DK Travel : Normandy

Normandy brings a dozen different images to mind: William the Conqueror, the D-Day landings, Mont-St-Michel; the bleak landscape of the Cotentin coast, the sparkling summertime playground of the Côte Fleurie; sumptuous châteaux, historic abbeys, famous gardens; the orchards of the Auge, the picture-postcard scenery of the Suisse Normande; Monet’s home at Giverny, the Cabourg immortalized by Proust – or perhaps it’s cider, calvados and camembert. Whatever your list, it will barely scratch the surface of this rich and rewarding region.

Conches-en-Ouche

Approached on the D830 from Evreux, the town’s fine setting above a bend in the River Rouloir is revealed.
Copper

A warm, burnished glow emanates from shop windows crammed with copper pots and pans in picturesque Villedieu-les-Poêles. Copper has been its business since the 12th century, reaching a peak in the mid-18th, when there were nearly 150 workshops in town. Today, there is no better place to buy copper utensils (poêles means pots) or to see the craftsmen at work.
Côte d’Albâtre

On first sight of the Alabaster Coast, you might be fooled into thinking that you were across the Channel: it bears a striking resemblance to the White Cliffs of Dover. Stretching southwest from Le Tréport to Le Havre, the coastline is pitted by valleuses – dry hanging valleys in the clifftops, revealed as the cliffs retreat before the combined forces of sea and weather. The harbours shelter in natural shingle inlets, while the larger towns cluster on the estuaries. This coast offers some of the region’s most spectacular scenery.
cottages4you

An offshoot of the Holiday Cottages Group, cottages4you has an impressive selection throughout Normandy, details of which appear on its helpful website. With each cottage is a list of all its amenities, as well as a full description of the house and its environs.
Courseulles-sur-Mer

A little further west along the Côte de Nacre at Juno Beach, where memories of the Normandy Invasion (see D-Day Beaches) mingle with modern-day seaside amusements, Courseulles has a large marina (somewhat overshadowed by modern apartment blocks), and a terrific shellfish aquarium. Just inland is Reviers, where an arts and crafts festival takes place each July.
Coutances

Packaged in a round box, this rich, creamy cheese has a thin crust.
Coutances

One somehow doesn’t expect to find a great cathedral in this isolated corner of France, but here it is: a soaring stone rocket crowning the hill around which the town is gathered. In the 13th century, with the aid of the de Hauteville family, who had prospered in Sicily and southern Italy, a new Norman Gothic building was surmounted on the remains of the previous, fire-damaged Romanesque one. Its remarkable octagonal lantern above the altar rises to 41 m (135 ft), and its many towers, spires and pointed arches sweep the eye skyward. In town, the flower-filled Jardin des Plantes makes a perfect setting for some of the concerts that take place in Coutances during the annual Jazz sous les Pommiers festival in May (see Jazz sous les Pommiers, Coutances).
Cycling

Cycling is the best way to take in the glorious Norman countryside. Each département has marked cycle routes, with accompanying booklets available from tourist offices. In Manche, old railway lines and towpaths are being turned into cycle paths. The forests of Lyons and Brotonne and the Eure and Seine Valleys are all excellent cycling areas.
D-Day Beaches

Sixty years after D-Day, the momentous events of 6 June 1944, when the Allies landed on the beaches of the huge Seine Bay, are commemorated in memorials, museums and cemeteries.
D-Day Beaches

The Allied landings of June 1944 and the Battle of Normandy that followed are movingly commemorated in museums, memorials and cemeteries throughout the area.