Marie-Emmanuelle Saintier, mayor of La Chapelle-Pouilloux, came to inaugurate the Turner family campsite, which will bring new life to the village.
After extensive work, the La Grange-au-Maire campsite, which has been closed for several years, has reopened in La Chapelle-Pouilloux, in the Mellois. The new owners, originally from England, offer authentic green holidays.
Marie-Emmanuelle Saintier, mayor of La Chapelle-Pouilloux, invited the inhabitants of the village to the inauguration of the local campsite of La Grange-au-Maire on Saturday 10 September 2022.
This was an opportunity for the mayor to go back over the history of the campsite and in particular its name: “It was once the mayor’s barn where people used to come to pay their taxes, the tithe. Chris and Joanna, the owners, chose to keep this name. It is one of the oldest houses in our village, and already appears on the Napoleonic cadastre. It was a farm for a long time and animals were kept in the large building.“
From Birmingham to La Chapelle-Pouilloux
The new owners, Chris and Joanna Turner, left Birmingham, England, with their two children, Jacob and Rachel, to open their campsite in the Mellois, at La Chapelle-Pouilloux.
Accustomed to holidaying in France – they have been coming to the Vendée for nine years in a caravan – they looked for a campsite for sale in the western region. “Geographically, it is ideally situated, on the road leading to the south of France, and the road leading to the sea from east to west. This allows holidaymakers to make a stopover,” comments the mayor of the commune, Marie-Emmanuelle Saintier.
Ten pitches and a gîte
Arriving in September 2021, they had to carry out a lot of work, both to fit out their house, but especially the campsite, which had had many different owners since the 1990s, and had been closed for four years.
The site now has ten pitches, with electricity, for caravans or motorhomes, completely refurbished sanitary facilities and will soon have a swimming pool. The house also offers a gîte.
Authenticity and green holidays
“This campsite is also a possible place to stay during cousinhoods, family reunions or friends’ meetings that we regularly have in the leisure shelter in the summer period, or in the village hall. The site also responds to the taste for authenticity and green holidays, which has emerged in recent years, offering holidaymakers moments of relaxation and discovery, particularly of the Pays mellois.”
Contact details
Turner family, 1, impasse de la Grange-au-Maire in La Chapelle-Pouilloux.
Tel. 05.49.29.99.93 ; 06.33.22.96.84 ; e-mail : grangeaumaire@aol.com ; grangeaumaire.com.
Camping de la Grange au maire, open from April to September.