La Ferme naturiste L’Oliverie

L’Oliverie is a naturist farm set in Saurais, in the Deux-Sèvres, in the heart of the Pays de Gâtine. The site is around 10 minutes from the medieval town of Parthenay, 40 minutes from the Futuroscope and an hour from the Puy du Fou or the Marais poitevin. By road, it is 3 h 40 from Paris via the A10 (exit 29 Poitiers) and 2 hours from Nantes via the A83 (exit 10 Parthenay).

The campsite covers one hectare, rated two stars, and faces due south. It has 27 pitches, around twenty of them for tents, caravans and motorhomes, along with a caravan-style roulotte, three wooden cottages, a hut on stilts, a gîte and guest rooms. A private pond allows on-site fishing, and two sanitary areas are spread across the grounds, one of them in a renovated former farm building.

A family-run business and partner of the Fédération Française de Naturisme, L’Oliverie presents itself as reserved for naturist guests and highlights a friendly welcome with a welcome drink, hosted by Mélanie, Alex and Lia. The setting, designed with children in mind, remains calm and green, between natural hedges, paths and grassy plots; the region, known as the Pays de Gâtine, is working towards a regional nature park label.

The campsite is open from 25 April to 27 September. It is accessible to people with reduced mobility, and the rules ask guests not to enter the grounds before their scheduled arrival time, so that every welcome can be prepared properly.

The reception area combines a snack bar with free wifi, a small shop and a meeting room fitted with a library, where hiking maps and routes are also handed out. Reception is open from 8:30am to noon and then from 2pm to 8pm. Wifi is only available in the shared area, around the pool and reception: the pitches are deliberately kept free of signals.

The heated 12 x 6 m pool is the heart of campsite life during the season. The wellness area offers hammam and spa sessions, with several packages: an hour combining both treatments, a standalone 30-minute session, a season pass for unlimited hammam access, or a private session with champagne outside the usual opening hours. A towel and black soap are provided for every hammam session.

Two sanitary areas, cleaned daily and supplied with hot water around the clock, are spread across the site: one set up in a former farm building that has kept its original character, the other open onto nature, at the heart of the campsite and close to the pitches.

Payment is by cheque, holiday voucher or cash; the campsite does not accept credit cards. A tourist tax applies to adults, with the amount varying depending on the type of accommodation chosen.

The seasonal programme offers aqua aerobics, yoga and themed evenings, alongside games available for free use: pétanque, table tennis, free billiards, darts and board or outdoor games. The pond on site is ideal for fishing, with free equipment loan. Two evenings return weekly during the season, a barbecue on Saturday and pizza on Wednesday, in a friendly atmosphere.

For children, a swing and a trampoline are set up on the grounds; the youngest guests also enjoy the campsite’s green, safe surroundings, which encourage play and encounters between families. The farm also organises occasional events during the summer.

The Pays de Gâtine, between hedgerow country and valleys, can be explored on foot or by bike: the Thouet valley offers no fewer than 350 kilometres of waymarked trails leading to the villages of Saint-Loup, Airvault or Gourgé, and hiking maps are handed out at reception. Nearby, the medieval town of Parthenay can be visited with its castle, its fortified tower and its ramparts, notably along the historic route to Santiago de Compostela. The region’s major attractions, the Futuroscope, the Puy du Fou, the Marais poitevin, the Nombril garden at Pougne-Hérisson and the silver mines of the Frankish kings at Melle, round out the possible outings from the campsite.