Getting to Montmorillon from the UK is very easy.

Fly/Drive

The fastest, least stressful and, depending on the time of year, cheapest way is to fly by Ryanair from London Stansted to either Poitiers (40 min drive) or from Liverpool, Southampton or East Midlands to Limoge (1 hr drive), and by Flybe from Southampton to Limoges (www.flybe.com)

Ryanair and Flybe also operate a service to La Rochelle which is about a 2½ drive away if you can’t get the flights to Poitiers or Limoges you want.

Best advice is to book flights early. You can also book car hire on the Ryanair web site.

Air France operates from Heathrow to Poitiers and Limoges but with a change at Paris.

Driving in France:

From Paris/Poitiers: Follow the A10 towards Bordeaux. Exit at 29 (Poitiers-Nord) and follow signs to Limoge until you join the RN147 signposted Montmorillon

From Limoges: Take the R147 in the direction of Poitiers, Exit at Moulismes, signposted Montmorillon

We are: 50 km from Poitiers, 81 km from Limoges, 305 km from Bordeaux, 384 km from Paris, 469 km From Lyon and 603 km from Lille

Drive

Depending on where you come into France drive times vary from 5½ to 7 hours. Note: these are the times it has taken us to drive, sometimes on unfamiliar routes, and, generally, at peak holiday times. They are also from ferry disembarkation to house with at least four stops (weak bladders and yawning stomachs) so, hopefully represent an honest appraisal!

A good route is the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo with a cabin so you can get some sleep and a shower before the c 5½ hour drive to Montmorillon via Rennes, Nantes, Noits to Poitiers on very fast roads.

From Caen the obvious route is directly South via Le Mans but some of these are smaller single carriageway roads and you can get snarled up in high season. An alternative is to head West towards St Malo and follow the quicker route. Caen is generally about a 6 hour drive.

Cherbourg – 6-7 hours, depending on your route. Le Havre – 6 hours, Channel Tunnel – we generally allow seven hours because circling Paris can be difficult although some folk reckon they can do it in 6. (Not legally!!)

If you are driving in France please be aware that the French police are now much more strict about speeding. There are on-the-spot fines if you are caught and you can be held if you don’t have sufficient cash on you.

Try to be aware of road speed limits at all times and take it easy. After all, you are on holiday. Be especially aware of place name signs bordered in red. These may indicate just a few houses but they are there to tell you that, even on very straight roads, you are entering a residential area and that there is a 50 km/h speed restriction.

Links for ferries and the tunnel:

Brittany Ferries , Condor Ferries, SeaFrance, Irish Ferries, Hoverspeed, SpeedFerries.com

Eurotunnel, Norfolk Line , LD Lines

Rail

You can holiday quite happily in Montmorillon without a car, although you would miss out on some great sightseeing opportunities.

If all you want to do is lounge by the pool during the day and take in the lively holiday season bar-life during the evening then a trip by rail is ideal.

Alternatively you can combine rail and car hire.

Take the Eurostar from London Waterloo (or Ashford) to Lille and change to one of the fast TGV’s to Poitiers. Here you can pick up a hire car or take the train to Montmorillon.

SNCF - Times to get to Montmorillon

45 mn from Poitiers
1hr 30 from Limoges
1hr 40 from Angoulême
2hr 40 from Bordeaux
3hr from Paris

In each instance change at Poitiers for Montmorillon

www.voyages-sncf.com

Full directions to the houses will be forwarded prior to departure.

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