Independent Campsite Reviews

Went to this site two years ago (2002) and thought it was excellent. The toilets were kept spotless and the cleaner was constantly there. The pool was a bit small but didn't get too overcrowded that we couldn't cope. We were there at peak season and found no entertainment at all and campsite very quiet after 10.00pm. Could have done with a bit of shade on the pitches: no trees near us, and so hot our caravan fridge could not cope. All in all a lovely site which we would visit if in area again

Loved this campsite. Finally dragged ourselves away after 5 years on the trot!. Clean showers and toilets. nice big pitches. no shade but easy to make your own. The lake is beautiful and if you have the energy will take about 2-3 hours to walk round. lots of cycle tracks and quiet roads. Lovely beaches 15 minute drive. Supermarket 10 minutes. No nonsense tolerated from unruly children and no inflatables allowed in the pool, it just gets better! unfortunately after a 2 year gap we tried to book and there are no spaces left so my only advise is book early and enjoy!!!

We have spent the last four years going to this site and think it's great. It now has an indoor and outdoor swimming pool with chutes. A large lake makes for lovely walks and mountain bike rides. Last year a huge eagle was seen near the site entrance and water snakes were seen in the lake. A Restaurant/Creperrie on the outskirts of the lake is well worth a visit. The beach at Bretignolles Sur Mer is 10 minutes away by car, great for body boarding and surfing, with a school on the beach for those who are interested. The pitches are large, capable of taking a caravan, car, awning, cycles and table with room to spare. The Leclerc supermarket provides everything that could be needed and local markets are close by. Next year a Gymnasium will be added to the site - what more do I need to say?

I have to agree with everything that is written above but would also like to share with others how helpful the owners are.

We arrived on site with our caravan on a Monday from South Brittany only to find out that we where a day early, completely our fault, I had presumed that we had concurrent bookings.

Immediately we were told not to worry, although they were very busy they would do their very best to help us.

Madame summoned a man to go and check various locations on this large site but finally they accepted there where no pitches available. Still cheerful she said they could offer you a night on the hard standing behind the reception block and got an extra lead to ensure we had electricity.

We set up and he came back twice to check that we had all we required. The next day we got onto our reserved pitch which has to be the largest pitch we have been on in over 20 years of camping.

Madame and the man, we later discovered, are the owners of this site and remained as cheerful and helpful everyday as did all the staff we came into contact with.

We would recommend this site to anyone for its facilities, position and attitude of staff. We had a great stay and are going to re-book for this year; there is still so much to see in this lovely area.

(Original submitted 2004, updated 2005)

A moderately large campsite, that has grown from a small area around the bar/pool. The older parts of the site, nearer in to the centre, felt more crowded that the outskirts (where we were pitched, having only booked 2 weeks before). We were happier being further away, partly because the pitches were more open, and partly because we could barely hear the noise from the bar when they had a karaoke evening! Only the most central pasrt of the site have tarmac roads, the rest being stony, and clouds of dust rise when people drive past your pitch.

Don’t let that last comment worry you too much, the entertainment generally ceased early enough, so even if you are nearer the centre, you shouldn’t lose too much sleep.

Toilet blocks were adequate - but only just, with a few instances of queuing for a short while.

They have a few washing machines and driers, but as usual, never enough. We struck lucky, and got our washing done without waiting, but apart from that moment, I never saw an unused machine.

Swimming pool was fine, with a good area for soaking up the sun, and some water slides. View from the bar sun deck over the pool to the forest that surrounds the lake.

New in 2005 is a covered pool. We liked this, because most people used it (despite the weather being great) and the outside pool was almost unused. However, they do seem to have stopped heating the outside pool, which was quite cool.

Ah yes, the lake. This was really the high spot of the site for us. Just a few minutes walk from the site, though you need to ask where the footpath is - we used the road, and I only found the short cut on the last day. There is a nice grassy area with trees alongside the lake, the water is a pleasant temperature, and the edge slopes gently. You’re allowed to take boats on the water, and although I saw one or two signs prohibiting swimming, they were few and far between, and easy to avoid seeing (if you see what I mean). There’s a footpath all around the lake, and it starts out flat enough to cycle. However, further round it gets steep in places, and I had to carry my bike when I did the circuit.

We liked being away from the bustle of the beach-oriented sites, while being close enough to take a day trip to the sea without any difficulty. Favourite beach (which we’ve been to before) was probably Brem-sur-Mer, where there are good waves, and many surfers. More gentle sea can be found between St Gilles and Noirmoutier, where there is a long stretch of sandy beach with much gentler water.

