LES ARCHES HOME  | ACCOMMODATION  | SAINT SAVINIEN  |  THE AREA  |  TARIFF/GETTING THERE |   LA MAISON DU VERT
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Les Arches is a self catering holiday home at Saint Savinien in the warm and sunny Charente Maritime region of South west France. This spacious typical Charentaise townhouse is beautifully furnished and has 5 double bedrooms each with its own shower room and can sleep up to 12. Saint Savinien is a lovely old medieval town built around the winding Charente river. There is a delightful leisure Island with a swimming pool, cycle hire, kids playgrounds, picnic areas and boats that take will you along the river to historic Saintes. Les Arches is walking distance to everything you need for a great holiday and only 45 minutes from the sandy coast and famous La Rochelle. Prices start at only £290 per week!

The pretty leisure island of La Grenouillette is less than 5 minutes walk from Les Arches, surrounded by the beautiful Charente River. There is an outdoor swimming pool complex, tennis courts, crazy golf and children’s playground. There are bikes for hire so you can explore the island and surrounding area. There are plenty of picnic benches and grassed areas where you can eat your lunch and feed the ducks. You can hire a self-drive boat or take a boat trip to nearby Taillebourg and historic Saintes. St Savinien also has a train station 10 mins walk away. You can go to La Rochelle or Saintes from there. St Savinien is a beautiful historic small town with a Castle and Châteaux. The castle is almost next-door to Les Arches, sadly not open to the public but still impressive from outside with its huge ramparts.

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You can wander up and down the small streets and alleyways and admire the typical Charentaise houses with their terracotta-tiled roofs and the views of the river. There is a market here every Saturday morning selling fresh local produce. There are 4 excellent Boulangeries and patisseries so plenty of fresh French bread and cakes to be enjoyed! There is an Intermarche supermarket where you can get all your groceries and the all important wine. Don’t forget to try the locally made Pineau Charentes, it is a sweet aperitif, delicious!
If you don’t want to cook there are 4 restaurants and bars in the town and a pizza takeaway.
St Savinien is situated between the historic towns of Saintes, Saint Jean d'Angély and Rochefort, around 40 mins from the sea.

Guest Comments

Sharon, Jeff, Izzy & Alex. Steve, Gini, Liza & Honey. - "What an amazing fortnight we had at 'Les Arches' For the bargain price we paid we were amazed to find a beautiful house! Emma welcomed us all so kindly and gave us lots of information which really helped us get the most out of the area. We spent many lazy days on the little isle de Grenouillette, the kids loved it. We found the locals and the holiday makers to all be so friendly and the staff in the tourist office at the bottom of the road were just so helpful despite our limited french! The beaches at Royan were really perfect and we found lots of little isolated beaches driving along the coast. La Rochelle is a great place to sit and watch the world go by. Great museums and we did a lovely boat trip around the bay. The aquarium is a must for anyone. Strolling around the town in the early evening was delightful, such pretty little lanes and houses. We ate in most evenings having 2 young babies between us and the house was so comfortable with the best equipped kitchen we have ever rented. We all want to come back next year!"

Jane Kenn, Palm Springs, California - "We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Les Arches. If you ever want a glowing reference for the house, please call on me! We were all very pleased with the accomodations. The kitchen was in perfect order with plenty of flatware, plates and glassware, etc. We all appreciated the private showers and the VERY comfortable beds! I was especially surprised to discover such luxurious pillows (not commonly found in France). The town had several good patisseries and we enjoyed our morning walks by the river. All in all, we had a splendid experience at Les Arches! Thank you for sharing your house with us."

Ruth, Gerald, Jodie & Charlie - "We got home from La Rochelle early hours this morning. We have had a lovely time, the house is spacious and well equipped. A friend at work has asked for info on Les Arches so we will pass it on."

Sandie, Tony and family - "We loved Les Arches, the kids went to the swimming pool every day and we found it very safe and were happy to leave them there while we strolled around the island. (note boys must have speedos to be able to swim) Enjoyed the various boulangeries but the best is the one at the end of the road, fantastic 'tarte cassis' and 'pain d'eputre'. The pizzeria was fantastic, the owner and staff so friendly and helpful, it was a real treat to see the pizzas being made in front of you. Our recommendations - La Rochelle expensive but so interesting to walk around, Rochefort had great shops, the Forest Museum at Montlieu-la-Garde really magical if you love wildlife, Marais aux Oiseaux on isle d'oleron was a real hit with the kids, the animals were really well looked after in natural settings and then to see so many wild birds was a treat, All the beaches were lovely, very impressed overall with the area and so nice to come 'home' to such a well equipped house, the best we have had in our self catering experience. We will be recommending Les arches to friends and family."

François Hooge - "Madame,Monsieur, Nous avons bien reçu les bons vacances;Nous vous remercions."

Martha, Tony, Amelie & Alex, Sandra, Phil, Esme, Delphi & Digby - Fantastic Holiday. Weather was superb, couldn't have asked for better. The house was even better than we expected, great decor, confortable beds and the best stocked kitchen we have ever had! Saint Savinien was lovely and the kids swam in the pool most days. The crazy golf was great fun adults alike. We had some memorable picnics on the island. Thanks we will return!

Sue & Ed, Joe & Tanya, Tony & Lauren, Gini & Andy, Marianne & Simon - "Thank you Debbie and Daniel for a wonderful fortnight in Saint Savinien. For all of us it was our first visit to the Charente Maritime region and we were not disappointed! Thank you for all your advice and we found the info area really helpful. Les Arches was so comfortable and we really felt at home, the cooks amongst us agreed we had never had such a well equipped kitchen on a holiday and we made some delicious meals. Having a shower room each was such a luxury, we all managed to get out on time! The local area was so beautiful with all the sunflowers, we had much to much cognac on the distillery tour but somehow managed to fit it a chateau vineyard afterwards as well! We all hired bikes and had a hilarious time with no accidents! We especially enjoyed the 'island' and had some very memorable picnics under the shade of the trees. All in all we thought that Les Arches was a perfect base to stay, perfect location, lots to do and with so much attention to detail taken with the furnishings, the rooms felt more like hotel rooms. We will definitely be returning to Saint Savinien, Thanks again."

Jim, Joyce and extended family! - "Fantastic house, Lovely town, Beautiful scenery, Great holiday! Thanks Debbie."

Claire and Warren, April 2005 - "Got back from France late last night after a great week - we really enjoyed staying at Les Arches (beautiful house!) and found lots of interesting things to do in the area!"

Sharon & Andy Gordon (plus 6 friends!): Had a really lovely time at Les Arches, the house is incredibly spacious and comfortable with a great kitchen too. Local area is really picturesque and lovely to stroll round. It was very quiet at the end of May, but with our hire cars it was really easy to get to the beaches and to the Surrounding towns (Cognac well worth a visit - book in advance for a distillery tour). All in all, a great taste of real France, would definitely consider returning and would recommend the house to any large group - it can comfortably accomodate 5 couples.

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