Located off the beautiful southwest Atlantic coast near La Rochelle and renowned for its luminous sunlight, golden sandy beaches and natural surroundings.

* More annually recorded sunshine hours than the Med *

La Hune - 3 Bedroom self contained apartment – Sleeps 4-6
Ground floor of a typical Oleron fisherman's cottage

Car:  Ile D’Oleron (the island of light) is located in the region of the Charente Maritime 2 hrs north of Bordeaux and about a 9 hr drive from Calais or 4½ hrs from St Malo. The island is connected to the mainland at Marennes (famous for its oysters) by a 3 km bridge. 

Flights:  There is now a choice of cheap flights to La Rochelle airport from the UK and most flights are just over an hour long.  The tiny airport is serviced by Ryan Air from Stanstead and Dublin, by Flybe from Southampton, Birmingham and Manchester and most recently from London/Gatwick by Easy Jet and Edinburgh with Jet.2.com. 

Don’t or don’t want to drive?

If you don’t drive or would rather not we can arrange for you to be collected from La Rochelle.

By car:   we can arrange for you to be met and collected personally at La Rochelle airport by the wonderfully charming, Michel, and driven to Oleron by private car. Once on the island cycle hire, taxi service and car hire are all easily accessible.

By train: the TGV (fast train) from Paris to La Rochelle is under a 3 hr journey and now with the new fast link services from England (by Eurostar change at Lille) the whole journey should be achievable in under 6 hrs.  So if you prefer trains to planes, its no problem, we would be just as happy to collect you from the train station in the heart of La Rochelle.

By boat:  Alternatively, if the tide is right it may be possible for you to sail from La Rochelle direct to the port of St Denis on Oleron by private boat.  It's only a very short ride by airport courtesy coach or by taxi from the airport to the port of La Rochelle where Michel will be waiting to welcome you onboard. As part of his service he will throw in a tour of ile d’Aix and Fort Boyard on route.

Boat trips around the island can also be arranged through Michel.  The day trip includes a tour around Fort Boyard, the famous 18thC lighthouse of Chassiron and a stop over on Ile d'Aix. If you like, Michel will accompany you on a walking tour of this miniscule picture postcard island celebrated for its white washed cottages adorned with every possible colour of hollyhock.  Lunch can be a picnic on the beach or taken at one of the portside restaurants featuring dishes of locally caught seafood and oysters. If you fancy trying your hand at catching your own just have a word with your skipper.

Bordeaux Wine Tours - personally designed to reflect your interests and budget.
www.winetours-bordeaux.com

Place yourself in the expert hands of wine guide and lecturer Maxine Colas and allow her to guide you through tastings in the cellars of some of Bordeaux's most celebrated chateaux.

English born Maxine who has lived in the region for almost 20 years has studied her craft at both Bordeaux University's Oenology dept and at the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce from whom she has earned a diploma at the Institute of Wines & Spirits. She holds posts as a lecturer at the CIVB and with the Bordeaux Saveurs Wine School specializing in tasting initiation as well as advanced levels.

Her individually planned and personally accompanied 5 day tours include accommodation at a comfortable 3* hotel in the heart of Bordeaux's historic city centre and carefully chosen gourmet lunches complemented by her choice of appropriately selected wines. Her tailor-made itineraries also include a 6 day Wine, History and Gastronomy tour. This tour created for lovers of good food as much as fine wine combines an informative, entertaining and tasty mix of shopping and sight seeing amidst Bordeaux's acclaimed architecture, visits to local country markets, private tastings at specialist wine and cheese shops , a boat ride to an oyster farm on the famous Archachon basin, cookery classes hosted by local celebrity chefs and finally the chance to work it all off on a ½ day bike ride along the Entre-Deux Mers cycle track.

Convivial and knowledgeable, Maxine will make the memory of your visit to the Bordeaux region one to cherish for many years to come.

About Ile D’Oleron

Some of you may already know me if you’ve stayed before at one of the Accessible France cottages in the Pas de Calais where for 14 years we had a holiday home of our own.

Last year, on my husband’s retirement, we sold our home there and relocated to a stunning little island called Oleron set in the Atlantic just off  La Rochelle on the southwest coast.   We knew little of it ourselves until we ‘discovered’ it the year before on a brief visit and had the incredible good fortune  to find AND to buy our present home.

