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n one of my earliest visits to the
Normandy coast, I spent an idyl-
lic couple of days exploring the
area – newly in love, newly discover-
ing the pleasures of the French table.
My husband and I stayed in a small
country hotel in Saint-Valery-en-
Caux, about 30 kilometres from
Dieppe. In the morning, I watched the
inn’s chef leave at 10 for the market,
returning an hour later with ba-
guettes, vegetables and cheeses. The
sun was warm, the streets calm and
quiet, the light golden.
It was later when I had returned
home that my sister-in-law told me
that her father had been captured by
German troops in Saint-Valery-en-
Caux during the Second World War.
Part of the 51st Highland Division, he
was taken prisoner in June, 1940 and
spent the next four years in a labour
camp. Those years marked him for
life.
A stone’s throw from
our hotel were the white
cliffs and stony beach, now
calm and washed in sun-
shine. Time has removed
most of the evidence of
that dreadful conflict, but
traces remain – the 51st
Highland Division monu-
ment, the French Monu-
ment and the War Cemete-
ry. In the Hotel de Ville is a
“Scottish” room displaying items
from the war – poems, uniforms, com-
memorative plaques.
Such is the complex draw of Nor-
mandy: While the area preserves and
honours its memories of conflict, it
prides itself on being a place of serene
natural beauty, notable historical sites
and a venerable culinary abundance.
Just a two-hour train ride from Paris, it
is a richly layered and battle-scarred
part of the country, in many ways a liv-
ing museum of invasion, conflict and
survival.
Reminders of the war linger every-
where along the coast. It is impossible
to walk the pebbly beaches at the foot
of the chalk cliffs in Dieppe without vi-
sualizing the disastrous Allied raids –
even though the city is now celebrated
for its huge Saturday morning farmers
market and as the site of the world’s
largest kite festival. First-time visitors
may be surprised to learn that – be-
yond the battlegrounds – Normandy
is home to some of France’s prettiest
towns and two of its most visited at-
tractions.
Le Havre – on the coast where the
Seine meets the English Channel – is
one highlight. It was almost entirely
rebuilt after the war, but in a fresh di-
rection, with Belgian architect Au-
guste Perret designing a new modern
city built on the bones of the old one.
Now a UNESCO World Heritage site, it
is a big draw for architecture lovers,
particularly aficionados of reinforced
concrete architecture and modernist
design.
Just across the river, via the Pont de
Normandie, is Honfleur, whose old
harbour has been painted and photo-
graphed innumerable times. Of
course it just one of the dozens of
places in Normandy – some often vis-
ited, some less publicized – that have
attracted artists because of the coastal
light.
Claude Monet’s painting of Le
Havre,Impression, Sunrise,gave the
impressionist movement its name. He
also painted the noble cathedral in
Rouen many times, capturing it in ev-ery light and every season, and as you
walk through the old part of that port
city you can easily imagine the artist
lingering to perfect his vision. He –
and many others, including Gustave
Courbet, Georges Seurat, Jean-Bap-
tiste-Camille Corot, Jean-François Mil-
let – also painted the cliffs of Étretat, a
quiet corner of France close enough to
Paris to be convenient, but removed
enough to painten plein airin rustic
solitude. Fans of Monet must visit Gi-
verny, about 75 kilometres from the
capital, which served as his home and
studio and is instantly recognizable
from his famous works.
The Bayeux Tapestry, embroidered
in the 11th century and depicting the
events of the Norman invasion of En-
gland, is another must-see artistic at-
traction, on display at the Musée de la
Tapisserie de Bayeux. The stories told
on the nearly 70-metre-long cloth – of
war and peace, of the old
and the new – weave to-
gether to create a pro-
foundly moving narrative.
But perhaps the most
iconic attraction in Nor-
mandy is Mont Saint-Mi-
chel. The island location
of a medieval Benedictine
abbey constructed in 966,
its isolated architectural
beauty has lured visitors
since it was first built. Do
the guided walk across the tidal flats
to the island and amble up the narrow
streets and ramparts to the top of the
abbey. It is always busy but well worth
the visit. I stopped at a small street
vendor’s cart in one of the lower pas-
sageways for a thin crispy crepe, still
warm from the grill and filled with
whipped cream and caramelized ap-
ples, to fuel the climb to the top.
It was a simple but memorable
meal, much like the impromptu pic-
nic we had one day on a quiet beach,
enjoying slices of fresh baguette, a
chunk of runny Camembert from a lo-
cal fromagerie and a plate of tart ap-
ples and ripe pears – as close to tasting
the region as you can get.
The Norman culinary tradition is a
rich one, having evolved in an area
abundant in seafood, dairy and fresh
produce, and a visitor can savour local
specialties in almost every town. Four
famous cheeses originated here – the
noble Camembert, Livarot, Pont-
l’Évêque and Neufchâtel – and where
better to sample them than close to
their origins? Many of the cheesemak-
ers offer tours and tastings.
The area’s ample apple crops have
resulted in the production of excellent
ciders and the dangerously delicious
calvados, an apple brandy perfect as a
tipple on its own, but lovely in crêpes,
laced into a chicken fricassee or driz-
zled over a tarte. Salt-meadow-raised
lamb, a seafood stew called marmite
Dieppoise and solette, thin fillets of
sole quickly grilled in butter and lem-
on, are some other treats of the local
table.
Thank goodness the best way to
truly appreciate the region is by a lei-
surely exploration by bike or on foot.
Lingering around it all – the half-tim-
bered thatch-roofed chaumières
(country cottages), sloping beaches,
historic abbeys and war memorials –
allows one to witness up close how
traces of the past blend seamlessly
with the modern story of today’s Nor-
mandy.SpecialtoTheGlobeandMailserenely
beautiful
France’sNormandycoastisfullofhistory,culinary
delightsandnaturalwonders.BarbaraRamsayOrrwrites
thatitistheperfectplacetoexploreonfootorbikeWhen most people think of Normandy, the beaches and cliffs that Allied forces stormed during the
Second World War come to mind, but the region has plenty to offer aside from a look at history. Le
Havre, second from top, a UNESCO World Heritage site, draws in architecture fans. Mont Saint-Michel,
third from top, is the island location of a medieval Benedictine abbey constructed in 966. The port of
Honfleur, above, has attracted many artists over the years.
STOCKSTUDIOX(CLIFFS);PEETERV(LEHAVRE);ISTOCK(BRETAGNE);FABIANODP(HONFLEUR)It is a richly
layered andbattle-scarred
part of thecountry, in
many ways a
living museum.