Camping holiday information in the region of Jard sur Mer in the south of the Vendee, western France

You could say, "blink and you've missed it," about Jard. It's a cute little place right on the western coast mid way between Les Sables d'Olonne to the north and La Tranche in the south. Jard sur Mer is a favourite place for Brits taking camping holidays and there are several UK tour operators in that area.

Jard sur Mer is a sleepy little place slap bang on the Atlantic coast roughly a five hour drive from Cherbourg, four from Caen and three ish from St Malo. In country you are beginning to leave the Vendean marshes, les Marais behind and the footing is somewhat firmer around Jard and the little village/town next door, St Vincent.

There are three clean and sandy beaches next to Jard for sunbathing and swimming in the summer and walking in the winter, and just a tad south of there is a long forest - Foret de Longeville - where there is a tiny little place called Les Conches and the beach there is one of the best for surfing in Europe, apart from the beaches in the south west of course. It is so good that weekend surfers arrive from all over northern europe when the tides are right.

Getting to Jard is easy enough (I always say that, but tis so in this case) from any of the sensible ferry crossing options such as Le Havre, Deauville, Caen or St Malo, which has to be the favourite for travelling down the west coast of France. Head for Nantes and get onto the Nantes peripherique (ring road) and follow signs for Bordeaux - always follow Bordeaux or you will come unstuck and waste hours, believe me!

Leave the peripherique at junction 48 and follow signs for La Roche sur Yon. Now I have always found that La Roche is a tad difficult because the last time we were there it had no ring road so you were in and out of the city in ever decreasing circles, so take care. Leave La Roche on the D747 and follow signs for La Tranche until you reach Moutiers where you turn off onto the D19 to Avrille, St Hilaire-la-Foret and Jard sur Mer.

Head a few KM south and you will reach the larger resort of La Tranche which is quite a busy place in the holiday season, but well worth a visit nonetheless, and strangely enough, you may even be able to find a parking place!

But if your holiday is about camping in peace and quiet you will find that Jard sur Mer fits the bill perfectly, and a walk into the forest with your camera will almost certainly reward you with some shots of gorgeous red squirrels - in fact you would be amazed how many camping sites are called Les Ecureuils (the Squirrels) so there must be millions of them in the country as a whole, and luckily for them there are no grey squirrels at all in France.

Anyway, back to your camping holiday: In and around Jard wou will be able to book pretty well any sort of camping holiday you wish from just hiring a pitch to hiring a pre-erected tent with all the facilities you need - cooker, fridge etc, to the more comfortable mobile home which has a toilet and shower included.