For me it was love at first sight.  A nostalgic mix of my childhood years on the Gulf Coast of Florida (wild and natural then) and 1960’s St Tropez (hip and laid back as it was then) this magical island of only 33kms has well repaid our rash decision to sell up everything quickly and move here. 

Of course, our haste also had a little to do with the amazing luck of finding a  bijoux fisherman’s cottage splendidly perched on a dune with panoramic views of the Atlantic (next stop New York as the Oleronaise like to tell you) – it was like a dream come true.  Known as ‘the ile lumiere (island of light), we have come to understand why.  Not a day goes by without some sunshine and when it does everything shimmers.  Being on the west coast of the island we also have the added bonus of spectacular sunsets as the sun goes down in the sea.

Our part of the island’s coastline is called La Cote Sauvage.  We are located close to the northern tip near the 18^th century lighthouse of Chassiron and just a few minutes walk from the start of the sandy beach of Les Huttes,  ideal for wind and body surfing.  Up here the island looks a lot like Cape Cod or perhaps Nantucket.   It’s quiet up here, but that’s all to the good when the crowds start to arrive on the southern end of the island during the summer weeks.

On the eastern side, facing Ile de Re and La Rochelle, the sea is calmer.  The wide, sandy beaches  slope gently into the sea making them ideal for young children and for those who prefer a gentle float to riding the waves.  There are facilities and snack bars and all have surveyed and guarded sections. 

Ile D’Oleron is a haven of natural sandy beaches lapped by the waves of the Atlantic and warmed by the Gulf Stream.  Being an island, each beach has a different aspect and is therefore best suited to different types of water sport - from credible surfing and snorkeling to deep sea fishing, sailing or paragliding.  Many of the beaches incorporate shallow locks (ecluses) hand built of rock centuries ago by fishermen who up until 30 years ago were the main inhabitants of the island.  From these rocks you may take for your own consumption what you find:  crabs, shrimp, mussels, clams, oysters, and a variety of other small shell fish.  A veritable plateau de fruit des mer – I kid you not!

A lot has changed on ile d'Oleron over the past 30 years.  In the 1970's the old ferry boats were scrapped and a smart new bridge, the Viaduct,  was built spanning over the valuable oyster farms that surround the island attaching it to the mainland at Marennes -  the oyster capital of France.  Here the tiny producers guard their reputations as zealously as the famous wine growers in the rest of the country. 

Of course plenty of fishing still goes on – La Cotiniere is the most intact of the pretty fishing ports dotted around the coastline.  Others have transformed themselves into smart marinas with adjoining shops and restaurants. The island’s small white washed villages largely retain their character but have evolved to provide the commerce required by today’s visitors.   The tiny capital of St Pierre is one of the gems.  Le Chateau with it's star-shaped citadel and thriving artist’s colony that sets up shop near the port during the summer months in colourfull, painted cabins is another.   Large supermarket chains and a variety of other essential shops now line the main road that cuts through the centre of the island and sit cheek by jowl with countless cycle, boating and surfing shops.   

Life on the island tends to be low key.  It  has a kind of barefoot, beachcomber informality but you would be wrong to translate that as ‘roughing it’.  Ile d’Oleron like Le Touquet and our neighbouring islands of Re and Aix, is a treasured haunt of the  Parisians and that means good food, fashionable shops and lots of creature comfort.  As well as owning second homes here many of them also run seasonal businesses returning every Spring with the warm weather to re-open their shops and restaurants.  Outside of the French community Ile d’Oleron is relatively unknown but the actor Johnny Depp was spotted secretly holidaying on the better known Ile de Re last summer so – can it be long?

At the port of Boyardville on the east coast you will have a splendid view of (the) Fort Boyard which you can visit by scheduled boat along with the islands of Re and Aix and of course the stunning town of La Rochelle with its own medieval port.  To the south the beautiful and cosmopolitan seaside resort of Royan (see below) on the mouth of the Gironde is only an hour’s car ride but here on Oleron the preferred mode of travel is by cycle. 

