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NORMANDY REGIONAL GUIDE

Discover Normandy, a region refreshingly different yet virtually on your doorstep. In just over 2 hours by high-speed ferry, you can be steeped in the history of D-day, William the Conqueror and the Bayeux Tapestry.

Normandy’s 400 mile coastline has long been a favourite with British visitors, from the cosmopolitan resort of Deauville, to the magnificent gothic abbey of Mont St Michel.

Inland is a landscape patterned with grand chateaux, half-timbered houses and lush green countryside alive with colourful festivals, fireworks and parades in the summer.

Artists and gardeners will find inspiration in Monet’s stunning garden at Giverny.

NORMANDY PLACES OF INTEREST

Bayeux Tapestry

The world famous Bayeux Tapestry graphically details not just the Battle of Hastings but also many of the significant events leading up to the invasion of England in 1066. Historic Bayeux also has fine medieval buildings, the magnificent Gothic Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Battle of Normandy Memorial Museum. Bayeux is also home to professional lacemakers, and has a great Saturday market.

Honfleur

A very picturesque old fishing port at the mouth of the Seine, Honfleur was a mecca for nineteenth century artists such as Boudin and Pissarro.

Watch today’s painters and pleasure craft around the ‘Vieux Bassin’ and dine at delightful quayside restaurants. Visitors also head for the fifteenth/sixteenth century Church of Sainte-Catherine, the largest wooden church in France.

Cite de la Mer - Cherbourg

Located in Cherbourg’s historic Transatlantic Terminal, within walking distance of the ferryport port and Cherbourg town centre, this vast complex is dedicated to the ocean. View the displays dedicated to underwater exploration, visit ‘Le Redoubtable’, the world’s largest submarine open to the public, and marvel at the huge salt-water aquariums containing over 3,500 fish.

Caen - Memorial Museum

Within easy reach of Ouistreham, the Brittany Ferries port for Caen, Le Memorial de Caen is a thought-provoking museum for peace using film and audiovisual displays to give a history of war from 1918 to the present day. Child-friendly, with lovely gardens, it is a most interesting end to a ‘landing beaches’ tour.

Rouen

Famous as the place of Joan of Arc’s martyrdom, the historic city port of Rouen on the River Seine is also where William the Conqueror died in 1087. It offers visitors fine buildings, the great Notre-Dame Cathedral, the church of Saint-Ouen where Joan of Arc was sentenced to death, plus a wealth of museums including the Fine Arts and Ceramics Museum and the Flaubert Musem. And, of course, Rouen has superb shopping and restaurants.

Giverny

Monet’s house and stunning gardens, including the famous Japanese bridge, inspired many of the artist’s most famous impressionist works. Popular with visitors, arrive early to avoid the crowds and leave time to visit the Museum of American Art nearby.

Alencon - Musee des Beaux Arts et de la Dentelle

Visit this museum for guided tours in English on the history of Alencon lace-making for more than 4 centuries. The most elaborate of all French lace, used in traditional costume, and which remained a major French industry until the nineteenth century.

NORMANDY GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL BEAUTY

Suisse Normande

Normandy’s own ‘little Switzerland’ south of Caen, takes its name from the deep gorges and rocky crags of the River Orne. In sharp contrast to the gentler surrounding landscape, this quiet place of lush green wooded valleys and hillsides is ideal for outdoor pursuits - on the river, walking and climbing. Enjoy beautiful scenery and explore attractive towns and villages such as Clecy, the ‘capital’ of Swiss Normandy.

Mont St Michel

Now a World Heritage Site, this stunning Gothic abbey dedicated to the Archangel Michael rises from its rocky pinnacle in the Bay of St Malo and has been visited by pilgrims for over 1,000 years.

A causeway takes today’s pilgrims to the island’s steep ‘Grande Rue’ lined with medieval houses, gift shops, creperies and cafes. Above are amazing architecture and views, and the Benedictine abbey church where visitors may sometimes attend lunchtime mass. The bay has one of the fastest incoming tides in the world – likened to the speed of a galloping horse! It is possible to walk the sands at low tide but you are advised to do so only as part of an organised group with an experienced guide.

NORMANDY CUISINE

Normandy cheeses Normandy cows fed on lush pastures produce the rich dairy produce - particularly cheeses - for which this region is rightly famous, such as Pont l’Eveque, Livarot and Camembert.

Apple orchards supply fruit for desserts, like apple fritters and crepes, and to make the cider drunk here instead of wine, or distilled into Calvados (apple brandy). Calvados is sometimes offered as a digestif - ‘le trou Normand’ - between courses to counteract rich sauces.

Find wonderful seafood sometimes served with ‘sauce normande’ (cream, mussels, shrimps and mushrooms), tender lamb raised on the Mont St Michel Bay salt marshes and the local favourite, ‘tripes a la mode de Caen’, beef tripe with vegetables and cider.

NORMANDY ACTIVITIES AND BEACHES

Barneville-Carteret - Beach

Sandy beaches warmed by the Gulf Stream. North of Carteret you’ll find mile after mile of deserted sands and dunes, and south of Barneville Plage, there are golden beaches and, for the adventurous, a wide range of watersports.

Follow the Route du Fromage and Route du Cidre

Follow the signs for self-drive Cheese and Cider tours of the cheese and cider-making areas of Calvados taking in producers offering guided tours and tastings, rich meadows with contented cows, apple orchards and the picture-postcard villages of the Pays d’Auge with their half-timbered buildings. Spring is a particularly pretty time of year to visit when the apple orchards are in blossom.

Kayaking and Canoeing - Suisse Normande

The deep gorge of the River Orne south of Caen is ideal for outdoor pursuits. Take to the river in rented kayaks, canoes and even pedaloes.

Trouville and Deauville - Beaches and ‘Planks’

Part of the ‘Cote Fleurie’ popular with 19^th century artists and writers, Trouville is now a family resort with beautiful beach, fishing port and narrow streets packed with curiosity shops and restaurants. The long sandy beach at Deauville with its famous ‘Planks’ promenade draws the rich and famous to its golf courses, casinos, marina, race track and polo grounds