880 per person all inclusive, excluding transport on a double basis for 5 days/4 nights. €750 per child between the ages of eleven and fifteen
Source: Le Figaro
