The Etang des Landes National Nature Reserve is a national nature reserve located in the department of Creuse , in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region about 16 miles from our French Bed and Breakfast. It occupies an area of 165,584 hectares which includes the pond and its surrounding environments.
Etang des Landes is home to more than 400 plant species and 600 animal species. Its superficial shape (maximum 2 meters deep and a sandy bottom) promotes the development of many extremely rare natural environments such as reed beds.
You can walk the circuit of the lake within an hour and if you have the time it is definitely worth doing as the views over the lake are superb. The walkways are not suitable for wheelchair access but are generally flat, most with some kind of path or track. It can be a bit muddy in places depending on the time of the year. In addition if you are particularly interested in wildlife, then there are a number of places signposted off the walk to go and view the wildlife from elevated positions/keeps.
Free events are organised by a member of the team from the reserve from April to November, they will allow you to discover the history of the places and the species which populate it. There is a Reserve House which offers you a free exhibition and it opens from the 1st weekend of spring holidays until the 3rd Sunday of November.
In high season Etang des Landes is open from July 01 to August 31, daily from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. except Friday. On public holidays it is from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. During low season the hours are Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
