Tag: Normandy

A visit to Yport invariably signifies that we are nearing the end of our tour. There would be another stop nearer Calais on our last night but we choose Yport because we can then visit our favourite restaurant in Normandy (Le Nautique) and the dogs can be seen by their vet in nearby Fecamp – it’s a legal requirement that a vet feed the dogs ‘tenia’ tablets before they can re-enter the UK.

We spent our last Monday morning in France down by the beach in Yport having a pleasant brunch on the terrace outside Le Petit Saint Pierre. The afternoon was about visiting Fecamp and getting the dogs seen by the vet and then stopping at the large Leclerc at Saint Leonards to top up Vanya’s stock of Cremant.

Le Nautique is closed Mondays but we stopped by as they opened on the Tuesday lunchtime and reserved a table for the evening. Everything went smoothly.

Tuesday night was all about Le Nautique and the best huitres (oysters) and the best Moules (mussels) in Normandy, all served with the local dry cider and a bottle of Muscadet. The proprietor remembered us from when we last visited during the Spring. No one forgets Beanie and Nala, especially since Nala has been in her ‘walking wheels’. He was working in the kitchen that day but his son (who usually cooks) was happy to look after us and, as always, the welcome, the sevice and the food was outstanding.

We look forward to returning next Spring. Meanwhile, we had one more night in France at a place called Ambleteuse in the Hauts de France Region.

We were on our way to Yport for a couple of days (a) to enjoy a meal at our favourite restaurant in Normandy (Le Nautique) and (b) to stock up on Vanya’s Cremant before catching the ferry home later in the week and (c) to pop in on the Vets in Fecamp so that the dogs can be made ready for their return to the UK. First, however, Vanya wanted to pop in on Honfleur.

I have been to Honfleur a couple of times before. I like the place and was happy to return for a third visit. Vanya on the other hand has been once before and her reason for wanting to return was…. to see if she still doesn’t like the place!?! How is a man ever going to understand a woman when she exercises that kind of logic?

I like Honfleur except that it attracts tons of tourists and consequently the restaurants charge silly prices (especially with river cruises multiplying as they are) but, I’m probably getting maudlin because it is almost going home time. Vanya isn’t so keen on the place because it attracts too many tourists and, dare I say, she thinks the soul has been ripped out of the place. I can’t argue with her about that.

I’m not going to write a great deal today about Honfleur (nearly everything I could say about the place is captured in previous blog entries – see Tours 2 and 3) but I will post a couple of more rececnt photos if only to show the town hasn’t changed much:-

We ate a very expensive meal down on the harbour (but you pay for the view there as much as anything) and then we did a short wander before returning to the Van and pressing on to Yport.

Les Moulieres (the Mussel Pickers) made us smile. The Normandy Coast is the place for mussels. Bring them on!

So, we’re on our way home to Brighton. Jumieges sits on the northern bank of the Seine River between Le Havre and Rouen and is one of the last stops on our way to Calais and then the UK. We’ll stop at Yport for a couple of nights (as is our custom towards the end of any trip which takes in France) and there will be another final overnight stop closer to Calais (Ambleteuse perhaps) but with 4,000 miles completed during the approach to Jumieges, Tour 10 is almost over.

I’m not sure if it is big enough to take the Van but, while out walking along the River Seine, I stumbled across a small ferry, the Heurteauville Ferry, which crosses the Seine (near Pont -Audemar) to Jumieges. I’ll check the ferry out next time we pass here because it will shave at least 30 kilometres off the journey we made today. It will also save on bridge tolls because the ferry is free.

Jumieges is renowned for it’s abbey or, to be more accurate, it’s abbeys. The original Abbaye de Saint Pierre de Jumieges was founded in 654 by Philibert (later Saint Philibert of Jumieges) and quickly grew into an enormous and prosperous monastery; so much so that it housed more than 900 monks by the time Philibert was succeeded as Abbot by Aichardus. The abbey was destroyed during the 9th century by marauding vikings but rebuilt on an even grander scale by Norman dukes (and with William the Conqueror attending the consecration of the huge Romanesque style Church of Notre Dame in 1067).

