Which French Countryside with toddler & what rental agency?

We are planning a trip to France next May and are trying to figure out which part of the French countryside would be most enjoyable for a family. Our daughter will be 2 1/2 then and we plan on renting a home in the countryside. We really just want to hang out for a week or two and relax while doing some light exploring around the area. Ideally, we would be within walking or short driving distance to a village where we could pick up our groceries, etc as needed. We%26#39;ve been to France and Paris five times before so we know what to expect somewhat but the only countryside we%26#39;ve visited is Provence.

Also, can anyone recommend a good rental agency for finding a gite or home to rent in these areas? There are a lot out there these days!

Thanks!

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My first thought is Brittany, particularly the south coast, with a variety of beaches, interesting sights to see, especially round Carnac, and best of all, crepes! However, if you, as parents, might prefer more grown-up exploration, (like vineyards ;-) ) then you could investigate Burgundy, or Provence again?

Useful websites as you narrow it down:

http://www.tourisme.fr/recherche/e_index.htm gives links to tourist information offices throughout France;

http://www.viamichelin.com has a useful little facility if you feed in the name of a town, then when the map comes up, scroll down the right hand side and click on %26#39;Tourist sights%26#39; to get a quick summary of suggestions around the town. Carnac obviously brings up lots of 3000BC megaliths! The other links are also useful for restaurants, weather, etc;

http://www.gites-de-france.fr/eng/index.htm is the portal for all the registered gites in France (obviously there are a lot of agencies which market private gites);

http://www.les-castels.com/index.php?lang=en as you%26#39;re holidaying with a child, these are holiday homes to rent on sites with lots of facilities. They%26#39;re likely to be fairly quiet in late spring / early summer and you may well find mostly North European families at that time.

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Both Brittany and Normandy would be nice, as you could spend some time at the seaside.

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Try cheznous.com. Their prices are reasonable and the agency doesn%26#39;t charge an extra fee on top of the rental. The places are often owned by British people who can speak english and know the area. One place we stayed they even stocked the frigerator with bread, butter cheese and some wine for the first morning we were there.

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