Good-looking adventure playground (though our kids are too old for it now) and a multisport court.

Baguettes etc available on site, but not much else in the way of shopping.

Takeaway did chips, pizzas, roast chickens (pre-ordered) etc every night.

We're heading back to Pin Parasol for our 4th summer. We stay 4 weeks. The site is very family orientated, small bar - serving long drinks - beer and wine - no spirits. Small shop, fresh bread each morning - to order. 3 pools now, 1 outside, 1 indoor and a pool with slides.

Entertainment limited to karaoke/bingo type thing, which does not interfere with the campsite. Kids club, aquaerobics during the day. Snack bar open teatime until 9pm. Mostly English and Dutch. Teens tend to gather together - all nationalities - some may find this off-putting. Well-managed site, no noise after 11pm, this may also put people off. Good base for exploring the Vendee. We love the peace there.

This quiet, isolated site continues to expand from its original modest proportions, eating into the surrounding farmland like a hungry locust. It now numbers 370 pitches, a fair number of which are static chalets. Reception and bar staff are friendly and helpful. The campers are mostly Dutch, some English and a few French. We found all facilities on site were as described on the Pin Parasol website, but with well over 1000 people on site at full occupancy, the pools get crowded. We had the dubious pleasure of pitching on a newly developed area. This new “field” resembles a lunar landscape. It has very little shade (the parasol pines, where are they exactly?) and very stony ground. It was impossible to drive standard tent pegs into the earth at all. Hardened steel pegs, driven in with a claw hammer, shattered the underground stones but pulled out easily with slight effort. The surface is littered with hundreds of sharp stones and my groundsheet still bears the imprint of several, I’d recommend a ground sheet protector. The pitches themselves are huge by English standards; ours was not one of the bigger ones but still measured 11 x 13 metres. Small, half-dead shrubs that provide little privacy delineate the pitches.

All campers I questioned had experienced black ant infestations. Whilst harmless, they are very invasive. Leave a plate out for a few minutes and it was crawling. The French don’t mess around when it comes to pest control, so if you and the ants can’t coexist peacefully, the HyperU at St Gilles sells very effective bait-type formicides.

The lunar theme was continued by a lack of defining atmosphere at Pin Parasols. The site pays little tribute to its greatest asset - the nearby lake Jaunay, and concentrates most of its limited organised activity around the pool/bar area. The bar is taken over by the teenage holidaymakers in the evening, the Dutch contingent of this group show exemplary behaviour that the other nationalities’ teenagers would do well to match.

The only noise on site overnight is the chirrup of the crickets and the snoring of the campers. It really is remarkably quiet. Mornings involved an inevitable queue in the spotlessly clean toilet block for the showers or the WCs. There are only 4 WCs for the entire field, woefully inadequate. The alternative is to trudge to one of the other blocks in an older, neighbouring field that have a better ratio of loos to campers. Perhaps my biggest gripe at this site was the lack of liquid soap dispensers in the toilet block. Whilst I can cope with having to provide my own loo roll, the lack of soap is an affront to basic hygiene (and these are billed as 4-star toilette blocks). The edge of the new field is 10-minute stroll from the bar, where another morning ritual involves a long queue for delicious baguettes and croissants . It’s almost as quick to jump in the car and go to the boulangerie in nearby Coex.

Of the nearby attractions, Le Jardin Des Olfacties expands tardis-like from the centre of Coex and is the most beautiful garden displaying a beguiling range of botanical aromas. Easily overlooked but well worth a visit.

We've just returned from Pin Parasol. I feel quite deflated and frankly if it wasn't for our daughter, we would be going elsewhere next year (as it is we've shortened the time). The site has grown over the winter and the facilities are now inadequate. The site has become busier, the bread queues longer and most nights the bar was heaving. The emphasis on families only has switched subtly the site is noisier and people heading back to their pitches can carry on (noisily) until 2 in the morning. The groups of teenagers can be a bit daunting and as for Yans point about the Dutch kids - I have to say it would depend on what night , all the nationalities were as bad/good as each other. The behaviour of the kids of all ages was dependent on the parental presence...