Crisscrossing its 33 flat kms is a network of dedicated off-road trails taking you along the coastline and through quaint villages, past inland oyster farms where you can stop for a degustation, salt basins still mined in the traditional way with donkeys and vineyards selling local wines.  A very tasty drink called Pineau, blended from local grapes and Cognac, served over cracked ice, is the islanders favourite choice for the evening aperitif.   The Cognac region itself is just across on the mainland or ‘France’ as the locals refer to it.

Ile D’Oleron is truly a paradise for those seeking unlimited sun and sand in peaceful and completely  natural surroundings – the island is shortly to be re-classified as a conversation area protected by the National Forestry Commission. 

Since settling here I have been hoping to find rental accommodation of a similar standard to that which we offer in the Pas de Calais.  My hope is to introduce and share with you my newly found ‘island paradise’ as I did so many years ago with the then little known Vallee de la Course.  But life goes on at an easy pace here so at the end of my first year  I can only offer two:

Le Puits de la Mer - 4 Bedroom stone cottage – sleeps 10/12

*Large garden with access to sea * Suitable for 2 or more families sharing *

The beautiful home of my Parisian next door neighbour is built of stone reclaimed from an old moulin.  It is set in a large, artfully landscaped garden dotted with various stone outbuildings including a dining pavilion with  bit BBQ, a domed fresh water well and a raised terrace offering a view of the sea. 
 

The spacious, open plan living/dining room features a double height fireplace and kitchen cleverly  disguised as a drinks bar.  It is well furnished and the walls are hung with many original paintings by celebrated local artists.  There are 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms but for those who require a 5th bedroom there is the possibility of the use of another independent stone outbuilding in the garden.

There is no swimming pool at Le Puits but like me she too has direct access to the sea  and a great surfing beach lies just over the dunes beyond her garden gate.  From the ecluse (rock pools) below you can forage for shellfish or cast your line for sea bass.   It is only a few minutes walk to the nearest sand beach (Les Huttes) but the island is ringed with them so why not try a different one each day! 

This holiday cottage just shouts FUN! and is being offered on a normal self-catering basis with an option of daily maid service, breakfast and/or evening meals for a limited  period next summer – mostly during April, May, June, July and the very beginning of August. 

 Please contact me for availability and more details.

La Hune - 3 Bedroom self contained apartment – Sleeps 4-6

-  ground floor of a typical Oleron fisherman's cottage - Marie’s own

(Ideal for adult parties seeking sun, sea, relaxation and comfort in a stunning location)

* Pool * Beach * Sea Views * Comfort * Holiday house exchange available *
 

The house is situated on the edge of the dunes with extensive views out to sea and over Les Huttes beach below.  It is located on the northwest coast of the island not far from the 18thC lighthouse of Chassiron appropriately twinned with Land's End.  Spectacular sunsets included - free of charge!

Guests will have a private entry, their own bathroom & WC, 3 bedrooms and a sejour (studio room with kitchen/dining and sitting areas) which opens directly onto the pool deck and garden with their own BBQ patio.  There is shared use of the heated pool (9.5 x 4.5m).

At adjacent Les Huttes beach there is excellent surfing, snorkeling and sailing. Shell fish gathering is right at the foot of the garden or you can sea fish off the dune edge at the end of the road.

There is an excellent daily street market at nearby St Denis piled high with colourful fruit and veg where you can buy everything from freshly caught fish to your morning baguette.  Around the attractive port and marina are rows of fashion boutiques, specialist shops, restaurants and bars.  From here you can also catch the little tourist 'train' which makes a circuit to and from Les Huttes via Chassiron.

The view from our back garden

This comfortable apartment would suit couples or families with children over 16 looking for a peaceful and relaxing holiday full of sun, sea and good food all wrapped up in a completely unspoiled and natural environment.

 
The apartment will be available mainly during June, July, September & October but there is a possibility of other weeks out of season.  4 Cycles are included in the rental for those who would like to take advantage of the island's vast network of off road tracks.

If this sounds like your kind of holiday please contact me for more details.

Holiday House Swap

Any date * Any duration * Any season * Mainland Europe
Have you a holiday home of your own?  Would you be interested in doing a holiday home exchange with us on this property?  If so we would like to hear from you. We are flexible with our dates and it would not necessarily have to be for the same week.