The timeless great thing about the Charente islands

Known for his or her gentle local weather and “sandy botany”, the 4 Charente islands lie simply off France’s Atlantic coast. With their “preposterously pretty” harbour cities and nice oyster beds and salt marshes, they’ve lengthy drawn holidaymakers, stated Antonia Quirke in Condé Nast Traveller.

But although they “jump with life” from early summer season, they keep an “enduring tranquillity” and an “immaculately civilised” air. Best identified is the Île de Ré – the second largest, at 33 sq. miles, and the neatest, favoured by rich Parisians and so “utterly Gallic” it feels “as if staged by set dressers”. Oléron – the biggest, at 67 sq. miles – is busier and “less bourgeois”, however it too is “full of fresh air” and “good spirits”, as are Aix and Madame, that are tiny by comparability.