We walk the aisles as if we were walking in an amusement park. In Saint-Michel-Chef-Chef, a seaside resort in Loire-Atlantique where the galettes of the same name are produced, another curiosity attracts tourists. For ten years, the camping du Upper Village arouses the “wow effect” with its unusual accommodation. But here, we are not talking about yurts or tree houses: holidaymakers live in authentic planes, trams, or refurbished train carriages. And the success is there, with a schedule that is full on this Ascension weekend and passers-by who show up “every day, just to visit”. “We really wanted to offer something never seen before,” says Guillaume Staub, manager of this 3.5-hectare campsite, which also has simple mobile homes. That’s good, I’m a big kid who likes to create things while having fun. »
The story begins ten years ago when the owner stumbles upon an American plane, full of soot, for sale on Le Bon Coin. Former maintenance and works manager in the hotel industry, Guillaume Staub then set himself the challenge of buying it to transform it into “real accommodation with all modern comforts”, while keeping the cockpit which he is rehabilitating into… toilets. “These are the beds that take up the most space, says the one who defines himself as a jack of all trades. The kitchenette and the shower weren’t very simple either. Not to mention the cleaning and transport, what a hassle! » Insulation, electricity, plumbing, assembly of partitions… it takes between three months and a year and a half of work to give new life to these machines, which are generally purchased from private individuals and each time carefully decorated, sometimes with accessories recovery
“Quite spacious and comfortable”
When you enter the latest big novelty, you really believe it. At the Haut Village campsite, groups of up to 16 people can since last year stay in an authentic Parisian metro train on line 6 (from 399 euros for two nights during the week). Around, an entire station has been reconstructed with the platform, which serves as a dining room, paved with the emblematic white tiles. Jean-Claude and Mado, on the other hand, preferred to book in one of the railway cars with a wooded atmosphere, decorated with “genuine elements of the Orient-express”. It must be said that Monsieur is a former railway worker. “We were delighted, reports the couple from Nantes, who came to celebrate their 50 years of marriage surrounded by their family. It’s nice, well made, and ultimately rather spacious and comfortable! »
To complete his list already made up of around ten atypical dwellings, Guillaume Staub’s “ultimate dream” would be to acquire a flying saucer, one of the rare Futuro houses which he searches in vain on the Internet. But first, the 50-year-old must complete the renovation of an American helicopter, which is to welcome its first tenants this winter, already on a waiting list. The machine, a Sikorsky H34 bought for 25,000 euros from a museum in Grenoble which was to leave its walls, will include a children’s room connected to a container, which will contain the rest of the accommodation. The next project will concern a “magnificent trainset” for the Saint-Etienne tramway, purchased at the same time as that of the metro. A “monstrous job” will be needed to revamp it in a “60s style”, with a Formica kitchen.