Gone seriouslly downhill since Marvilla takeover. Nearly 40 years of visiting this place.

27 April 2026 at 11:54:50
My family has been coming here every year (except 1) since 1987. The campsite and Saumur are like 2nd homes to us. Since taken over by Marvilla when Bridgitte retired and her two sons left, it has gone really downhill.
The vans are far too tightly packed. My one the grass had completely gone as it... had been used as a through road. Multiple times every day random guests would just walk straight through our pitch, I tried putting barriers up, but they just kept doing it no matter how many of them I told to stop. The BBQ lighter was broken, so bought one at the shop. The van was missing things like a wooden spoon. The chairs were stored inside and had cobwebs and bird poo on them, didn't feel like the van had been used that season at all.
The bar has been ruined. They've removed the TV from the corner and just left the bracket and the wires hanging, and all the bench/table seating. So many years of watching world cups and Wimbledons in there but now you can't. I sat at age 15 in the courtyard watching France win the world cup in 1998, was a core childhood memory, but nothing is shown now. Put the sport on, advertise it on the boards and attract guest down, surely it will be more profitable??
The arcade area is terrible now. I remember playing mortal kombat there in the 90s, and the same table football tables are still there. The air hockey table was broken for the entire stay. They literally still have Sega Rally 2, honestly, that thing is 30 years old. The only thing that worked was the pinball machine.
Stop playing booming loud music from the stage 10am every day. I could hear it all day long in my van. Stop making the entertainment drag around Bose speakers in a trailer while walking to activities. Activities were also poor, archery was just kids toys and the laser tag was poor.
All the play areas were poorly kept with grass/weeds growing everywhere. Go karts are old and broken. The locks on the toilet doors next to reception were both broken. The toilet roll dispensers are always jammed, no one seems to check them.
There are no touring caravans or motorhomes allowed now, so it's lost its traditional feel. Two of the toilet blocks are now just abandoned, and the one that's left is poorly kept.
The EV chargers barely work. One is Tesla only, and other one sometimes works after several resets, no one at reception knew anything about it or how to make it work. I've used them the previous 3-4 years and usually worked OK.
You're only allowed 1 key for your van. So if the kids are out on bikes or playing, and we wanted to go down to the bar, you have to leave to turn the aircon and electricity off in order to lock the door, which is just ridiculous when it's so hot - to let it heat up like an oven and then try to cool it down again. Not to mention they can't back in. I asked for a 2nd key and was refused.
The pool surrounds were improved, the old ones had become broken and uneven over the years. But the new rectangular pool is much shallower than the old one, around 1.2m or something, which isn't deep enough. But as they've increased the number of pitches by so much, the campsite has a lot more guests. The pool area needs to be at least double the size as it's absolutely packed all the time.
The WiFi is awful and really expensive. Your stay allows 2 devices, but seriously... Our group of 4 had about 10 between them and it's so incredibly slow you can barely do anything. It's free at the bar, but the connection is around 2Mb for the entire complex. Just get Starlink and a proper Mesh WiFi system across the entire Domaine.
It's such a shame what's happened to it. Brigitte and family were such amazing owners. I first came here at 4 years old (now 43). Took my son when he was 1 (now 11) and took some of his first steps here. I remember the back streets of Saumur like they're my home town. Nothing makes me happier than the drive along the banks of the Loire, arriving down that little steep hill to the campsite, its like coming home, but is now ruined. Lots of people have their lottery winning prize thought out. I'd be buying Domaine de la Breche and fixing it up like it used to be.
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