Le Bois Guillaume

Le Bois Guillaume occupies a 7-hectare wooded park at the place of the same name, in Villeneuve-les-Genêts, in the Yonne, in the heart of the Puisaye. Lake Bourdon is about 15 minutes away, the medieval building site of Guédelon 25 minutes, Auxerre and Montargis 45 minutes, Chablis an hour, and Paris 1 hour 30. Two routes of the GR de Puisaye start from the campsite.

Rated 4 stars, the site holds the Qualité Tourisme and Camping Qualité labels. It has 80 pitches, including 6 fitted tents, as well as 18 mobile homes sleeping 2 to 6 (one of them adapted for people with reduced mobility), 4 chalets sleeping 4 to 12 with an insulated timber frame, and a group lodge with 20 beds, approved by the youth and sports authority and awarded the Étap’rando label. The caravan pitches measure 120 to 200 m², separated by hedges.

As for opening, the campsite clearly announces two regimes. The chalets and the group lodge can be rented all year round, and reception is staffed permanently, winter included; the lodge has a Canadian stove for winter evenings. The pitches, mobile homes and tents follow a shorter calendar, from mid-March to mid-November, with a heated washroom block during that period. The website also states that motorhomes are welcome all year round, on stabilised pitches in the winter season, and it offers residential pitches by the year.

Hiking on two GR de Puisaye routes from the campsite, evenings by the fire in a chalet, visits to the châteaux of Saint-Fargeau and Ratilly.

Food is available on site: a restaurant serving traditional cuisine and local produce, open from 28 March to 15 November, with set menus at €20 and €25, a children’s menu and breakfast. Outside the summer period, service is by reservation, and the restaurant is closed on Wednesdays and on Sunday evenings except in July and August. A bar serves, among other drinks, a craft beer, and you can order bread and pastries the day before, or takeaway dishes, pizzas included.

The campsite has two washroom blocks with a laundry (washing machine and tumble dryer, tokens from reception), shared barbecues and a picnic area with a small herb garden. Wifi is chargeable. Holder of the Famil’Yonne label, it lends a baby cot, a bottle warmer and a high chair subject to availability. A grey water disposal point and a room for toilet cassettes are freely accessible, and the pitches have a 10-amp hook-up.

As for water, the outdoor pool measures 6 m by 12 m and is at 28 °C, with a paddling pool 40 cm deep and 20 m² that is also heated. It is open only from mid-June to mid-September, from 10am to 8pm, reserved for campers, and swimming is not supervised. Outside this period, only the chalets and the group lodge, along with reception, operate all year round; the fitted tents, open from mid-March to mid-November, are neither heated nor supplied with running water.

The site offers two escape game rooms, a mini-golf, an orienteering course in the woods, a pétanque court, a volleyball court, a basketball hoop, outdoor fitness, a small zip line, a trampoline and games for younger children. Two micro-adventure courses, the Magician’s and the Knight of Guillaume’s, must be booked in advance.

In July and August, sports, craft and educational activities are organised from Monday to Friday, a concert takes place every Tuesday evening and themed evenings are held at the bar-restaurant. Around the campsite, Lake Bourdon at Saint-Fargeau offers fishing and water sports, the château de Saint-Fargeau stages sound and light shows, and you can visit Guédelon, Colette’s birthplace, the Fabuloserie, the Boutissaint animal park or the national arboretum of Les Barres. The Toucy market is among the most renowned in the region.

For the other seasons, the GR de Puisaye hikes from the campsite, visits to the châteaux of Saint-Fargeau, Ratilly or Druyes-les-Belles-Fontaines, the Diges chestnut fair or the pottery workshops of Saint-Amand-en-Puisaye remain possible. The campsite also mentions evenings by the fire in its chalets for winter stays, with family or friends.