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The Guardian - Life & Style • Jan. 19, 2026, 4:31 p.m.
Wide sandy beaches and amazing seafood in western France
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Charente-Maritime is a more affordable, less manicured family destination than nearby Île de Ré Dinner comes with a spectacle in La Tremblade. Before I sit down to a platter of oysters at La Cabane des Bons Vivants , one of the village’s canal-side restaurants, I stand and watch orange flames bellow up from a tangle of long, skinny pine needles inside a large, open oven.
They are piled on top of a board of carefully arranged mussels and, by setting fire to the pine needles, the shellfish cook in their own juices. This is the curious tradition of moules à l’éclade , a novel way of cooking mussels developed by Marennes-Oléron oyster farmers along the River Seudre in the Charente-Maritime, halfway down France’s west coast.
They are piled on top of a board of carefully arranged mussels and, by setting fire to the pine needles, the shellfish cook in their own juices. This is the curious tradition of moules à l’éclade , a novel way of cooking mussels developed by Marennes-Oléron oyster farmers along the River Seudre in the Charente-Maritime, halfway down France’s west coast.
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