English 
FrançaisCharente Maritime
La Rochelle
The beautiful old port of La Rochelle (2 hours away) has superb seafood restaurants, promenades and cafés, the "aquarium" and a wonderful shopping centre is well worth a day out and always has something going on such as brocante fairs, open air theatre, etc with sea excursions during the summer season.
Make this a day out and go for a tour of the Marais Poitevin on the way. This is an area unknown to many English. It is uniquely pictureque with roads following the canals and small rivers which drain this area of marshes. You will recognise some of the houses from their previous appearance in calendars of France.
Lots more information can be found Official La Rochelle Website
Royan
Royan is less than 2hrs away on the northern bank of the Gironde. It has a wonderful Sunday market (go early!!) and good shopping centre. The promenades, seafood restaurants are excellent. Miles of lovely sandy beaches to explore with the cote sauvage for naturists. St.Georges de Didionne and St.Palais sur Mer closeby for more touristy/family beach areas and ice cream parlours. St.Palais sur Mer has a zoo which is well worth a visit and it is famous for its flamingos which are quite stunning.
Further the south one finds the famous town of Rochefort and its even more famous sheep's milk cheeses.