La Vallée des Tamaris

La Vallée des Tamaris sits in a landscaped park of about 5 hectares in Courpalay, in the hamlet of Grand Bréau, in Seine-et-Marne. Paris is about fifty kilometres away, roughly 45 minutes by road; Melun and Disneyland Paris are half an hour away, Nangis and Grandpuits a quarter of an hour, and the nearest station, served by the RER and a direct train to the capital, is about 15 minutes by car.

The site is rated 3 stars and has 118 pitches: 100 comfort plots connected to the sewage system and 18 without connection, including the location of the 4 eco-lodges. Three activities share the grounds: a residential campsite (owners’ mobile homes on plots of about 200 m²), accommodation rentals and a touring area for tents, caravans and motorhomes. The rental units include mobile homes and chalets of 16 to 40 m², with one to three bedrooms, and 25 m² wooden eco-lodges.

As for opening times, everything runs all year round. Mobile homes and chalets are rented for a minimum of one month, or for several months, with reinforced insulation for all four seasons; the campsite explicitly targets business travellers, interns on work placements and holidaymakers. Touring pitches stay open in the off-season, with a heated washroom block, and a monthly package is available for caravans and motorhomes from October to May. Permanent residence, however, is not allowed.

The setting is quiet countryside in the Brie region: Provins and its medieval town are 30 km away, Vaux-le-Vicomte 10 km and the big cat park 7 km.

Big cat park open all year round (except Mondays from November to January and six weeks at the end of the year), mushroom picking and flea markets in autumn.

The facilities remain simple and designed for long stays. The washroom block is heated, with hot water at every basin, and is accessible to disabled visitors, as are the pitches themselves. The touring pitches are spacious and fairly natural, while the 100 comfort plots have sewage connections. A laundry room offers an 11 kg washing machine at 4.50 € per wash and an 11 kg tumble dryer at 3.50 € per cycle.

Mobile homes and chalets stand on landscaped plots of about 150 m² and come with a fridge, microwave, gas hob, bathroom with separate WC, crockery, television and a terrace with garden furniture. The 25 m² eco-lodges sleep two to four people in two bedrooms, with a living room, fitted kitchen, radiators in every room and roller shutters; they have no water or washroom, which are 50 m away. Pets and smoking are not allowed in the rentals, a deposit of 300 € is required on arrival and end-of-stay cleaning starts at 60 €.

No restaurant or swimming pool is advertised on site, and the website mentions no service reserved for summer. Shopping is done nearby: Courpalay, 1 km away, has a bar, a tobacconist and a newsagent, and Rozay-en-Brie, 4 km away, has a supermarket, a bakery, a restaurant, a grocery shop, a garden centre and a DIY store.

On site there is a boules court, a mini-golf course, table tennis tables, a trampoline, swings, a volleyball area, a football pitch and a basketball hoop. Children can also feed the hens and the rabbit. Community life revolves around pétanque tournaments, impromptu barbecues among residents and the annual acacia fritter festival.

1 km away, the village provides two clay tennis courts, and walking and mountain bike trails criss-cross the surrounding area. Further afield, you can play golf, go horse riding, fishing, tree climbing, karting or climbing in the Fontainebleau forest, or head to the leisure parks of Jablines and Bois-le-Roi.

For sightseeing, Provins and its medieval town offer ramparts, the César tower and guided tours; Vaux-le-Vicomte is 10 km away, the big cat park 7 km, Disneyland Paris about forty kilometres and Paris 50 km.

Outings remain possible in the off-season: the big cat park is open all year round, except on Mondays from November to January and for six weeks at the end of the year, and autumn is the season for mushroom picking and the region’s flea markets.