Book excerpt: New from Bradt is the thoroughly updated second edition of The Vendée, the only English-language guidebook to focus on this part of Pays de la Loire. Also covered in this guide to an increasingly popular French region are Nantes, Pornic, La Rochelle and the Île de Ré. Written by Angela Bird, who for almost 50 years has owned a home in the region, and award-winning travel writer Murray Stewart, and updated by adventurer Ed Cooper, Bradt’s guidebook offers comprehensive coverage of a beguiling area, detailing everything from family holidays to walks, cycling, local cuisine and history. The Vendée offers all the benefits of a destination that is well established with both French and British visitors, with easy access and short drive times via UK ferries adding to its appeal. Popular with campers and self-caterers, the Vendée’s sunny climate and 140 km of sandy beaches, plus its tree-lined canals and open marshland, make for a diverse outdoor playground. Bradt’s The Vendée includes suggestions for walks and the best places for birdwatching. This goes hand in hand with a new regional policy of promoting recreation premised on nature and wellbeing. Thanks to the authors’ rich personal history with the area, the guide also reveals the quirks and themes which give the Vendée its own distinct character, as well as straying just beyond the area’s boundaries to incorporate La Rochelle and Nantes, both entry points for those arriving by air and both offering urban distractions for the occasional rainy day. Although the region has no true cities, or even large towns, the guide includes details of the many local museums which provide easily accessible insights into the bloody history of an area which has, at times, been central to the evolution of modern-day France. New elements in this edition of Bradt’s The Vendée include expanded coverage of France’s most dazzling son-et-lumière show and new restaurant listings that reflect the region’s growing reputation for wine and Michelin-starred eateries, as well as its long history as a paradise for seafood-lovers.