A lovely, well maintained site.
2 September 2023 at 13:41:47
So I don't usually write reviews, but considering I searched for all relevant info before my trip I figured I'd leave a completely honest review in the hopes we may help other people in the future.
We stayed at Club Brunelles this past week (last week of August 23) and wow. I completely under estimated... how busy it would be.
We always camp in France usually with other popular brands, but we we're persuaded by the water park for my children, 10 & 16. I've never stayed at a park so busy as Brunelles before.
They have over 500 pitches, and imagine each pitch has 3-4 people. This did put me off slightly purely as I prefer it quieter, this is completely on me I know.
However on arrival (we booked via a third party) check in was super easy. We went to reception, gave our name, email address and car reg number (for the automatice barriers), and card number for the deposits and we were away to our van.
The van was lovely and clean. We requested Air con as we've had really hot pitches previously, and it was brilliant and easy to control.
The only downside was all our cooking utencils, plates and bowels etc were all laid out on the table. We had instructions we had to count everything and let reception know in 24hr of any differences. There were quite a few, so I did it immediately and took the form back to reception. This is just so you don't get charged for any differences. We found all reception staff spoke very good English, and all super helpful.
The TV in the van was fab, although we couldn't get the Brunelles channels to work (we only had this on the once though to see what was on whilst cooking)
The only issue we had with our van was no gas on arrival. However once I reported this to reception, there were two men coming out of our van by the time I got back saying it was sorted!
The first evening the little one played on the park - great for younger children but not ideal for teens. The bouncy castles all had age limits on, which I believe were, 2-4, 1-6, and 4-10yrs.
There was also trampolines which were great fun but got very busy and made it difficult for everyone to jump.
The park is only open 10am - 9pm in high season which I think is a shame as we would of happily gone around 9pm as it was still light.
The water park is amazing! Opens 10am - 8pm in high season, apart from the rift slide which closes 12:30pm until 3pm. I can't understand why this was as it wasn't supervised and the line was always big to go on, however it did close for that period every day, which also closed one of the little ones slides for the same period which was a shame as my 10yr old loved the smaller slide.
The lazy river is on from the moment it opens as is the splash zone, black hole, other big slide and the indoor pool.
Warning on the lazy river, first day my swim suit got caught on either a grill or a jet and ripped. So try and stay away from the sides where you can.
The water park is relatively quite 10am - until 2:30pm/3pm.
We headed back for lunch easily and still found beds when we returned.
The only one issue we had at the pool was when my husband decided to join us for a dip one day post 3pm, 3 people were moving our towels and trying to claim our beds. So I would stay vigilant if you are all in the pool.
The life guard staff were lovely, and even when my son forgot to change his shorts we're really nice about it. Again he spoke really good english. Shorts are not permitted at all. Neither are shoes, food or drink.
However you can carry your shoes through if you prefer.
A couple of days in the pool there was entertainment, however the only downside to this was everything was in French. Yes, I know! We're in France and as much as I expected it all to be in French, most places we stay accomodate for English / German speaking guests too. So sadly we didn't take part as we didn't understand the rules. There is an adult only bar and pool, but we didn't use this with having children with us. But it looked lovely.
The gym was incredibly clean, with all modern equipment. However again it did get busy, but you just asked reception for a code. We never used the code though as the gym was always open.
Crazy golf was great fun, and completely free! Just ask at the kiosk next to reception for your puts and balls. 2 per family. This closed at 9pm high season.
We went to the bar a couple of nights, the first night being Bingo. Again this was completely in French (although the numbers were on the screen so we could of played) however we had no information on where to buy tickets so didn't take part.
We also attended the foam party! My daughter, and myself absolutely loved this and got fully involved! Not only was their so much foam, they were throwing glowsticks, tshirts, and freebies into the crowd! It was a brilliant environment! Really good fun!
The last night we attended for their version of The Voice - again this was completely in french, and we didn't understand how to take part. But it was lovely listening mainly to the little ones singing and having a lovely time.
All bar staff, and snack staff spoke wonderful english and were very helpful! I asked for a cloth after a rain shower to wipe down the chairs, but the bar man came and not only wiped our chairs, but all the chairs down.
One night there was pony ride around camp. I think this was a €5 charge. Sadly the ponys looked too small for my 10yr old (she's very tall at 5ft4) so we gave this a miss, but thought it was brilliant for the little ones.
I cannot fault the site at all. It was very well maintained and lit at nighttime. We didn't try the restaurant, so I cannot review it.
The onsite shop was lovely however very expensive. This is standard with holiday park shops as you're paying for the convenience, so personally I would drive either 2km to Casino, or 5km to the local Super U. We did this most days for bread and bits.
The only reason I would be put off returning is honestly the local area. This is absolutely nothing on the site at all. However usually when we stay in the vendee, there are local shops, icecreams stalls/shops or other places to visit.
We found this particular area very closed up. As I mentioned closest Casino was 2km away and that was in the middle of no where.
We walked to the beach, we're not particularly slow walkers but it took us 20 mins through the forest. This is not even ground and not suitable for pushchairs, wheelchairs etc.
However we walked back via the road which was quicker at 15mins as all completely flat.
There is a cafe at the beach when you go via road, however we didn't visit as we saw it too late.
If you go, make sure you download the app! It gives you a daily schedule, of whats on and where. This is where we found all our info.
If you're happy to go to a site where you can sit by the pool all day, and in the bar all night this is definitely the site for you. We cannot fault it. However, if you're like us and want to be able to walk to the local town, then this is perhaps not for you.
However we had the most lovely week, and cannot fault the staff, or site at all. We would book with MS again!
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