Vendee holiday article - Child friendly holiday properties

Child friendly Vendee holiday accomodation, suitable for babies and toddlers, baby facilities, child safety

Finding a child friendly holiday rental property in the Vendee, France

One of the major preoccupations of British holidaymakers seems to be the suitability of the holiday venue for their children, and it’s true to say that, for self-catering holidays particularly, if the rental is well adapted to welcoming babies and children the adults will have a more relaxing holiday. You will find that many holiday property owners now take care to provide good facilities, but make sure that you check in the holiday property description or enquire about this subject to avoid being caught out without a cot… If you have a particular worry or phobia (streams or ponds or steep stairs for example) then it makes sense to ask the question before you book.

Child friendly holiday aspects include:

- The level of equipment provided to make life easier

- The additional facilities offered for amusement

- Any factors that you might consider to be a safety risk

La Haute Mare, Vendee.
Guests rate these holiday cottages as very good for young children.

Making life easier on holiday with children

Packing the car with everything that you need for a baby can leave little space for anything else, so holiday cottages and gites with a good range of baby equipment provided are a real bonus. If you are looking at fly-drive it’s essential. These days, a cot and a high chair are usually provided but you can also find holiday homes offering changing mat, bottle warmer, push-chair, baby bath, etc. For toddlers you may find a booster seat for the dining chairs, a toilet seat reducer, kiddies DVD’s, etc.

On the Vendee-Gites holiday rental web site each Vendee rental property description has a useful list of the equipment supplied for babies and toddlers.
For fly-drive to the Vendee, see this site for hire of baby equipment in the Vendee.

Additional facilities to keep the children amused

Sadly, questions of insurance and liability for holiday rentals now limit the extent of the facilities that can be provided for children’s amusement. This has meant that, for example, swings and slides have become rarer and that bikes provided on site are disappearing. However there are some traditional things which are still often provided at many holiday cottages and gites, such as table tennis, badminton, table football, play-house, board games, etc. Larger gite complexes may offer a better range of facilities and activities as they can usually afford the more expensive or approved equipment and any insurance necessary.

Buchenois, Vendee.
Holiday cottages with good facilities for children.

Child safety factors

Everyday life has its inherent risks and it’s not possible to eliminate all potential dangers from a holiday rental property. However there is no real reason to assume that a well maintained holiday cottage will necessarily present significantly more risks than your own home. There are a few factors that may allow you that additional peace of mind with regard to the children, depending on their age and the things they usually get up to…

Outside space : With toddlers, choosing a holiday cottage with a fenced outside space will allow you to relax more easily. In general the French like to enclose their properties with fences, walls and gates so you should be able to find a holiday let where you feel that the children are safe. Some properties that have larger open grounds may have a fenced terrace area or patch of garden adjacent to the house offering a safe playing area so check the photos or ask the question.

Holiday cottage with child fiendly exterior space

Le Cabanon, Vendee.
Holiday cottage with secure outside space and fenced swimming pool.

Child friendly holiday cottages in Vendee

Les Tamaris, Vendee.
Holiday cottages with fenced terrace and secure swimming pool.

Stairs: Either look for holiday cottages that are all on the ground floor or check to see if one or more stair gates is provided.

Electrical sockets : Any modern electrical installation in France will have child-proof shutters on all the electrical sockets. These make it impossible to force an object into the socket, making protective covers unnecessary. Don’t worry about the exposed metal pin that sticks out in the socket – this is just the earth connection and is perfectly safe to touch. Telephone sockets (t-shaped hole or the more modern small square socket) don’t have physical protection but the phone line is at 50 volts and current limited so of no significant danger. You can get a slight tingle off a satellite aerial socket or off a decoder, but this is the same as in your own home and is merely due to the fact that the dish is high up and that the decoder won’t be earthed.

Cleaning products under the sink…: It’s worth checking this as soon as you arrive at your holiday cottage, but many property owners are aware of this hazard and put the storage in a high cupboard.

Unfenced drops : Unfenced drops are unlikely in a modest holiday residence with a typical garden, but rambling farmhouses with extensive grounds might have this sort of problem somewhere, so with young children ask the question when you book.

First floor windows : As a good many rural holiday cottages have converted grain attics upstairs it’s common to find windows that are very near floor level. You can check the property photos for this and if you have young children it’s worth asking whether these windows have a child-proof handle or lock.
TIP: If you find this problem on arrival, then closing the shutters can offer a suitable safety measure as the closing mechanism is often too hard to open for a young child.

Swimming pools: For choosing holiday properties with swimming pools see these pool guidelines.

Streams, rivers, ponds and wells : It goes without saying that a holiday property owner ought to ensure that any well is securely covered with a locked grill or unmoveable slab and thankfully this is usually the case. It makes sense to ask appropriate questions if you have young children and you see "riverside location" or "fishing lake in the grounds". Taking a look at the Google satellite image is useful to put your mind at rest as to the nearness of any water.

La Ferme - La Vallee de le Roche.
Riverside farmhouse in Vendee with fenced grounds

Low allergy environment : These days you will find few eiderdowns and feather pillows in holiday accommodation, most now being polyester fibre filling. Recently purchased items are often treated against acarians and are low-allergy. If this aspect is vital to you then ask the question before booking to make sure. For pet hair allergies choose from holiday properties that don’t accept pets at all – most property owners state clearly whether this is the case or not.

Ticks, snakes and bugs: France is a relatively safe country in this respect and there is not much to worry about in the Vendee/Charente area.
The chances of you seeing a snake, even in rural areas, are very slim (I've only seen three in 20 years of living in the Vendee), but it makes sense to not take unnecessary risks in long grass off the beaten track... Adders and Asp Vipers are usually more scared than you are and will be off in a flash. In general the venomous snakes have eyes with a vertical slit pupil - don't rely on them having zig-zag markings, it's not always the case. You are more likely to cross the path of a grass snake (but it’s still very rare) and whilst these can be an impressive size they are totally harmless (there are many types all with different appearances, but round pupils).
There can be ticks around in long grass during May and June. See this link to see how to deal with a tick bite. There are of course the usual bees and wasps, but of the flying insects, the big hornets and the large horse-flies are the only ones that can give a really nasty sting. A trip to the local pharmacy will usually suffice to get an appropriate treatment for insect stings, but those with particular allergies to stings should always travel with an emergency kit wherever they go on holiday.
Other harmless things you may see in the Vendee/Charente area are small lizards, stick insects, praying mantis, toads, small bats, etc.

Further resources :

Tots to France - Child friendly holidays in France

Baby Friendly Bolt-holes - Baby friendly holiday venues

Holiday Tots - Chid friendly holiday rentals

BabyGoes2 - Child friendly holidays