Camping Le Champion

Mansle is about a quarter of an hour's drive from Ruffec, an attractive town with a cinema, swimming pool and rose garden. Keep going north along the N10 road and you'll soon reach the medieval city of Poitiers (an hour), where an impressive cathedral, the Saint Jean Baptistery and several museums and art galleries will keep you entertained for hours. Head half an hour in the opposite direction and you'll reach Angoulême (30 minutes), a town known for its connection to comic books. Find out more about French, Belgian and American graphicists at the Musée de la Bande Dessinée, or head through the town before travelling west to Cognac (45 minutes) and into brandy country. To keep the kids entertained, you could head to Nature Feel, a treetop adventure course just outside Taizé-Aizie (20 minutes), or to either of the two go-karting courses just north of Angoulême. Younger or less adventurous kids might prefer a trip to see the exotic animals at La Vallée Des Singes (40 minutes), a zoo dedicated to monkeys, apes and lemurs.