Fishing holiday at Vaux

Vaux Video

Vaux Feedback

• Sat 12th May - Sat 19th May 2012
  Gary Thomas
  A very good venue for anglers and non anglers the gite is excellent and the fishing good....
  
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• Sat 12th May - Sat 19th May 2012
  Gary Thomas
  Our 5th visit and as enjoyable as all the others. Thanks to chas and josie for being charming hosts. We look forward to coming again next year...
  
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• Sat 14th Apr - Sat 21st Apr 2012
  Ian Niven
  Great week, thanks for your help chas. See you soon, ian...
  
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• Sat 7th Apr - Sat 14th Apr 2012
  Ken King
  Managed to catch most days despite the changeable weather. All fish in great condition and most anglers got their pbs. House is perfect, with a lovel...
  
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• Sat 31st Mar - Sat 7th Apr 2012
  Peter Bilsby
  We had a fantastic weeks fishing. Chas's knowledge, support and teaching was hugely valuable. We hope to return in the summer one year so we can imp...
  
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Weather at Vaux

Overview

Vaux has become a firm favourite with Angling Lines customers – many return year after year. Take a look at the customer feedback and it’s not hard to see why. A stunning house that will sleep up to 10, sat on the banks of a prolific carp lake that you get all to yourself.

"Les Vaux" or the Etang du Moulin des Vaux, to give it it's full French name, is a superb stone built mill house that dates back to the 16th Century and is set in the lush green countryside on the borders between Brittany, Normandy and the Pays de la Loire. It is approximately 2 hours from the ferry port of Caen and 1½ hours from St. Malo. The very pretty private lake that lies next to the house dates back over 300 years and had never previously been used as a commercial fishery until it was purchased in 2002 by its English owners, Chas and Josie Cook, who have restored the lakeside house to a very high standard and stocked the lake with fish. The accommodation and venue has been specifically designed with the family fishing holiday in mind.

Just a few minutes walk from the venue is the well-stocked local village shop/boulangerie, where, in addition to groceries and provisions, you can buy bread and pastries fresh baked on the premises daily (closed Mondays). You will also find a tabac (for cigarettes) within the local garage and a pizza van arrives in the village main road each Thursday evening. Fougères and its supermarkets is a ten minute drive away.

Paul Burke fished Vaux with his family in April 2011. Between 2 anglers they caught 30 fish for a total weight of 640lb including a fabulous mirror at 40.08. Here’s what he had to say;

“An excellent venue with superb, very well equipped accommodation - a great venue for all the family. Chas and Josie were brilliant and helpful with all our queries regarding fishing tactics etc. All superb, both lake and accommodation... Angling Lines should be proud!”

The Carp Lake

The lake is of approximately 3½ - 4 acres of open water with just over ¾ acre of marsh land at the top, where the Category 1 trout stream enters the venue. It varies in depth from 4.5 metres at the dam wall to 50 cms at the shallow top end. The average depth in the centre along the original river bed is around 2.7 to 3m, with margins averaging 1.4m to 1.7m.

Access is by foot around three quarters of the bank side, where there is ample space for anglers to set up rod pods and bivvies should they wish to do so. All the swims and access to them are suitable for the wheelchair bound angler. Portable barbeques are available for use in each swim. The bed of the lake varies a great deal, from stone to sand to gravel, with silt deposited along the stream bed, as would be expected.

The origin of the lake was as a quarry, with the extracted stone used to build the 500 years old church in the nearby village. This extraction has left a number of quite defined steps on the lake bed along the house side bank, whereas the far bank is predominately sand and gravel.

Adjacent to the lake is the old mill in which a lock-up is available to store tackle and bait and where there is also a bait freezer for anglers to keep their bait in top condition. The mill is available as a winter cold season hard bivvie. Fish from the dam wall and bivvie in the mill. You can be on your rods at all times (exterior lighting provided) and have the use of full cooking facilities by your side (cooker, microwave, kettle, toaster), with unlimited tea and coffee provided. Shower, toilet and washing up facilities will continue to be available only in the gîte. Optional heating can be provided in the mill at an extra charge.

As an alternative to the main lake, the stock lake of approximately 1 acre, containing carp from 10lb to mid twenties, is available to those anglers among a party who prefer to fish match-style for carp. It also contains roach, rudd, perch, pike and tench.

Bait can be obtained on-site and will be available on arrival. Also available on site are carp and trout pellets in bulk and a variety of ready prepared particles; hemp, maize, jumbo tiger nuts, mixed seed, wheat.

Venue Siret No; 451 084 305 000 15

The Carp

The lake was stocked in 2003 with around 280 carp, a mixture of mirrors, commons and koi.

Efforts were made to stock good quality fish, heavily scaled mirrors and linears, plus commons. All stock is of the fast growing Czech Royale strains.

