Camping Les Prairies de L'Étang

The beach closest to the site is Pen-Bé, but it's well worth also making the 20-minute drive south to La Baule for its nine kilometres of sands edging one of the most famed bays in Europe. There are beach clubs and beach games here, horses to watch galloping along the sands every morning, and a pony school and horse riding school around the bay if you want to give cantering a go. And then on to the medieval city of Guérande, with its ancient cobbled streets, handsome buildings and old city walls. Stop off at the castle museum in one of the fortified gateways to find out more about the colourful history of Guérande; humans have been here for millennia, so that's rather a lot. Kids of a particular flavour should also feel playful with a look at the Guérande doll museum, in the 16th-century Chapelle Saint-Jean that was once the city hospital. The nearby Briere Regional Natural Park, a huge region of marshes and canals drained by the Brivet river, has 40,000 wetland hectares to roam, pedal or horse ride around, or you could take a trip in one of region's flat-bottomed boats around the main area of the Grande Brière.