Pays de la Loire Region

We had many uncommon stays throughout our 3 month tour of France. One that ranked high on the list of favorites for the Littles was this family farm in the countryside of the Pays de la Loire region of western France. We met 2 barn cats, 4 horses (including a young colt), 3 dogs, and 2 bunnies while we enjoyed the fresh country air and the easy pace of country life.

Warm Welcome

This property, located in Saint-Hilaire-le-Vouhis, is owned by a UK-born woman who has made France her home since she was 9 years old. While her native language is English, she’s spent the majority of her life in rural France and hasn’t had much opportunity to use it. Visitors to the farm are mostly locals, many of them being families, looking for a break from city life. In fact, we were her first American visitors and she was very excited to host us and brush up on her English.

She wasted no time, taking us on a tour of the property where we got to meet and pet her horses, dogs, and bunnies (the cats were a bit more elusive). Recognizing Sophie’s excitement about the bunnies, she assigned her the task of caring for them during our stay. She showed Sophie how to feed them, where to locate their favorite treats and fresh water, and how to secure the gate so they couldn’t escape. This was a job that Sophie took quite seriously and she enjoyed bonding with the bunnies.

Click on photo to enlarge and see descriptions.

Our first afternoon was spent settling into our new environment. We had plenty of room to get comfortable. The kitchen was large and well-supplied. It also served as the entryway and entertainment room. A huge table enabled us to eat our meals together comfortably. A washing machine occupied a corner of the enormous room and we would put it to good use. Along with some additional cookware, the large bookshelves in this room were filled with a number of books, in both English and French, for guests to read. One of our favorite features of this room was the full-sized pool table where we played a number of games together.

Adjacent to the kitchen, we found a comfortable living room. Two couches and a coffee table surrounded the substantial fireplace and gave us a cozy place to watch TV together each evening. Upstairs, we found the full bathroom and two large bedrooms. Kevin and I enjoyed our bedroom, complete with a desk and a large wardrobe (along with a crib for anyone traveling with very young children). The 2nd bedroom was large enough for 2 twin beds and 1 full bed, allowing each of our 3 girls to have their own place to sleep and to sit comfortably while doing school work.

We were pleasantly surprised to find both an aperitif (very strong and sweet wine) and a sweet brioche loaf left for us as welcome gifts from our thoughtful host. That evening, we sipped the aperitif with our dinner. Afterwards we set up our Roku to access our streaming accounts and watched some TV together before heading to bed where we all slept very comfortably.

The following morning, we enjoyed the fresh, sweet brioche loaf for breakfast while we drank our morning coffee. We were very thankful to have our breakfast solved since we hadn’t been to the grocery store in a while.

Quiet Farm Days

On our first full day, the girls started their morning by getting some fresh air and checking on the bunnies. Sophie even visited the bunny pen before the adults made it out of bed! They played outside and even did some of their schoolwork while sitting in lawn chairs and enjoying the sunshine.

We chose this property, primarily due to its location. It gave us a wonderful rural experience and reasonably close access to groceries. However its best feature was its proximity to Puy du Fou, a theme park that Kevin had discovered during his research on the region. This theme park was meant to fuel Rachel’s passion for the Renaissance, Medieval, and Middle Ages time periods, complete with period costumes, sword fighting, jousting, knights, and accurately recreated villages. We planned a visit there during our stay and it was THE highlight of our time here. We left the farm early in the morning for our hour-long drive to Puy du Fou and remained until closing. You’ll want to read all about that visit in next week’s post.

The wonderful benefit that we hadn’t planned, was how much Sophie would LOVE her time on the farm. Everyday, she took her responsibilities for the bunnies very seriously. Even on the very long day trip to Puy du Fou, she was quick to take care of the bunnies as soon as we returned late that evening.

The next morning started off a little rocky for Ellie due to a missed deadline in one of her courses. As someone who is extremely organized and normally on top of things this was a big blow for her, made worse by the fact that it was for a group assignment. We’ll be diving deeper into this event in a future post to help provide tips for how to avoid similar situations when navigating time differences and also how to handle these kinds of mishaps with humility and responsibility when they happen. We all have times when we fall short of our own expectations but they are always an opportunity to grow.

Our longer stay gave me an opportunity to catch up on laundry. I spent some time running a couple of loads through the washer and hanging them outside in the sunshine to dry. Meanwhile, the Littles took advantage of some of the amenities. They jumped on the trampoline, enjoyed the swingset, and even tried to play some table tennis but one of the barn cats was hungry for attention and kept interrupting their game.

Our last full day was a mix of activities. I did the last load of laundry and sat on a chair in the sun while I waited to hang it out. Sophie gave water to the bunnies, trying to soak up every last moment of time with them. She really enjoyed being in charge of them and proved to be quite a good caretaker. The girls played outside almost all day (particularly Sophie). As we were finishing dinner, our host stopped by to let us know to take our time leaving the following day. We talked with her for about half an hour and thanked her for her hospitality.

Our last morning was relaxing as we enjoyed breakfast and packed up our belongings without being rushed. Sophie said a final goodbye to the bunnies and we began our drive to our next destination. We were all refreshed from the slower pace and abundant fresh air we experienced on the farm. If you’d like to book your own French Family Farm Stay at this location, you can find the link here.

This was our 2nd farm stay as a family. Our first was at a family friend’s farm in Kentucky which you can check out here. If you’re interested in a family farm stay of your own, that post also includes a list of great family farm stays throughout the US. We hope we’ve inspired you to schedule a stay at a farm and enjoy some fresh air and nature.