The majority of carp now range from 20 to high 30’s, with the lake record currently standing at 47lb 10oz.

Any small carp that may be occasionally caught will be from the original stock, or will have bred since the owners acquired the venue and will be removed to the stock lakes to grow on.

Latest news;

Josie has just compiled the overall 2011 catch statistics;

Out of a total of 541 (2010 – 490) recorded carp landed in 2011 (unfortunately not every angler leaves a catch report), there were;

*  141 x 30lb+ (2010 – 109) and of those, 68 were 35lb+ (2010 – 39)

*  22 x 40lb+ (2010 – 8), of which 6 were 45lb+

The most thirties landed in one week by a visiting angler was eight, which occurred on four occasions throughout the season, although Chas did manage to bank 21 on one of his sessions. There were just three weeks when only carp under 30lb were caught.

The largest number of carp caught was 53 during the first week of Mark and Jayne’s two week holiday in August and the average number banked per week in 2011 increased to 18.

The Facilities

The facilities on this venue are quite simply superb!

The totally renovated mill cottage is a magnificent building built from stone. It has been gutted from top to bottom by Chas and Josie and each room has been renovated, decorated and furnished to a very high standard.

The house has three upstairs bedrooms that comprise of one double room, one twin room and a third bedroom with two triple bunk beds (double beds underneath and single bunk above.) This room would be ideal for the kids. These bedrooms could accommodate up to ten people.

There is a large bathroom with toilet, washbasin, bath and shower upstairs, while the ground floor bathroom has toilet, shower and washbasin plus washer/drier. There is also a tumble drier located in the mill lock-up. Bed linen can be provided at a small charge- ask for details.

On the ground floor the kitchen is large and well equipped with everything one would need for a weeks holiday - electric hob and oven, microwave, fridge, free standing freezer, dishwasher plus all the crockery and cutlery one would expect. The living room is also big and comfortable with settees and armchairs arranged around two wooden coffee tables. The large screen television set in the corner is tuned in to receive English Sky satellite TV and in addition you will find a dvd player, for which you will be able to borrow a selection of dvds.

In the garden behind the gîte, you will find a masonry charcoal barbeque standing beside the lake, with a picnic table beneath an old apple tree – wonderful for al fresco eating on a warm summer’s evening. There is also a rotary line (pegs supplied).

For the disabled angler who does not always wish to bivvy, the gîte alongside the lake offers a comfortable alternative. It has a double door entrance which opens to 945mm width and internal doorways of 860mm into the WC/shower room and 810mm into the living room, all wide enough to allow wheelchairs full access throughout the ground floor. A toilet with adjacent handrail and raised toilet seat, plus washbasin facilities, is available in the ground floor shower room. We are not yet able to offer shower facilities for the disabled, but this is a future project. A single bed for the disabled angler with height raisers, plus another bed for a companion if required, is especially located in the ground floor living room during the week’s holiday. There is still plenty of room in the living room for socialising.

When the carp bask, but won’t bite on those hot summer days, what could be better than to laze away part of the day in water yourself? Children and adults alike have enjoyed cooling dips in the 15ft pool, new for Vaux in 2009, set up in the garden between the gîte and the mill.

Meals

Vaux now offers a food package which includes; 

• a breakfast baguette delivered to your swim each morning
• a freshly prepared, home cooked, two course evening meal served at a time to suit the anglers, either in the gîte or, if weather permits, at the seating area by the platform 

Cost - £115 per person 

Please note; If you book the food package you will be asked to pay a 10% deposit to Angling Lines and the balance to the lake in euros when you arrive.  Please note that due to fluctuations in the exchange rate the balance you pay when you arrive may not equate exactly to the remaining 90% in £s sterling – it may be slightly more or slightly less due to a change in the exchange rate.

Carp Bait

Carp Tackle Hire

Conditions:

• Includes lake exclusive, accommodation & ferry crossing
• Applies to a Dover - Calais ferry crossing. Other crossings will be discounted but it may not be possible to offer a 40% discount on the ferry crossing
• Heating supplement may apply

Fishing holiday Offers

Return visits;

Visit this lake 2 (or more) times in the same calendar year & get a 10% discount on the return visits!

We have lots of customers who make more than one trip with us and we want to reward that loyalty. Certain venues have agreed to participate in a discount scheme for return trips. This lake is one of those taking part… so book a return trip and get your 10% discount!

Conditions:

• Applies to fishing only & excludes accommodation (if normally booked separately), food, bait etc.
• Applies to ferry crossing for vehicle only (excludes trailers, cabins etc)
• Members of a group booking who have not visited twice will not be eligible for the discount
• This offer is only valid for return trips taken in the same calendar year and cannot be taken in conjunction with any other offer or special discount applied to this lake

Want a price for this venue based on your particular requirements?