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The Charente Maritime boasts the second longest hours of sunshine in France after the Cote D’Azur and summer here seems to stretch from April to October. With over 70 beaches to enjoy you will rarely feel crowded and you can almost have the place to yourself out of high season. The local seafood (oysters, mussels, crab and fish) is always fresh and plentiful and there are many good local wines, pineau and cognac to accompany your meal. 
 
 
Surgeres is a picturesque market town just to the south of La Retraite. It has a wide choice of restaurants, supermarkets, and shops. It has a beautifully restored and preserved old walled town rich in architectural heritage and boasts a manor house and XV1c chateau. 
The colourful covered market (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) offers a plentiful supply of local produce including the butter for which Surgeres is famous. 
The town has a cinema, sports centre with tennis courts, and open air swimming pool. 
 
La Rochelle is a beautiful old town less than half hour away. It is an excellent place to visit, either for a day, an afternoon, or just an evening at any time of the year. It has hundreds of restaurants to choose from ranging from quayside bistros offering moules and frites to the Michelin** restaurant Coutanceau recognised as one of the best restaurants on the Atlantic Coast. 
La Rochelle comes in two equally alluring halves. The old port is full with yachts and guarded by medieval defensive towers, while the town centre has delicatessens and classy boutiques under the covered arcades of Renaissance houses and a colourful morning fish market. 
During the summer months there is street theatre every day and a craft market alongside the port most evenings, when the roads are closed to traffic to make space for performers, craftspeople and artists. 
La Rochelle houses Europe's largest marina on the Atlantic Coast and a fabulous aquarium.  
 
Please see owner's website for full details of local information and activities.