I'm looking for an overnight stop somewhere around the Orleans area or about 45 minutes north or south of there in July. We will have one non-meat eater and one gluten-free vegan travelling with us. I can cope with that at home easily but we will need a B&B or hotel and a restaurant. Do any of you knowledgable people have any suggestions please?
Not quite the help you are looking for but a heads-up: the pony and horse championships of France are held at Lamotte Beuvron in July and accommodation gets booked months - sometimes up to a year - in advance. The last time I went we didn't book until January and ended up spending the fortnight renting a leaking camping car in someone's back garden. Friends ended up staying 60km away. The whole area south of Orleans is swamped by riders and their families. There are more than 10,000 competitors in the pony champs alone, plus their trainers and families ....
So avoid south of Orleans like the plague in July (and think of the traffic with all those horseboxes on the move).
As for food, I remember a rather meat-heavy cuisine and you might have to stick with salads. But the supermarkets mostly have ranges of gluten free goods so you might find picnics the way to go.
Thank you, Jan. We're travelling back to our home in the south after a family party in the UK so that's our usual stop-over. The dates we want are still available so I'll get booked fairly quickly. We're still looking for a veggie/vegan friendly restaurant for that evening though if anyone knows of one?