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If you want to inject a little romance into your life, spend a couple of days at this seductive riverside mill, with rooms full of character, set in the beautiful, unspoilt Perche countryside. There is also a glorious mature garden to enjoy.

The Perche is particularly suited to mountain biking, with marked trails at various levels of difficulty (maps available from Mortagne-au-Perche and Domfront tourist offices). The terrain is also suitable in the Suisse Normande and at Amayé-sur-l’Orne.

Mothers and daughters in particular will be drawn to the exhibition of designs by Dior and other top couturiers in Dior’s childhood house, set in a lovely clifftop garden.

In 1665, lacemakers in Alençon were given the challenge of creating lace equal in quality and popular appeal to that of Venice. They succeeded, coming up with a new and better technique, which made Alençon lace supreme until demand dropped in the 20th century. The story is told here, along with exquisite and intricate examples of the craft.

The heroine of Alexandre Dumas fils’ novel and play lived extravagantly in the Orne. This museum evokes her life.

A recreation of the room in which 17th-century locals signed emigration contracts for Québec.

A nostalgic look at commerce in the first half of the 20th century.

A chilling place, with court room, cells, and a riveting ethnographic museum.

Standing within the walls of William the Conqueror’s hilltop château, Caen’s fine art collection is housed in a well-lit contemporary building. French, Italian, Flemish and Dutch paintings, chronologically arranged from the 15th to the 20th centuries, present a coherent survey of the history of painting. Perugino’s The Marriage of the Virgin is a highlight.