A small selection of the info available… although the Stelevision.com shows up as 2024, it’s actually talking about 2025… 
Thank you @Stella!
(shouldn’t that site be called “Stellavision” rather than “Stelvision”? 
ETA: this is a key quote from one of those sources:
Pour des conditions d’observation optimale, il faut à tout prix éviter la pollution lumineuse. L’idéal est de s’éloigner des villes, des lampadaires, des panneaux lumineux
Not so easy to do for many of us unfortunately!
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Easier in rural France 
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Agreed, finding a suitable light-free spot can be difficult.
back in UK we went to the bottom of our large garden and with deckchairs on their “lowest” setting (thus we were virtually lying down)… the shrubbery shielded us from artificial lighting and we managed some wonderful sightings.
Here in France, it’s like winning the lottery… no street lighting in our village.
I stumble about, gazing upward to spot whichever “thingy” is on the glow 
In August, we would often spend a happy evening with holidaying pals, (who have a large field for us to use when stargazing) … each of us prepared with a suitable groundsheet/rug… then we just relax and let the shooting stars whizz in and out of our vision… absolutely magical.
Hoping to do this again this year, with or without our friends, as I have the keys to their “estate” 
Indeed - it’s all part of my Cunning Plan. Although being out in the sticks for a decent night sky for astrophotography somewhat conflicts with being within walking distance of shops for when I get too old to drive.
Maybe Intermarché / Super U / Carrefour livraison domicile is the answer…
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In my part of the South Vienne that’s only available if you’re within 10km of the store. However, Shopopop is an app that uses members of the public to connect and deliver shipping.
I think someone may have already posted this website but here it is for its relevance to this thread:
Where I currently am the lights of Guildford to the north are a headache - according to the map above I’m in a Bortle 5 area which is not great, though at least better than inner city locations.
Central London or Paris by comparison would be Bortle 9!
Where I stayed in June near Sommieres-du-Clain in Vienne was Bortle 3, which is more like it.
Interestingly the map legend says that light pollution has been decreasing in that area - in 2006 it was at Bortle 4.2 - I think quite a lot of places are switching their street lighting off at night to save money and/or using LED lights that perhaps are more directional and keep the light where it belongs!
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Well i think I would want to be closer than 10km in any case, even if it meant additional Bortle 
Despite its starry skies the gite I rented in June was definitely too far out in the sticks for my liking residence-wise, and it was pretty much a 20 minute drive to a supermarket in any direction - Gencay, Savigné, L’Isle-Jourdain or Valence, take your pick!
I’m sure a compromise is possible. But if necessary I would prioritise being able to get food over skywatching!
Amateur 
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Annoyingly our commune voted overwhelmingly to switch the lights off at night and then revoked the decision a month later because someone complained. Then we switched to LED lights which cannot be filtered out properly like other artificial light sources. Ah well.
I suspect the tools used to model that are lacking some granularity as it shows my location as 4.5 when the only light pollution I have is the neighbour’s solar powered fairy lights to one side and the one light from inside of the miller’s place on the other side of the valley.
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I’m very lucky to have a Bortle score of 2.2 in South Vienne.
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Yes it’s bound to be a bit of a generalisation as I doubt a bloke with a light meter has visited every spot on the map.
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Always good to have a Bortle shortage.
Sky glow from cities can increase the Bortle value a lot, even if they are 50 km away or more. A value of 4.5 is actually pretty good.
Satellites are your friend when doing Bortle maps 
Wow, I didn’t think anywhere in France was that low. Need to move.
I’ve just looked at this and it shows an area around Pressac as 2.8 and the centre of Pressac as 2.8 also which is highly improbable. The map shading in Pressac suggests 4 ish, so I think there may be an issue there.
Don’t miss tomorrow’s spectacle…June 17th 2026 
and here’s another worth watching for tonight
“en conjonction avec la Lune le 16 juin”
