here - Manoir du Moulin

the times Saturday June 28 2014
26 Travel
France
ALAMY
W
here’s the world’s
best theme park?
Orlando? Tokyo?
California? Or in a
little corner of the
Vendée in France,
tucked between
the cities of Nantes and La Rochelle?
Few Brits have heard of Puy du Fou,
80km (50 miles) from Nantes, so it’s surprising to hear that in 2012 it carried off the
top prize in the Thea Awards, in Los Angeles, the theme park Oscars, for creativity,
quality and originality. It’s now the second
most visited theme park in France, after
Disneyland Paris. It’s certainly original.
“What do you mean it’s a theme park
without rides?” Christian, 7, asks incredulously, as we arrive to check it out. “What’s
the point of that?” However, his disappointment is soon swallowed by a world of musketeers, knights of the Round Table and
Vikings in a series of dramatised tableaux
brought to life with some excellent special
effects. Castles move, Viking boats slide
down the hillside and are submerged with
people still on board, and fires blaze in some
truly spectacular pyrotechnics displays.
We spend a couple of days criss-crossing
the park, taking in as many shows as possible (not easy given the timings and park geography, which mean that even with a fast
pass we fail to get into two shows on our
first attempt). It’s amusing how many scenarios are about French triumphs in history; there’s Joan of Arc, the Gauls beating
the Romans, and the Francs (helped by a
dead saint who comes to life) beating the
Vikings. But it’s still pretty amazing.
The climax is an evening show that
wouldn’t look out of place at the Olympics
opening ceremony, with 1,200 participants
marching round the lake after dark, horses
galloping by gushing water fountains and
fire exploding into the night sky. As with the
daytime shows, there’s a unnecessary flowery storyline — this time about the revolt of
peasants during the Revolution.
Christian falls asleep as the peasants
march again . . . and again , so it’s lucky we
don’t have to battle the 14,000 spectators
all trying to get out of the car park at once
and can instead head to our medieval-style
huts (though with modern bathrooms) on
the Îles de Clovis, one of three themed
hotels on site. It’s simple and functional,
with fairly terrible food, but it does the job.
One musketeer sword richer, we head
off the next day for the short drive to the
little village of Sainte-Hermine, where a
much more luxurious abode awaits. The
Manoir du Moulin, run by Canadians
Shari Swan and Warren Coulson, fills a
The best theme
park you’ve
never heard of
The Puy du Fou theme park is one of the highlights of
the Vendée, which also has great beaches, secret islands
and a chic family friendly B&B, says Jane Knight
yawning gap in France’s luxury family
friendly B&B market.
With its boutique rooms and childfriendly attitude (including a wine fridge
and microwave for warming milk in the
corridor) it’s the perfect place for families
when exploring the Vendée.
It soon becomes obvious why so many
Britons head this way: it’s just a short drive
from the ferry ports, with long sandy
See the Viking show at
Puy du Fou, main picture,
and relax on a beach
on Île Noirmoutier, top,
while staying at the
Manoir du Moulin, above
beaches and what the locals claim is a special microclimate. It’s a long way from
France’s most scenic region, lacking the
stunning coastline of Brittany, the rolling
hills of northern Gascony or the bastides
of the south (its prettiest town, Fontenayle-Comte has the questionable accolade of
“one of the prettiest detours in France”).
Mostly, apart from its easternmost
reaches, the Vendée is flat, the coastline
giving way to plains and marshlands. They
do prove good exploration ground though:
we find Maillezais, home to a stunning
abbey and the convenient Auberge de
l’Abbaye next door, where we feast on galettes washed down by a bowl of cider for
me. Refuelled, we go to find a boat.
“You know how to row?” the boatman
asks sceptically. He doesn’t believe my
“Bien sûr”, giving me a Gallic sneer when I
pay for the two-hour circuit rather than
the hour-long one. Actually, in our allotted
time, we take in the three-hour circuit easily, paddling down the cloistered, narrow
watery ways, trees arching overhead. It’s
peaceful, and we clock the odd fleet of tadpoles swimming alongside us and an eel.
Better still is our tour of the marshes by
bicycle, which we rent at Damvix so we can
take off-road cycleways all the way to
Arcais. We spend a happy hour cycling
along the waterways, pedalling over the
same bridges that we paddled under earlier before rewarding ourselves with an ice
cream at the pretty village of Arcais.
Cycling is big in the Vendée: it has more
than 1,000km (620 miles) of cycle tracks,
many weaving through the dune and forest backdrop to the string of beaches that
run south from Les Sables d’Olonne. Frustratingly, we can’t find a cycle hire shop
here. Instead, we spend an age trying to
park in the 500-place car park in La Tranche-sur-Mer, where there is a good, childfriendly beach with a gentle gradient,
small waves and a lifeguard. Our favourite
beach, though, is Les Conches, which has
enormous waves that are great for jumping in the shallows. But it is still heaving
with people. This is the second most visited
the times Saturday June 28 2014
Travel 27
The world’s most famous rat gets his own
ride (and restaurant) at Disneyland Paris
The new Ratatouille
the Adventure ride
and, below, Rémy with
Jane Knight’s son
part of France after the Cô te d’Azur and it
seems they are all on the beach.
The crowds put me off trying to get to the
Île de Ré, especially when I hear tales of
long traffic jams across the bridge from La
Rochelle. So we take an alternative adventure, heading north to the Île Noirmoutier,
billed as Île de Ré’s forgotten cousin.
If this is the more secret of the Atlantic
islands, I’d hate to hit the Île de Ré in full
summer. Our two-hour drive stretches
into four hours, and as we get nearer we
can see the salt farms that spring up along
the way, announced by their ranges of
white mountains glistening in the sun.