As for the comment from Dulong, I feel it is unfair. The pitches are generous, much larger than in the UK and in many other sites in Europe. They are also bordered by hedges. Most sites do not have this, therefore any visitors, overnight or for a few days, with or without their own tent/accommodation would have to pay a surcharge anywhere. The logic Dulong applies would infer that we as a family of 3 should only pay half price for the pitch - that's not going to happen and would be unreasonable. The pitches have to have a maximum number to avoid the overcrowding which we all complain of on other sites.

Just returned from this site heartily agree with everything said by Yan so haven't got much to add. Nice clean quiet site in lovely location. I expect the new area will mature ok as they have planted a lot of shrubs and the pitches are huge. However unless they do something about the inadequate facilities they will lose customers very quickly. The queuing for toilets is enough to spoil a holiday and the pool was totally overcrowded rendering it unusable for a middle aged woman like myself.

The first thing we noticed was the inhospitality of the campsite. It were the small things that bugged us, like paying the total sum in advance, standing in line for shower/toilet/washing, but also the following...

We rented two bikes for 72 euro for a week. My son of 15 brought them back at the end of the period, but the locks were missing. He said we (his parents) would take care of it (and we did: total cost 3,40 euro).

Apparently he wasn't humble enough when he said it, because the owner (son of the previous owner; his first year 'in charge') exploded. My son didn't show any respect. He was not allowed to play table tennis until the lock was replaced. Even after a talk from me, he stayed 'Fawlty Towers' angry.

Even after reimbursing the 3,40 euro he threatened that 'he would keep an eye on him'. very unpleasant.

Furthermore the new part of the campsite hardly had any shade.

Lots of large pitches though.

I visited this site in early August 2006. On arrival I checked in and confirmed with the receptionist that the pitch allocated would accommodate a large twin axle unit - 'No problem' she stated (The unit details advised at time of booking in February through Caravan Club). Having travelled to the pitch, situated on a corner of the previously described 'lunar landscape' I discovered that the single track road that led to the pitch then opened up to a pitch only 8 metres wide - almost the caravan length! So, reversing in, to the amazement of the neighbours we set up camp. (My neighbours with a single axle unit commenting that if they had arrived later they would have been in trouble as they didn't enjoy reversing their unit). The ants quickly moved in, but were controlled with the usual bait stations.

The washing facilities are clean but can only be described as useless. With in the region of 300 people in one area and only limited facilities it wasn't surprising that campers used the tree lined screen around the site as a toilet to avoid the queues - they started around 0800 and continued through the day - even at midnight there was a queue, if you were prepared to make your way through the youths that congregated around this area. Walking around the site it appears that the management have no plan in place to identify the various sizes of pitches available. Whilst large caravan and tent units are squashed onto small pitches small tents are sited on capacious pitches - ridiculous. This site serves an excellent area with many varied attractions for a wide age range. Having been to the area before we felt we could properly compare the site with others. It falls down badly, and hardly deserves the rating it is given - in fact many CL locations in the UK probably provide more toilet / shower facilities per user than you get here. The owners have invested heavily in the site, but this has been concentrated on the swimming pool complex and bar areas. The management need to urgently address the issue of sanitation provision; they also need to look at the way the site is managed at night. Youths gathering around toilet blocks and noisy parties till 0100hrs could easily be managed, as other sites do by way of employing some type of security patrol. It was clear that although the site has rules displayed for a number of facilities - swimming pool, noise, vehicle parking etc these were blatantly ignored - much to the annoyance of quite a number of guests. I wonder how the site manages to maintain a rating with the Caravan Club - certainly many of the people I got into conversation with were amazed that they supported such a badly managed facility. There are plenty of other well managed sites in this area - should I return in the future that is where I will be looking to stay.

We travelled to this site in late July / early August 2006. We were also in what appeared to be the new section of the site. Whilst the pitches themselves were extremely generous in size, the access road to them was extremely narrow. We have a mover on our caravan and if it had not been for this we would have had to rely on the help offered by a lovely Welsh group of families. The cover between the pitches will improve with time but at the moment they are very open with little privacy afforded.

Like many of the other comments made, the toilet block facilities did struggle to cope with the number of people on site. We tended to use the shower facilities at odd times to avoid the waiting. There was also the same issue with the dishwashing area and we tended to do our dishes in the caravan. It’s a pity because we like to do our dishes and have a chat with other campers at the same time. The toilets & showers were always clean despite the volume of people using them.

Another small criticism was the size of the on-site shop. It was very limited in what it sold. Surely the volume of people on this site would justify a larger, better stocked shop?

The pool area again seamed to struggle with the volume of people and it was extremely difficult to get a seat unless you were a very early bird.

