Lapwing House Guest Reviews
We have been renting Lapwing House out to guests since 2012 and we would like to share with you a few of our memories from the lovely holidays that we have spent here in Lairoux.
If you’re lucky, you’ll see a swallowtail butterfly or two and catch a glimpse of some of the unusual birds, like the hoopoe and the tropical sounding golden oriole.
On spring nights, if you leave the window open, you can lie in bed, listening to the nightingales and the chorus of frogs.
All this and you’re in the heart of our village of Lairoux with its Bar and restaurant, just across the square from you and only ten minutes in your car to a variety of good supermarkets and typical French shops in Luçon.
All summer long, the gentle hummingbird moths will enjoy the flowers in the garden. They will work the lavender bushes outside the back door from dawn until dusk. By then, you will probably be sitting in the veranda area of the games room/summer kitchen, eating your evening meal while you watch the amazing sunset spread out across the Marais, just at the bottom of your garden.
A walk inside the ancient walled city will reveal the food market and a myriad of small shops from patisseries and chocolatiers to those offering good clothes and so much more. On the way home, you can stop at Port Pavée, a tiny fishing port with all its shell-fishing boats. If you’ve booked, you can visit our favourite and the most reasonably priced shellfish restaurant we know to eat local, freshly landed mussels, oysters and other “fruits de mer.” This chef started out as a fisherman, with his own boat. The food is good, (albeit the place itself is somewhat basic). This quirky restaurant is hard to find but directions are all in the Visitor’s Guide book with all the other useful information we’ve prepared for you back at the house.
Les Sables d'Olonne, home of the famous Vendée Globe boat race is also only 40 minutes away by car. This is another smart town with all the facilities of a beach holiday, modern stores and restaurants.
There is plenty to see much closer to home. Five minutes down the road by car, the village has its own free wooden hide where you can watch the birds on the Marais - be sure to take your binoculars! This is a migratory stopping point for many birds but you can see interesting wetland birds here throughout the year: spoonbills, lapwings, ibis, storks, heron and other cranes. There are even a few stork nests to be seen on the top of telegraph poles on the way to the beach. St Denis du Payré, the next village offers its own bird reserve and throughout the whole area, you can get some wonderful views of the wild life.
Ten minutes away is the picturesque river town of Mareuil-sur-Lay with its shops and restaurants and even its own vineyards where you can buy the local wine. In the hills above the town are some of the regions many lakes and reservoirs, where you can fish if you buy a day permit.
If you like hunting for antiques and second-hand bargains, visit some of the many Brocantes and antique shops in the area. Directions are all in your very own Visitors Guide.
Enjoy your visit to the Vendée.
If you like hunting for antiques and second-hand bargains, visit some of the many Brocantes and antique shops in the area. Directions are all in your very own Visitors Guide.
Enjoy your visit to the Vendée.