St Pierre d'Amilly (our village)

Our gites are ideally situated for touring Poitou Charente. Le Marais, an area of outstanding beauty, is only a ten minute drive away. Here you will find lush green waterways, over-hung with wetland trees and nature at its most unspoilt - hire a bike or boat and explore the multitude of canals, and visit one of the Marais restaurants to sample the home-grown mussels.

La Rochelle is a 25 minute drive away - a beautiful port with many shops and restaurants. From here you can drive over the bridge to the Ile de Re which has fantastic beaches and a lovely port at St. Martin. The historic towns of Sainte, Cognac, Angouleme, and Niort are also within very easy reach, as is Poitier's famous 'Futuroscope'.

The village itself, St. Pierre d'Amilly, is conveniently situated between two towns. Mauze sur le Mignon is a 5 minute drive away - here you will find a great supermarket and an open-air market on Wednesday and Saturday mornings. Surgeres is a 10 minute drive away - a busier and historic town with an excellent indoor market on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturday mornings. Monthly Foires (Large open markets) are held in both towns - well worth a look, even if it's just to see the price of a live chicken!

St. Pierre d'Amilly is a very quiet, farm-working community. It has no shop or bar, but a van which sells bread visits daily, and there is a lovely Restaurant on the outskirts of the village. Unless you are bringing your bikes on holiday, a car is essential!

In the hot Summers the village is surrounded by fields of sunflowers, and the micro-climate of this area makes it pleasant throughout most of the year.


Getting there

Fly to La Rochelle from Stanstead, Gatwick, Bournemouth, Southampton, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Bristol, Manchester and Dublin.
La Rochelle airport is just half an hour drive from the gites.
Hertz and Europcar car hire at La Rochelle airport.
Fly from Gatwick to Nantes, Bordeaux, Poitiers or Angouleme and then an hour and a half drive.
Ferry from Portsmouth to St. Malo, then a 200 mile drive (3-4 hour drive).
TGV from Paris to Surgeres or La Rochelle.

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Coulon (Le Marais)