Contrary to other comments, we did not have any problems with ants (or any other insects) and the site was wonderfully free of mosquitoes.

It’s a nice enough site but the volume of people versus the facilities available really spoils what could be a first class site.

This very welcoming campsite has lots of charm, and it deserves its stars. The owners are very kind, and take care that the campsite remains a peaceful place, while at the same time, it does not lack activities (karaoke, bingo, pools, slides, sauna, gym, games for the young ones, and I could go on). We always go in a tent, and one day it was so cold, they even gave us some blankets!

I can understand why the people above were satisfied, because the setting is lovely at first sight, and there is everything you need if you want no more than to stay in the site. But here there is a big problem - if you are more than six people, you will be refused, or alternatively you will have to hire a second pitch. Or if you have friends come to visit, even if you have a big pitch, they have to hire a pitch of their own, and even if you all sleep on the same pitch, they still have to pay the lot (pitch, car, people), so twice the price for a single pitch. I call that a swindle. This limit of 6 people appears nowhere in the literature.

So the site is inappropriate for large families.

We have just had a wonderful holiday at the site, and would be happy to recommend it to anybody.

The shower blocks are extremely clean, the staff are friendly and helpful, the swimming pools are brilliant and the shop and bar are useful when desperate. The staff at the reception could not do enough for us (e.g. we hired a fridge and electrical lead for our stay).

The only down points are: the shop could be extended to save trips to town for supplies and the groups of British teenagers gathering around the pool and bar.

Our first week was not in the British school holidays, so the campers were mostly Dutch and French and the atmosphere was wonderful. The second week saw lots of English families arrive with the groups / gangs of teenagers. The atmosphere was not quite as nice - no trouble, just annoying.

My final comment will be positive - We had a great holiday. Thanks.

We have just returned from this site and were quite disappointed in the new pitches where we were placed, we were also at this site last year and had much nicer pitches in the older part. We found the staff extremely friendly as usual and the bar was only crowded on one night, the pools were never overcrowded not when we were there anyway.

I was there at the start of July for 10 days and was delighted with the place, even though I was really worried having seen some of the reports above. I never had to queue for anything and always got a sun lounger in the excellent pool complex.

The only downsides are firstly, I think it is a bit cheeky to say they have fishing on the site. It is nearby, but is a public water requiring permits etc.

Secondly, we and the caravans in the area we were in, had some trouble from small rodents (voles or shrews) coming into and chewing the awning. The owner was quickly on the case, but not quick enough to stop a hole appearing in my 2 week old awning.

We just returned from our stay at Le Pin Parasol in a mobile home, and we were very happy with our stay. Restful, magnificent place, close by a very pretty lake, where it is very pleasant to walk. Excursions on donkey-back organised.

The welcome by the owners was exemplary, and they are always ready to make your stay the most pleasant possible.

The area is far from the turmoil of the big tourist resorts of the coast, and that’s good.

Organised activities, bingo and karaoke evenings in a lovely atmosphere.

Keep up the good work.

Le Pin Parasol is located near to La Chapelle Hermier, for map location purposes use Coex which is about 3 miles from the site [or use the link to online maps on the left of this page – Webmaster]. It is fairly secluded but has good access

Getting there

Fairly straight forward from all major ferry ports – roads are good, toll roads are fantastic

Site

Site is much larger than indicated – the Camping and Caravanning Club indicates a fairly small site, it is not huge but it is not small. It is separated into 4 areas, 3 older well established areas, one of which includes a significant number of holiday chalets. The largest area is well shaded and the pitches are clearly defined by at least 3 foot high shrubs and larger trees, making for shady and private pitches. The new area has no shade. It is open, the ground is full of stones and suffers from significantly more wind exposure

The site had a mixture of French, British and Dutch tourists but oddly enough the camp seemed to segregate or lump together people of the same nationality

Pitches

All areas had good sized and fairly level pitches, electricity seemed available to most if not all. We tour with a small tent and had no difficulty in getting onto our pitch. Without exception those around us with caravans or camper vans had problems with access. The angles make it very difficult to drive on to many pitches and most people resort to pushing – not a problem but a bit of a pain if no-one is around to help. People we spoke to said this was one of the most difficult sites they had parked on in France

Noise / Privacy / Intrusion

It has to be noted that our pitch was close to the toilet block and adjacent to the toddler play area, our visit was also in the very high season (last week in July & first in August). We asked this to be changed on our arrival but was reassured by the campsite official that this was always used under supervision and was very quiet. We did not therefore move.

