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Despite stiff opposition and handsome prices, this quayside restaurant wins the local vote with superb food and impeccable service.

The ancestral home of the Harcourt family has an important arboretum, created in 1802.

The social centre of the village, serving fresh local produce, this hotel-restaurant can cope with requests from a cup of coffee to a reception for 200.

An immaculate restaurant offering fresh fish, local farm produce and game.

Michel Leroux is probably the best chef for miles in any direction, and any thought of driving on should be dispelled by the quietly comfortable rooms – most of them in a modern wing overlooking the rose garden.

Le Havre was founded in 1517 to replace the ports of Honfleur, Harfleur and Caudebec, which had silted up. Now it is the country’s second port, a tribute to its astonishing recovery from the 146 separate bombing raids which flattened it in 1944. One of the few survivors is the 16th-century Cathédrale Notre-Dame, an architectural hybrid of Gothic and Renaissance styles, bristling with gargoyles. The city was rebuilt to designs by Auguste Perret, with reinforced concrete as the principal material. Typical of his style is the starkly imposing Église St-Joseph. More modern is the building of glass, aluminium and steel housing the Musée Malraux (see Musée Malraux, Le Havre). In the suburb of Montivilliers, don’t miss the Abbaye Notre-Dame, a recently restored Benedictine abbey for women.

Partly timbered, partly chequerboard brick and stone, this typical Norman manor has been lovingly restored to provide 10 restful bedrooms, and public rooms filled with antique furniture and Oriental carpets.

Time seems to run slower at this half-timbered manor just outside Honfleur. A warm welcome and excellent regional cooking.