The most notable is the Vieux Manoir, with its traditional wooden façade carved with faces and elaborate designs. Really just one long and incredibly picturesque street centering on a market square, Beuvron’s oldest half-timber houses date back to the 16th century. The traditional menu features the likes of oysters cooked in champagne and bourride of turbot, monkfish and sole.ĭrive past lush green meadows and rolling apple orchards to reach this absurdly pretty little bourg in the Pays d’Auge-Normandy’s pastoral heart of cheese, cream, and cider. Insider Tip: Nab a reservation at Le Galion, a restaurant occupying a 14th-century building in the center of town-evident in the carved weathered beams. Placards along the beach depict the spots where Monet painted some of his most famous paintings.) (And yes, the Impressionists were here too. Étretat looks downright miniature from on high. If you still have the stamina, tackle the trail as well to the little chapel Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde atop the cliffs to the east for more spectacular views. A walkway runs along the rocky beach for ever changing views though you can also hike to the top of the arch.
On both sides alabaster-white cliffs march off into the distance, the famous Aval Cliff with its monumental arch just to the west. The village is as beguiling as can be, but it’s the sea views that sweep you off your feet. Today it’s an exclusive Relais & Châteaux property, complete with floral garden, Michelin-starred restaurant, and spa. Insider Tip: Stay at the same auberge where the pre-impressionists gathered- La Ferme St.-Siméon. You may be tempted to take up a paintbrush yourself. End the day with a bowl of cidre at one of the inner harbor’s terrasse cafés, extolling at the exquisite scene. See their works at the Musée Eugène Boudin, then the real-life inspirations on a stroll through town. No wonder Monet, Boudin, and others gathered here in the late 1800s to experiment with the tenets of a new art movement that would become known as Impressionism. Blooming flowers add splashes of color everywhere. Twisting lanes wander off from here, edged with multi-hued buildings now occupied by shops overflowing with antiques, art and regional fare. In the early morning light, the petite, boat-filled inner harbor of Honfleur reflects ancient, strikingly tall (at least for the 17th century) half-timber houses. Here are some suggestions to get you started.- Barbara Noe Kennedy Within easy reach of Paris, this pastoral province edging the English Channel is a great place to rent a car and drive down quiet winding lanes, discovering village after village of bucolic allure. Artists, including the most famous Impressionists, flocked here to capture these villages and their surrounding landscapes on canvas (Monet lived most of his life at Giverny, after all), and stayed for its regional cheeses, cider (or cidre), seafood, and warm hospitality.
And you see it in the unsurpassed number of flower-filled villages, perched along the Seine, in wooded glens, amid apple orchards, along cliff-edged beaches, as scenic as can be. You see it in the half-timbered houses, in its devotion to cider over wine, in the rugged, rainy coastline. Settled by the Vikings, then reigning as an independent duchy that included England until 1204, Normandy retains a unique flair different from the rest of France. There’s something different about Normandy.
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