Green with envy

In fact, this gem by the Loire is widely recognised as the best in the country and ranks alongside Valderrama as the finest in the whole of Europe.

For many years, this was a secret treasure hidden away in the Sologne Forest, a private course played only by industrialist Baron Marcel Bich (of Bic pens fame), his friend and fellow businessman Yoshiaki Sakurai and their guests and associates.

No expense was spared as Texan course architect Robert von Hagge, unencumbered by planning constraints, set about designing his mid-80s masterpiece on the Baron's former hunting grounds.

Everything about this place oozes sheer quality and class, from the Rodin statue (the poor chap's tearing his hair out, obviously a golfer) overlooking the largest putting green on the continent to the practice and dining facilities and 40 distinctive guest lodges dotted around the clubhouse and alongside the 18th fairway.

There's water around the final green, and on the signature (and hardest) hole, the par-five 14th, where you eventually access the island putting surface via a bridge over a stream literally bubbling with giant carp.

In fact, water comes very much into play on two-thirds of the holes. And if you do manage to stay dry, there's a host of huge and immaculate bunkers waiting to catch you out.

So challenging is this course that the long-standing record - held by Jean Van de Velde, no less - remains at just one stroke under the par of 72.

Needless to say, I played nowhere near my handicap. But I lost only a handful of balls, enjoyed more than a few good shots - and absolutely revelled in playing a golf course that is genuinely world class.

Britanny Ferries has only recently featured Les Bordes in its extensive golf portfolio that already takes in a wide range of great courses throughout France and northern Spain.

For example, just two kilometres down the road from Les Bordes, and managed by the same company, is Golf de Ganay, the Baron's offering to residents of the town of Beaugency.

Designed (by another American, Jim Shirley) to be less testing than Les Bordes, Ganay, which has 36 holes, ought to feel like a poor relation, but doesn't. It's a delight, right down to the clubhouse in a magnificent converted 12th-century manor.

Meanwhile, the clubhouse at Golf de Donnery, just outside Orleans, about an hour's drive away, is a different matter entirely. Built by American GIs stationed here in the early 1950s, it's a basic pre-fabricated affair, but this is somewhere with bags of charm, good food and friendly staff.

The course winds through the woods, and, although the fairways are generous, sand and more water make it an interesting course for players of all standards.

Also nearby, at Ardon, is Golf d'Orleans Limere - one of seven courses within 50 kilometres of Les Bordes. Opened just 15 years ago, it already has a good reputation - the prestigious Peugeot Golf Guide, for example, rates it at 17 out of 20, only a point behind the fabled West Course at Wentworth.

It has hosted several French PGA Championships, and the sizeable hotel attached to the course has spa facilities and indoor and outdoor pools.

All these courses are comfortably under four hours by car from Caen, easily accessed by ferry from Portsmouth.

factfile

• You can play and stay at Les Bordes from £155 per person (£17 supplement to play at weekends) which includes bed and breakfast and return ferry crossing with car. Price based on two sharing.

• Play Golf d'Orléans Limère at Ardon from £25 per round and stay at the adjoining Domaine des Portes de Solonge from £92 per night including breakfast and return ferry crossings with car (based on two sharing).

• Golf "Awaydays" in Brittany and Normandy, which includes one round of golf, lunch and return ferry crossings with car (based on four sharing) start at £59 per person. View the courses and hotels online at brittanyferries.co.uk/golf and call the Golf Desk on 0870 092 1818 for expert advice and to book everything, even tee-times.