Glamping Pays de Joie

When the kids hear about the 4D rides and IMAX screens at Futuroscope (50 minutes’ drive), you probably won’t get a moment’s peace until you agree to spend the day there. Animal-mad youngsters may well love the free-ranging primates at La Vallée des Singes monkey sanctuary (20 minutes), and you can sneak in a history lesson when visiting the Grottes du Chaffaud (15 minutes), where prehistoric bones and tools have been found. Need to work off energy? Head for the waterslides at lakeside Plan d’eau de Saint-Macoux (five minutes), or go kayaking on the Charente River from Ruffec (10 minutes). If you hit a rare cooler day, distract the kids with laps of the indoor pool at Oda Aquatic Centre (15 minutes). For a tour of Poitou-Charentes towns and villages start off in riverside Verteuil-sur-Charente (15 minutes), dominated by its castle, and then hit the 12th-century abbey and half-timbered houses of Nanteuil-en-Vallée (20 minutes). Historic Angoulême (45 minutes) is worth a day trip for its stunning medieval architecture, while Poitiers (50 minutes) has an ancient baptistry, gothic-era cathedral and works by Rodin in the Musée Sainte-Croix.