bristol170kj Posted May 4, 2018 Share Posted May 4, 2018 A few years ago we called in at the Airbus factory for a tour around the facility. The visitor centre has since moved a little way down the road. We intend to call in for another tour later this year. Does anyone know if overnight parking is still allowed in the visitors car park? On our last visit we overnighted in the old car park with no issues, in fact there were another 4 or 5 vans also there. Google/bing maps doesn't appear to show the new visitors area and an e-mail to the visitor centre (in French) has gone unanswered. Does anyone know the area enough to say if the car park is open to "camping cars", please? MTIA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristol170kj Posted May 5, 2018 Author Share Posted May 5, 2018 bristol170kj - 2018-05-04 1:54 PM A few years ago we called in at the Airbus factory for a tour around the facility. The visitor centre has since moved a little way down the road. We intend to call in for another tour later this year. Does anyone know if overnight parking is still allowed in the visitors car park? On our last visit we overnighted in the old car park with no issues, in fact there were another 4 or 5 vans also there. Google/bing maps doesn't appear to show the new visitors area and an e-mail to the visitor centre (in French) has gone unanswered. Does anyone know the area enough to say if the car park is open to "camping cars", please? MTIA I should have waited a little while longer for the tour company to e-mail be back. I've just had their reply and they have confirmed I can park in their car park the night before the tour. Isn't it great in France - different in the UK! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinM50 Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 Having worked there for six years during the build of the first A380, I know the area fairly well. I'd recommend overnighting a little way out at L'Isle Jourdain, about 20 miles away. There's two big lakes with free overnight parking for motorhomes between them and if it's your sort of thing, you can do water skiing and wakeboarding on one of the lakes. Couple of nice ish restaurants in the town too, walkable from the parking. Oliviers is good and cheap, just up the main road into IdJ if it's still there. Good market on a Saturday too. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@43.615,1.0752139,15.5z Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristol170kj Posted May 8, 2018 Author Share Posted May 8, 2018 Thanks - position marked on my map. Looks good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinM50 Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 Well Bristol, if you do go and fancy a really, really fabulous meal I can heartily recommend a restaurant, Le Puits St Jacques in the nearby village of Pujaudran, about a five minute drive. I did a write up on it for Trip Advisor in 2013 and it's proven to be a good recommendation. Here's what I wrote for TA then (cut and pasted from their website); Isn't it Amazing.............. We found this restaurant purely by chance. Whilst working in Toulouse, I was renting a house in the L’Isle Jourdain some 30 km’s west of Toulouse and on one occasion on the way home happened to notice the Sat Nav in my hire car showed a restaurant in a small village in the middle of nowhere, Pujaudran. I diverted to have a look and sure enough there was a beautiful old stone built restaurant that seemed to have been nicely restored. It was pouring with rain so rather than call in for a meal I filed the info away for future reference and next time my wife came to France for a visit I suggested we go there. We’d spent the day painting and decorating so rather than cook a meal I suggested we try this new little bistro I’d found. Since it was a Wednesday and I didn't have the phone number or name, I thought there’d be no need to book so we arrived at 19:45, again in the pouring rain. On looking through the window there were no other diners, but I persuaded my wife we should give it a go none the less. We were met by the maitre d’ Patrick and in my best French I asked if they were open and which table should we take. Patrick replied in perfect, almost unaccented English, and asked if Monsieur had a reservation? I must admit looking round the totally deserted restaurant with some thirty empty tables, a little sarcastic smile escaped my lips, but I thought I’d play the game properly and replied, no, do we need one? Much sucking of teeth and perusing of his diary finally elicited the response that he could squeeze us in at a table to the side. We sat and a waiter bought us an aperitif and menus and at 20:00 EXACTLY the restaurant suddenly filled. Completely. One after the other until every table was taken. After everyone was seated I’m sure I noticed Patrick grinning at me and nodding in a knowing way. To say I was shocked at this was nothing as to my surprise on looking at the prices on the menu. My wife’s menu was “nude” in that respect but mine certainly wasn’t. We quickly settled on their cheap €70 per head “discovery” menu, though my wife had no idea of the price. The sommelier came to our table and gave us his wine list with some 1200 wines with prices ranging from €15 to €3,000 a bottle and asked what type of wine we prefer. We’re quite partial to Vouvray I told him and he then suggested two, of which he thought with the Discovery meal we’d ordered, we’d prefer the less expensive one at a reasonable €21 a bottle. He even said that if we didn’t agree with his choice he wouldn’t charge us for it. Well the meal came, seven courses each prefaced with a detailed explanation from the waiter in perfect English explaining what was in each course, how it was cooked and just about stopping short of telling us which side of the hill the vegetables were grown. Provenance for every ingredient was most impressive. The meal turned out to be absolutely superb and the wine was everything the waiter had promised. Bernard Bach the chef came round to every table and seemed really enthusiastic to hear our comments even though his English left a little to be desired but between us we got across to him our heartfelt thanks for a wonderful dining experience When we came to pay, I told Patrick how much we’d enjoyed the evening and that as far as I was concerned this was the best meal I’d ever had in France and my wife thought it was the best meal she’d ever eaten anywhere. And that’s when Patrick really put me in my place. Deliberately or by accident I’ll never know but with a smile similar to mine at the start of the evening, he replied, “Oui Monsieur, isn’t it amazing how good food can be when you have TWO Michelin stars”. And that was the first I’d known about the Michelin stars. Up to that point we’d not realised the gastronomic standard of the restaurant and thought it was just a local bistro. We really never realised that it’s in the top ten in France and I think that made it even more enjoyable. It was a total surprise, more so since it really is in the back of beyond. We’ve subsequently eaten there probably ten times and I’ve told this story to Patrick and I’m sure he’s passed it on to other diners. Each time we’ve eaten there the meal has been better than the one before and although I’m no longer working in France if I ever visit the region I’ll be sure to eat there again. Yes it’s a little expensive, coming out at around €200-250 for a couple but certainly for a special occasion, it’s well worth the few extra Euros for a couple of Michelin stars. https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g1514140-d1515193-r154958659-Le_Puits_Saint_Jacques-Pujaudran_Gers_Occitanie.html# And if you want to see their menu it's here; http://lepuitssaintjacques.fr/carte-menu-restaurant-gastronomique-2-etoiles/ Hmm, got me thinking. We're off to Brittany next week and maybe it's time the motorhome headed south. (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BKen1 Posted May 8, 2018 Share Posted May 8, 2018 Visited the centre many years ago youve sparked my interest to revisit as Im making my way back to the Uk in a few weeks time might call in .Great you can stay over in the car park as you say dont you just love the French attitude to motorhomes (campingcars ) . Brian K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinM50 Posted May 9, 2018 Share Posted May 9, 2018 BKen1 - 2018-05-08 9:28 PM as you say dont you just love the French attitude to motorhomes (campingcars ) . Brian K Much like the respect and consideration drivers give to motorbikes and scooters, esp the little putt putts the youngsters drive - they've all had one in their youth and know the problems cars and trucks can give them so they really do look out for them. We could learn a lot from the French Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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