Bienvenue à La Belle Vilaine
Self-catering, holiday cottages on the South Brittany/Loire Atlantique border in France.
Pet friendly, family-run gite accommodation - dogs welcome.
Residential Dog-training Courses now running - optional extra, fees apply.

Visitors' Comments page (for link scroll down page) or visit our Facebook page.

Latest News :
Elaine is now a Professionally qualified Dog Trainer and holds certificates from the UK and France.
Also fully French Registered - Certificat de Capacité No. 56-313 awarded by the Prefet du Morbihan
Elaine competes in agility at National level in France and is on the regional team (Pays de Loire).

PLEASE NOTE THE PET PASSPORT RULES HAVE BEEN RELAXED. From 1st January 2012 the blood test is no longer required and the waiting period is reduced to 21 days. There will no longer be a requirement for flea/tick (a wormer is still required between 1 - 5 days before returning to the UK)..... MAKING IT CHEAPER AND EASIER TO BRING YOUR BEST FRIENDS ON HOLIDAY TO FRANCE!
Bringing your beloved dog to La Belle Vilaine? To save on car space, we can now offer CSJ quality dog food for the duration of your stay. Available per kilo or full 15 kg sack - you choose.

We now have added a Flyball fun-run and extra exercise area for our 4-legged guests!

Each gite sleeps 6

Elaine, a fully-registered, Professional Dog Trainer, also has a dog trainer diploma with the French Kennel Club. We run residential dog training courses - agility or clicker training (dance and obedience) at La Belle Vilaine. The course fee is £120 (in addition to gite rental) giving a total of 6 hours individual training split into 4 sessions over the week. The course concentrates on one aspect of training (to suit individual requirements) and includes free use of some basic agility equipment for practice during your free time (for those on the agility training course). With the new, relaxed rules for the Pet Passport Scheme we can also offer Puppy Training. For more details see Residential Dog Training Option

Many of our guests return time and time again. In 2011 over 40% of bookings were return visits! Visitors Comments.
For example - guests that came in October 2009, booked again before leaving and came again
at Easter 2010. They returned in April 2011 and again August 2011 .....and have rebooked for April 2012 wth training option!
Guests that visited in June 2010 for 1 week booked again before leaving for 2 weeks in October, during which they re-booked for 2 weeks in May 2011!
Another couple have visited 8 times !
Guests that came for the first time in August 2011 have already booked for next summer with training option.
Four families have rebooked for 2012 with training option.
Guests arrived in August 2010 for their 3rd visit ... taking both gites and bringing friends.
Many, many other visitors have done the same - we now call it La Belle Vilaine Bug ... it's catching!

NEW: Take a virtual tour of our holiday gites
If you are concerned about the fact that we are very pro-dogs and you are a dog-less family -
please read this :
We pride ourselves on the cleanliness of our gites and the good behaviour of our dogs and those
that visit. All dogs are kept on lead when in communal areas.
Non-dog-owning guests that have visited us have commented on this and returned.
For example, on 3rd July 2010 a young couple with a young child arrived .... upon inspection
of the accommodation their first comment was "It's so clean!" Their comment
the following morning was that they had slept very well because of the peace and quiet (in fact we have
had "complaints" that the beds are so comfortable and the place so quiet that guests sleep in late!!!)

Doggy videos!- updated regularly

La Version Francaise


Each of our 2, self-catering, holiday cottages (or gites) sleeps 5/6 people and has a private garden. A large, safely-fenced communal area offers a Flyball fun run and a boules court. Bi-lingual English owners live on-site for help and advice - we pride ourselves on offering a helpful, yet unobtrusive service. Many of our clients return and recommend us to friends and family. Dogs are welcome to bring well-behaved owners to La Belle Vilaine - Gites South Brittany.

Gites available for either Saturday to Saturday OR Tuesday to Tuesday bookings for cheaper ferry fares (Saturday arrival only during July and August).
( Availability of our gites in Brittany)

GPS CO-ORDINATES 47 degrees 34', 25" N , 2 degrees 12' 43", W

La Belle Vilaine is ideally situated in Brittany for those looking for the best of both worlds. Your holiday cottage (or gite ) is set in a peaceful, friendly hamlet with panoramic countryside views, amazing wildlife (swallowtail butterflies and black kites fly over the cottages' gardens during the spring and summer and the neighbouring woods are host to red squirrels and black woodpeckers) and within easy walking distance of the beautiful River Vilaine ( fishing permits available locally).

Yet only a 5-minute drive will bring you to St. Dolay with bakers, butchers, chemist, post office, bars and restaurants. A 5-min drive in the other direction brings you to Nivillac with a post office, bars, tabac, boulangerie, new mini-supermarket (with butcher's counter) and Friday night Pizza/roast chicken take-away van - complete with its own wood-burning stove! At just 10 minutes drive is the picturesque, medieval town of La Roche-Bernard , with its cobbled streets, riverside eateries, boat hire, river cruises, swimming pool, large Thursday market, supermarkets and all necessary facilities. Closer to home is the local bar at St. Cry (food very limited - hot dogs, no chips!) - a 25 minute walk away from your gite, run by friendly, French owners and offering a free games corner (pool, bar-football, darts and video game) and, like La Belle Vilaine, children- and dog-friendly. For beach-lovers the long, sandy beach of La Mine D'Or, Pénestin is just 30 mins drive away – take a picnic and use the on-beach facilities, or eat out in the nearby restaurants.

A 40-minute drive takes you to the wonderful medieval city of Vannes and the Golfe de Morbihan with its islands and nature reserves.

Closer to home you will find La Grande Brière – just into the Loire Atlantique region - a miniature version of the Norfolk Broads. Take a guided tour in a punt, or on a horse-drawn cart, or hire a rowing boat (dogs permitted) and strike out on your own to discover the amazing wealth of wildlife on offer! Alternatively, follow the well-marked walks which take you through the heart of the marshlands. Pic-nic outdoors or indoors whilst watching the wildlife. Don't forget the binoculars!

For those sporting golfers , a stunningly-situated golf course set in the grounds of a lake-side château is only a short drive from La Belle Vilaine - Gites South Brittany.


The old port in La Roche-Bernard in Brittany