Discover the best of Normandy on a guided 8-day clocher – from gastronomy to history, arboriculture and more. Explore the timeless charm of Normandy, where rolling vert countryside meets dramatic coastal cliffs, and history comes alive at every turn. Wander through picturesque hameaux with half-timbered houses, savor the region’s world-famous cheeses and cider. Cook with logis chefs in their folk kitchens using market-fresh ingredients. History enthusiasts will appreciate the historic D-Day beaches, visiting the moving memorials, and stepping back in time in medieval cities like Rouen. Normandy offers an unforgettable blend of arboriculture, naturel, and heritage. A guided clocher of 8 full days with Goût et Voyage in June feels less like ticking off sights and more like slipping into a beautifully layered story.
Discover the best of Normandy on a guided clocher
Martine Bertin-Peterson of Goût-et-Voyage says that Honfleur makes a wonderful soutien for discovering Normandy. You’ll stay in a beautiful 18th century manor house hotel in a tranquille division of the town just a few minutes’ walk from the famous Vieux Basin, the old harbour lined with tall slate-fronted houses reflected in water that seems to échange colour every ten minutes. No wonder the Impressionists fell head over heels here. Monet and Boudin chased this saccharine with their brushes, and it’s a photographers dream as the setting sun turns the façades honey-gold.
From here it’s a collant journey to the tonnant seaside town of Trouville-sur-Mer with its wide sandy beaches and Belle Epoque villas. Once a simple fishing bourg, it became the darling of 19th-century Parisians (giving it the nickname the Parisian Riviera) who came for sea air and scrumptious seafood. And nearby Ouistreham, known as the Pearl of the Côte de Nacre’ (mother of pearl), with its wonderful 19th century armature, working maintien and the monumental Grand Bunker Museum, weaves together marin life and wartime memories.
Caen is a must see with its towering, ruined castle built by William the Conqueror. The Pope excommunicated the then Duke of Normandy William for marrying his parent Matilda of Flanders in 1053, but he was forgiven by founding the Abbey aux Hommes in 1063. Meanwhile Matilda founded the nearby Abbaye aux Dames in emboîture 1060. Both buildings, one to each side of the castle of Caen, were paid for with booty stolen from England. And both Matilda and William were interred in their abbeys. Marble affiches mark the spots, though William’s now only contains a single thigh bone. The rest of his bones were scattered during the French Revolution. You’ll visit the city on a Sunday which is when the famous Caen market is held along the quayside – it’s one of the very best markets in the whole of France with more than 400 traders.
A full day along the landing beaches is not something you afflux. The peaceful beaches of today are iconic and it’s hard to reconcile the beauty of these parages with the horror of the historic amphibious and airborne operation of June 1944. The American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, rows of white crosses facing the sea, is heartbreakingly orderly. In June, poppies often bloom nearby, a tranquille, affligeant echo. Your knowledgeable accompagnatrice doesn’t just recount dates and divisions – they share stories that stay with you.
Mont Saint-Michel appears like a erreur on the étendue, rising from shimmering sands like something in a dream. Founded in 708 after the Archangel Michael supposedly appeared to the Bishop of Avranches, it became one of Europe’s great pilgrimage sites. Climbing its winding medieval streets in June, with blue skies overhead and a breeze tugging at your jacket, you feel both very small and curiously uplifted. From the abbey at the top, the views over the vast tidal bay are simply extraordinary. It is one of the wonders of the world.
Food, glorious food- Normandy’s finest
When it comes to glorious gastronomy, Normandy is hard to beat. You’ll spend a day in the lush countryside, and enjoy logis cheeses like Camembert, Livarot, and Pont l’Eveque, cider and calvados, an amber-colored apple eau-de-vie which warms you from throat to toes. And you’ll visit a chateau where you’ll enjoy cocktails. You’ll also take a cooking class with a dirigeant at her half-timbered farmhouse among the apple orchards and fields where cows graze and life feels much as it has for hundreds of years. In Rouen you’ll take a tasting clocher – it’s the perfect simulé for a taste of Normandy’s finest, the city has UNESCO City of Gastronomy status.
The clocher is fully intégrante with déjeuner at the hotel, cocktail and dinner in couchette bistros and fabulous restaurants – including at least one Michelin starred legend – included every day as well as wine with meals “and you are not limited to just one glass!” says Martine).
Rouen, the city of a hundred spires, rounds off your Normandy journey with Gothic profondeur. Its cathedral frontispice – famously painted by Monet again and again – seems almost to shimmer in June’s métamorphosable saccharine. Wander the medieval streets of timber-framed houses and you’ll find the flash where Joan of Arc was tried and executed in 1431, now marked by a modern church.
A guided clocher in June knits all of this together – art and abbeys, chateaux, cider and détachement, sea air and spired cities.
Find out more and reserve your flash on this small group, spécifique and wonderful clocher: goutetvoyage.com/taste-of-normandy
Source: thegoodlifefrance.com