The toddler play area was noisy, irrespective of what we were told, it was frequented by much older children who really should not have been allowed to use that facility. The toilet block was also a centre of noisy activity particularly later at night. The camp has a 10 pm silence rule. Generally this was adhered to, however on at least three nights larger groups were very noisy well into the night. The campsite officials patrolled but seemed unwilling to intervene. On one occasion I asked a group who were particularly rowdy to quieten down, it was well past midnight

The newer area has no privacy at all. Because of it’s open nature it was quite normal to have people use your pitch as a walkway. This was also a common feature

On site facilities

The facilities are to a high standard. The swimming pools were excellent and clean and extensively used. The toilet and shower blocks were clean but could not cope with the sheer weight of people using them, long waits were normal throughout the day but particularly bad during the morning and evening rush hours. We don’t have a problem but it may be worth noting that the blocks are communal, in the sense that there are not separate gender facilities. There was often insufficient hot water at peak times

The lake was beautiful and surprisingly under used. The shop & bar are small but adequate.

Off site facilities

Plenty to do in the region, beautiful beaches not far away, very well stocked and reasonably priced Hypermarkets, many local shops / bakeries / cafes. Some beautiful walks and cycle paths

Summary

I do not think we would return to the site, we left 2 nights early. It may have been that we were unlucky with our pitch, but others with ‘better pitches’ seemed to have the same experience. If you are looking for a quiet peaceful site (as advertised) then this is not it. The location was fairly good, the site was clean and the facilities were good although inadequate.

In our experience of this site, the positives are large pitches, quiet at night despite the size the place has grown to, very few queues for the loo/shower except at peak times which you would expect, very clean facilities, run by a hard-working family who are usually very helpful but sometimes typically French (quelle surprise!!) i.e. a little abrupt - us Brits seem to take this personally. Negatives are stony roads particularly in the 'cul de sac' areas on newer part of the site, the walkway to the lake isn't very clearly signposted, no lifeguard on the pool, kids monopolise table tennis and pool tables in the evening - there should be a 'grown-ups hour'!, limited range of beers at the bar. Entry/exit areas to the site are a little disorganised with caravans arriving/leaving in all directions - quite dangerous for little ones riding unsupervised on their bikes. A suggestion - due to the size of the site and distance from the towns a restaurant would be nice - not everyone likes pizzas and frites all the time, good as they are. It also means the grown-ups can have a drink with their meal without having to worry about driving back.

The hedges planted around the newer pitches have matured a lot in a year and will continue to do so. My daughter was one of the mixed group of British/Dutch teenagers that got together in the evenings (don't they do the same at home?? - normal behaviour for that age group) - and we were not aware of any bad behaviour from her mixed group at least. The great thing about the site and lake is that young teenagers can be given the freedom and independence they crave, but you can still keep a discreet eye on them, and all of the kids of all nationalities are nice 'camping' kids if you know what I mean - not of the Ibiza mentality, we didn't hear any bad language at the pool or bar! The site is in a lovely area but a little inland so obviously you have to be prepared to drive to get to beaches and most places of interest, and integrate your supermarket runs into your trips out.

All in all though, I would give it 8 out of 10 and would definitely return.

Just returned from Le Pin Parasol. The atmosphere in the campsite is much improved this year. There were fewer teenagers and more young families. The new childrens shallow paddling area is well used, as was the heated indoor pool. The outdoor one was less used but that may be because the water was so cold. The shower/toilet facilities were not a problem in terms of queueing - we learned long ago that if you want a shower try and go mid afternoon before everyone starts to leave the pool. The fewer teenagers allowed the site to be calmer in the eveing and folk returning from the bar were less audible than previously. The new tennis court attracted some budding Wimbledon champions.

We had an absolutely emormous pitch and the surrounding bushes gave us a good feeling of privacy. Le Pin Parasol allows up to 6 eople to share a pitch and although we were only 3, we had the caravan, the awning and a day tent and still had room for a largeish tent. If booking with a large unit though, I suggest you ask for a large pitch on the older side of the site.

The only niggle we had was that the sanitary facilities - showers and toilets were not cleaned at a regular time - sometimes we could access them at 7.30am sometimes not and during the afternoon the times they were shut for cleaning varied greatly. Perhaps a more regular timetable for this cleaning would be of use.

It's still a lovely part of France and the location of the site is delightful.