Camping Les Saules

Grand châteaux, fine wines, tasty cheese and a magnificent river make the Loire Valley a fantastic place for camping. And Camping Les Saules in the Upper Loire Valley ticks all the boxes. It’s practically next door to the elegant Château de Cheverny with local wine and cheese being proffered within walking distance. Okay, so it’s a little way from the river itself — 20km if you must know — but it’s well worth the short detour as the campsite is lovely and offers as many green credentials as it does facilities.

Family-owned and friendly, Camping Les Saules is spread over 20 acres. Seven of them are set aside for walks in nature with the rest used for the site’s 164 camping pitches, smattering of chalets, pre-erected tents and facilities. Like all good French campsites of this size, those include everything you might need from a heated pool (or two) to a useful launderette. It comes alive in the summer when the on-site restaurant, bar, shop and kids club are all bustling but kept in sparkling good order.

An array of good facilities is not unusual for a large site in a popular area like this but what sets this place apart, and what we’re particularly fond of, is the commitment to nature. The site’s name translates as The Willows and there are plenty of those here. Trees and hedges offer screening and shade to camping pitches and there’s a focus on cycle-friendly camping and touring. Campers who arrive by bike are particularly well catered for and those who come by car can hire bikes on site. There are cycle routes directly from Les Saules connecting with hundreds of kilometres of traffic-free tracks through the Loire.

The closest destination, of course, is Château de Cheverny, an elegant family home that's still used which houses a permanent Tin Tin exhibition that'll go down well with the kids. The Loire itself and three more of the region’s must-see châteaux are within a cyclable 20km of the site: at Chambord, Blois and Chaumont-sur-Loire. Walk, cycle or drive — just get to them all if you can: these are sights not to be missed. Further afield in the Loire, but still within an hour’s drive are more châteaux at Chenonceau and Amboise. And when the sightseeing all gets too much, head back to the site for a walk in the woods, a swim in the pool and a snooze under those willow trees.