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Hi James,

Whatt? Not much to ask?! !  I know what you mean but when you check out reviews, everyone has a different experience and you're often still none the wiser. We too always search for sites walkable to towns ... but have rarely found them so I'm also interested to hear any ideas.

Sorry I can't be much help, but I can suggest  L'Etang de la breche .. although there are no short (or quiet) walks to town from here (and you'll find mixed reviews of the site on here)  we stayed in peak season and found the surrounding country lanes so, so quiet that cycling and walking down them (to no-where in particular) with our 3 youngsters (2-8yrs) was glorious. It's only a short drive to troglodyte caves and chateaux and the campsite itself offers plenty of space to stroll. Clearly I'm biased, we loved the site, found it peaceful, pretty and relaxing, thought Saumur was lovely when we could be bothered to get in the car and drive and the site itself more than made up for not being able to walk to the town.

Years ago we stay at a nice site in Saumur on and island opposite the town. Reasonably easy walk into town. Have a look here http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/details.asp?revid=5632

David

La Citadelle in Loches - walking distance to the town, good facilities, including swimming pool, good toilet blocks, a small restaurant/snack type place and a lovely site to boot!  Town has troglodyte houses in the cliffs, and interesting old buildings.

Or the Camping Municipal des Chenes in Valencay (no website) - small town but with a lovely chateaux (with a light show in the holiday season) and a car museum, cheap municipal site, lovely big pitches, with a lake and lots of water birds, municipal pool on the doorstep.  0033(2) 54 00 03 92.

OR  Camping Touristique de Gien, at Gien on the Loire itself - right alongside the river, small pool, small restaurant (but loads nearby, just across the bridge) - nearby town is interesting, with museums and chateaux, and we've seen osprey fishing in the Loire just there.  Good supermarket within walking distance.  There's also nearby Briare with a canal crossing the Loire over a bridge (Pont Canal) and other towns upstream which are also interesting.

Theres a fairly nice municipal in the small town of Gennes http://www.camping-auborddeloire.com/pagesang/camping-services2.html which is right on the river itself, a municipal pool is a few hundred yards away. There's another small town (can't remember it's name) with a few restaurants across the bridge. We called in to see the site last Summer on our way past and discovered we'd stayed there overnight 15 years ago !

We also had a look at that site on the island in Saumur, and while it's a decent enough site in a great place, I don't think you'll find much peace and quiet there, certainly not in July / August anyway.

Quote: Originally posted by 664DaveS on 24/3/2009

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There is a campsite ( municipal?)  in Amboise. It  is right opposite the city centre, camping touristique in Gien is very nice too.Short walk across the bridge.

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Suspect the one at Amboise is CAmping de L'Ile d'Or, think it is the municipal.I can't get their web site to open, but you can get to info here http://www.amboise-valdeloire.com/home,2,2,1630.php  Amboise is a very attractive town, still on the chateau trail, but enough up river to be a bit less commercial. the castle itself is spectacular, and the campsite is on an island in the river, just under the walls, which makes for a lovely setting at night under the floodlights. Your walk into town is no problem, just cross the bridge. Last time we were there, the site was big, but not "madly organised with entertainments".

FM

PS  If you do go to Amboise, make sure the Lady of the House does n't see the statue near the entrance, ( well at least the shiny bits), unless you are confident of course.

Quote: Originally posted by beeny on 25/3/2009

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The municipal one in Sully is now closed (sadly)or at least was in 2007. the only other one is privately owned, a car ride out of town and very small pitches.

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