From the UK you have three similarly priced options. The main difference is the time/duration of travel. You’ll obviously need to consider things like travelling with pets, luggage and things like carrying bikes/roof boxes on cars.
Flights
Cheapest, easiest & quickest is to fly from Gatwick to Limoges which is only 45 mins from the house. Flights are Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday at decent times (not sparrows-fart o’clock). Return it’s about £70 each (+ seat choice, + hold luggage, etc). However you will then need a hire car which is >£300 for the week. You can get that car hire cost down if you get a taxi into Limoges and hire a car from the massive Leclerc supermarket. It’s €125 for a week for a Clio from them (with 500 kms included)
Ferries
Next up is the Newhaven to Dieppe ferry. Travel by day so you won’t need a cabin and you’ll pay £250 return. So then you just need to add in petrol costs the other side (it’s 300 miles from Dieppe).
A night sailing may be cheaper but you’ll have to shell out for very reasonably priced cabins. They aren’t that comfy and they are quite noisy (at least comparably to the Portsmouth Brittany Ferries cabins).
Another option if you are heading via the south coast of England are the Portsmouth Brittany Ferries options. Here you are spoiled for choice but a convenient one is Portsmouth to Caen which gets you are hour closer to Charroux on the other side. However prices are as much as three times the price of the Newhaven – Dieppe route. Cabins are vastly superior and the ferries are bigger, more stable and quieter for a good nights sleep.
Channel Tunnel
Finally there’s the tunnel which is what we are doing with the dog at Easter. I’m actually seeing good prices at the moment but they will go up and it will get booked up. £177 return at relatively decent hours but you’ll need to factor in extra travel time and fuel costs and you’ll need a night stop over on the way down. We’re in the Le Mans Ibis en route (4 hours from Calais) at a cost of €120 inc the dog! Next morning it’s another 3 hours drive…
