L'Eglantiere – Let there be dragons

For the last few years we've had our main naturist holidays staying at gites in France. Last year we left it too late to book at the gite we'd stayed at last year, and we thought a change would be as good as a rest. This year we decided we'd go to the Pyrenees area of France so in a way the site of Le Eglantiere was chosen for us, being only about 40 minutes from the mountains.

We decided to try to book direct, online in the middle of winter, but not getting an immediate response, as we British expect, I went though Suzzane Piper the UK rep. for France 4 Naturisme. She was not only very pleasant but very effective and in no more than a jiffy we were all booked up for our late June fortnight.

We decided for various reasons to travel on the Portsmouth the Caen route, and then travel down south via Rennes and Nantes. The tolls seemed a little less severe on this route rather than via Le Mons.

After a good but long journey down we arrived at L'Eglantiere in sunshine. We had booked a shelter also known as a gite. L'Eglantiere is at a hamlet of Esperan The site is on the side of a hill with the swift flowing River Gers at the bottom. There are acres and acres of woodland available for naturist walking. The location of the gite had distinct advantages and disadvantages. On the down side we were some way away from the centre of the site. Indeed we had a bit of an up hill walk to return from the site and at times we felt a bit remote. On the other hand we were near to the sauna and the best walks around the site. We also had more private space.

The gite was constructed as a unit in what had been an old barn. There was another gite along side ours. The first few days we shared our little domain with a Dutch couple and later with a single Frenchman. (So here's an opportunity for a naturist holiday for singles). The actual gite was the only disappointment of the holiday. The brochure stated it had been renovated in 2008. Whilst it was clean and the bed comfortable the kitchen area was a disappointment. The furniture in this area would not have made a British jumble-sale. It consisted of a low table, a sink unit with two hot plates on the end (do they have electrical standards in France?) and a sort of dresser affair for all our food and cutlery and so on. The door of the sink unit was loose and the sink was not sealed to the wall at one side. There was a microwave cooker but no microwave crockery. There was a fridge and a reasonable amount of dishes and cutlery although all the cups were espresso sized only, certainly not large enough for a cuppa! I suspect that the mobile homes and chalets would be a much better bet!

The general site was well looked after, being clean and well maintained although the pool had a bit of a tide mark around it. There were activities but as we were staying out of high season not as many as would be available later during the season. We did enjoy a boules tournament which was played in a very friendly manner and was not over competitive.

We had two communal meals, one following the lengthy introduction talk by the owner. I think it best to give the talk a miss which went on for an hour and a half and just enjoy the following BBQ. They also hold another general communal meal and like the BBQ is good fun mixing with people from many nationalities, especially the Dutch, German and French.

There are plenty of places to visit locally including Lourdes, the Pyrenees, and many many local charming villages.

We had an excellent holiday with a couple of days rain. We visited local markets on these days. The site is good and the only thing we marked down was the gite. If we returned we would go for a chalet or mobile home. The question of course is, would we return? The answer is yes, but not for a while. For the last couple of years we have been spoilt by a first class gite and I think we have a hankering to return there first. Oh and the dragons! There is lots of wildlife about. Without really looking we saw deer, red (not the mangy grey) squirrels, buzzards, a couple of very timid snakes and lots of dragon flies. I think most naturists would enjoy the site!

Davie  😎