Vendée

During a camping holiday in France in 1970, Angela Bird idly scanned an estate agent's window (as you do) and noticed a whole house on sale for £1,200. She and her husband jettisoned their aged tent, equipped themselves with a hefty DIY book, and began a 50-year love affair with the Vendée. Although her children longed to holiday on Vendée beaches, Bird couldn't sit still for long so would drag them to markets, menhirs, castles and windmills. (Her kids learned to dread the words: 'While we're here, why don't we just visit.?') In 1995 Bird wrote her first guidebook to the area, the bestselling English Family Guide to the Vendée, which ran to four editions before transferring to the Bradt stable. For four years she was also Vendée correspondent for the French publication Côté Ouest. In the UK, she has worked for The Illustrated London News and Country Living magazines. Murray Stewart spent two months living and travelling around the Vendée and its borders, researching and writing the first edition of Bradt's guidebook to the area. When his legs were significantly younger, he enjoyed cycling holidays on the flat coastal terrain along the Vendean Atlantic coast. Murray wrote Bradt's Basque Country and Navarre: France and Spain, which won the British Guild of Travel Writers' Best Travel Guidebook of 2016. He is an experienced guidebook author, having also written Bradt's Basque Country and Navarre: France and Spain (which won the British Guild of Travel Writers' Best Travel Guidebook of 2016) and updated Bradt guidebooks to North Cyprus, Cape Verde and the Azores. He has written for national travel magazines and online publications, and produced copy for French tourist boards and hotels. A near-fluent French speaker, he spends part of the year living in the Minervois in southern France.

• Introduction PART ONE GENERAL INFORMATION Chapter 1 Background Information Geography, Climate, Natural history, History, Government and politics , Economy, People, Language,Religion, Education, Culture, Sport Chapter 2 Practical Information When to visit, Highlights, Suggested itineraries, Tourist information, Tour operators, Red tape, Getting there and away, Health, Safety, Women travellers, Travelling with a disability, LGBTQIA+ travellers, Travelling with kids, What to take, Money and budgeting, Getting around, Accommodation, Eating and drinking, Publicholidays, Shopping, Arts and entertainment, Sports and activities, Opening times, Media and communications, Cultural etiquette, Travelling positively PART TWO THE VENDÉE Chapter 3 Northwest Vendée and the Islands Bouin, Beauvoir-sur-Mer, Île de Noirmoutier, La Barre-de-Monts and Fromentine, Bois-de-Céné, La Garnache,Challans, Sallertaine, Notre-Dame-de-Monts, St-Jean-de-Monts, Soullans, Commequiers, St-Hilaire-de-Riez, St-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie, Île d'Yeu Chapter 4 La Roche-sur-Yon, Les Sables-d'Olonne and the Bas-Bocage La Roche-sur-Yon, Nesmy, Chaillé-sousles-Ormeaux, Le Poiré-sur-Vie, Aizenay, St-Étienne-du-Bois, Beaulieu-sous-la-Roche, La Mothe-Achard, Apremont, Coëx, St-Révérend, Brétignolles-sur-Mer, Brem-sur-Mer, Les Sables-d'Olonne area, Talmont-St-Hilaire , Jard-sur-Mer, Avrillé, Moutiers-les-Mauxfaits Chapter 5 Southern Vendée: The Marais Poitevin The southern coast, Inland: Luçon and the dry marshes, La Venise Verte: 'Green Venice', The Marais Poitevin beyond the Vendée Chapter 6 Pouzauges, Fontenay-le-Comte and the Haut-Bocage St-Michel-Mont-Mercure, Pouzauges, St-Prouant, Mouilleron-en-Pareds, Bazogesen-Pareds, Chantonnay, La Châtaigneraie, Vouvant, Mervent, Faymoreau, Fontenayle-Comte, Nieul-sur-l'Autise Chapter 7 Clisson, Les Herbiers and the Vendée Wars Clisson (Loire-Atlantique), Tiffauges, Mortagne-sur-Sevre, St-Laurent-sur-Sevre, Mallievre, Les Épesses, La Gaubretiere, Les Herbiers, Montaigu, Chavagnes-en-Paillers, Les Brouzils, Rocheserviere, Les Lucs-sur-Boulogne, Les Essarts, Mouchamps PART THREE NORTH AND SOUTH OF THE VENDÉE Chapter 8 La Rochelle and the Île de Ré La Rochelle, Île de Ré Chapter 9 Nantes, Pays de Retz and the Loire Estuary Nantes, The Pays de Retz, Northwards across the estuary, From the ocean back to Nantes: the Loire's south bank Appendix 1 Language Appendix 2 Further Information Index

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