Stopping for a traffic break, we spend a
fascinating half-hour around a series of
low-lying pans of water, where sea water
with 30g of salt is gradually changed into
water with 350g a litre. A worker scoops up
the first fleur de sel, pulling and pushing it
through the water to catch the solids. It
seems so labour intensive it would be rude
not to buy a bit, so we swap € 3.60 for a 250g
packet and head off again.
“Everyone is cockle picking off the tidal
causeway to the island. It’s the high tides,”
the saltman tells us. “Try the bridge.”
After more traffic on the bridge, we arrive
at the island, just 20km by 7km, with its cute
white houses with blue shutters, and lots of
little restaurants and shops. We hire bikes
and head off on the coastal route but the cycle ways are on roads and every camper van
in France seems to be here.
It’s not until we turn off the coastal route
into the marshlands that things get much
better. There’s room to cycle side by side on
the cycle way fringing the salt beds —
rectangle after rectangle of water, with
Need to
know
FRANCE
Île
Noirmoutier
Nantes
Puy du Fou
Les Sables
d’Olonne Fontenayle-Comte
Bay of
Biscay
La Rochelle
Arcais
50 miles
small mountain ranges of white glistening
in the sun. As we pause for a break, we
watch a man raking the salt piles into the
middle of the water, pushing and pulling it
in a rhythmic motion. This is white gold
and is the reason the island became prosperous — and Belgium, Denmark, England and Norway still have consulates
here. Yet the 10,000 tonnes of salt produced annually at the beginning of the
20th century has dropped to about 800
tonnes today.
There is time for one more adventure
before we jump on the train at Nantes,
conveniently also home to the Machines
de l’Île. This is part amusement park, part
nutty professor’s workshop, with lots of
wooden and metal contraptions to explore. Though we haven’t booked early
enough to get a seat on the 12m-high robotic elephant, we hop aboard the threetier marine carousel to sit in a giant metal
crab. From our vantage point, we can operate its claws, with each pinch reflecting on
what an unusual week it has been.
Jane Knight was a
guest of the Pays de la
Loire Tourist Board
(paysdelaloire.co.uk)
How to get there
Voyages-sncf (0844 848
5848, voyages-sncf.com)
has return rail fares to
Nantes from £109.
Where to stay
Manoir du Moulin
charges € 130-€ 180 per
room per night.
The price includes
breakfasts and use of
baby gear. Book on
020 3603 1160,
babyfriendlybolt
holes.co.uk.
The Puy du Fou
has one night’ s
B&B with two
days in the park
from € 80.50pp
based on a
family of four
sharing, and
€ 131.50pp on
the same basis
including the
evening Sound
and Light show.
I’ ve just demolished a delicious
steak-frites in a charming Parisian bistro
when a rather large rat appears. Nobody
is screaming here, though — in fact, the
ensuing rush is all about getting photos
and autographs, because this is Ré my,
the star of the movie Ratatouille. He’ s
also now king of his own attraction, with
a bistro, 3D ride and, bien sûr, a gift
shop in a little corner of Disneyland
Paris, where Ratatouille the Adventure
opens on July 10.
I had a sneak preview of the ride last
week, and I’ m not exaggerating when
I say it’ s the best Disney has launched in
a long time. Forget the cutesy image of
the Mouse; where rats are concerned,
there’ s a serious wow factor.
There’ s no hint of that as you board
sweet trackless rodent carts, but
as you balance precariously on
Parisian rooftops and fall into a
mad chase around a restaurant
(expect to get wet here) things
start to heat up. Literally.
Temperatures rise under the
furnace and fall in the store
room. Sniff as you
go and you’ ll
breathe in the
aromas of oranges
and freshly baked
bread.
The ride ends
at Ré my’ s bistro,
where guests at
some tables can
watch through the
window as riders
disembark. The
bistro here is just
as much a star as
the ride. Themed
throughout, with
chairs and stools
made from
champagne corks
and even the olive
oil served in small china chefs’ hats, it
serves the best food I have ever eaten in
an amusement park.
There are no burgers and pizza here.
Chez Ré my is all about what the French
do so well: good, simple, locally sourced
food, which saw me munch my way
through a beautifully dressed salad,
the tenderest of steaks, and brie served
with fruit bread and vine peach jelly.
Naturellement, there was a delicious
bowl of ratatouille too. Better still,
Disney — which doesn’ t serve alcohol in
most of its restaurants — has worked
with vineyards in St Emilion to produce
its own Cuvé e Bistrot Chez Ré my, a red
with many layers that complements the
food perfectly. Yes, three courses cost
€ 39.99 (£32; children’ s menus are
€ 16.99) and a bottle of wine € 35, but it is
money well spent. Be warned: it won’ t
be the only money you’ ll part with, as
there’ s a whole range of Ratatouille
souvenirs, from special chefs’ hats at
€ 24.99 to a cuddly Ré my or his sidekick,
Emile, for € 22.99.
Wallet empty and belly full, it’ s a
waddle out into the atmospheric French
square, complete with blue French
street signs, tables covered with
checked tablecloths and a fountain
modelled on the one in the Place des
Vosges in Paris. This one, though, is
different, with rat images carved into
the stone and a triumphant Ré my
balancing on a champagne bottle on
the top. Clearly in this little corner of
Paris at least, rats rule.
Jane Knight
Need to know
Jane Knight was a guest of Disneyland
Paris (08448 008111, disneylandparis.
com) which has a two-night, three-day
stay at Disney’ s on-site Sequoia Lodge,
park tickets and travel on Eurostar from
£1,256 for a family of four sharing a
room on a B&B basis.