A little about Brem sur Mer, the surrounding area, how to get there and the camping resources in the region.

Brem sur Mer is a little place just below Bretignolles and slightly to the north of les Sables d'Olonne on the Vendean Atlantic coast. It's another of those places where "blink and you'll miss it" is an apt description. It's larger neighbours to the north of bretignolles are St Gilles, St Hilaire and St Jean de Monts, all of which are havens for British tourists taking their annual camping holidays. We have linked to a map of Brem and the next village, St Nicolas-de-Brem, to allow you to get your bearings.

Getting there is easy peasy, but I always say that. In fact we will give you directions to Brem sur Mer which are so good that you will not need to consult a map until you are nearly there - and that will be just to get you to your camping site.

As we cannot guess your ferry port we must assume that you are on the road down to Nantes from Rennes in Brittany. So, about 4km north of Nantes you will see a small sign by the side of the road which says "Nantes peripherique 4km". The peripherique by the way is the Nantes ring road. Your access to the ring road is marked Ouest (west) and you must follow signs for Bordeaux or you'll be in all sorts of bother and have to go through the city. Make certain that you are following signs for Bordeaux and exit the peripherique at junction 48 onto the autoroute going south for about 1.5 km where you need to take the D178 signed for Challans.

Slow down at this point and after 1 km take the D937 signed Rocheseviere and La Roche-sur-Yon. All this is free motoring but we could have directed you via the autoroute but you have to pay to use that. Carry on down the D937 until you reach Belleville where you need to turn off to the west onto the D6 signed for le Poire sur Vie, Aizenay and St Gilles Croix de Vie. Near to St Gilles you will pick up signs for Bretignolles and eventually Brem sur Mer. QED.

It is a great area for camping and watersports enthusiasts. The beaches in that area are good and there is plenty of scope for walking in the nearby forest where there are red squirrels and plenty of other wildlife to see if you are quiet. It is not unknown for families to be approached on picnics by red squirrels cadging food. They are harmless and lovely little creatures but please don't overfeed them because when the visitors have left at the end of summer these little chaps have to fend for themselves and some of the younger ones may have forgoten how to by then.

A day out in les Sables d'Olonne would be good - plenty of shopping there! Also there is a superb little zoo on the outskirts of les Sables where the birds and animals are as free as they can possibly be in an environment which is not entirely their natural one. Parrots are free to fly if they wish and there are small monkeys all over the place, but they tend to congregate near to the cafe area where they can steal food! Your camera is an absolute must on this trip.