The abbey suffered a turbulent time in the following centuries, first by the invading English during the 100 Years War and then by the Huegenots during France’s Religious Wars but; it was the French Revolution which caused most damage and saw the Abbey plundered and closed. Worse was to follow in the aftermath of the revolution with much of the church and it’s surrounding buildings being torn down for the stone.

The ruin now dominates the town…

The abbey was saved from complete destruction during the 19th century by Victor Hugo (as much as anyone) who raised interest popular interest in the ruins when he described them as “the most beautiful ruins in France”. It wasn’t until 2007 however that the Department of Seine Maritime acquired the ruins (together with 15 acres of parkland) and set about opening them to the public as an historical attraction. The abbey complex will forever remain a ruin but there’s more than enough left to recognise and appreciate it’s former glory.

There is one other building in Jumieges which, while not as grand as the abbey once was, is worth a special mention. It is the 11th/12th century parish Church of Saint Valentine which was built at the request of the abbey monks because they didn’t want to be disturbed by the parishioners. It’s one of the more unusual churches I have seen and is full of character and surprises (the altar, lectern and eagle were taken from the abbey and the church holds numerous stone and/or wood carvings of various Saints – including Anne, Catherine, Margaret, Sebastian, Stephen, Nicholas and of course Valentine). Although a little tired (to be expected of an 11th/12th century parish church) the church is remarkably well preserved. Unlike the abbey complex, it was left intact during the French Revolution.

A few paintings adorn the walls inside Saint Valentine’s; one of the more interesting being a 16th century creation entitled ‘A Procession in Honour of Saint Valentine’. In this painting, a plague of rats can be seen running ahead of the procession. This relates to an event which is said to have taken place in Jumieges during the Middle Ages and which was very much linked with Saint Valentine. Legend has it that the head of Valentine (he was beaten and beheaded for proclaiming his faith in Rome during AD280) ended up, hundreds of years later, as a relic in the abbey in Jumieges. One year a plague of rats invaded the village and began to devour the crops, thus posing a threat of famine. When a monk living in the abbey complex saw Saint Valentine three times in his dreams, it was decided the reliquary containing the Saint’s head should be carried in a procession around the village. This was carried out and, to everyone’s astonishment, the rats gathered and followed the procession to the River Seine; then jumped in and drowned. So it was that Saint Valentine became the saviour of the parish. There’s not many people outside of Jumieges know that.

Leaving aside the abbey and the church, there’s little else to Jumieges but the locals couldn’t have been more friendly. Vanya and I had a little wander with the dogs and I was invited by some locals to go apple picking as part of the annual Fete de Pommes but that was about it.

Oh! There is also a supposedly good Michelin recommended restaurant in the village, Auberge des Ruines, but it being a Sunday and this being France… Instead I ate what can only be described as a deconstructed Shish Kebab cooked by the campsite’s food wagon (and I thoroughly enjoyed it – Well done Camping La Foret).

On to Yport!!

We were on our way from Merville Franceville to Jumieges and paused at the tiny village (some 200 inhabitants) of Beuvron en Auge. I’d been looking at a list of the plus beaux villages de France and noticed that Beuvron en Auge was on the way to Jumieges and just a few miles from Merville Franceville. Given the village’s history and beauty it had to be worth a stop.

Beuvron en Auge is part of the former fiefdom of the renowned Harcourt family. Some of the family accompanied William the Conqueror across the English Channel and after the Battle of Hastings in 1066 received grants of land and titles in England. The majority remained in France (at Beuvron in the Calvados Department and Olonde in the Manche Department) and they became an established formed part of the French nobility but; links between the two branches of the family stayed very much alive; as is demonstrated by the fact that in 1346 John IV of Harcourt, loyal to the King of France, was killed fighting the English at the Battle of Crecy where his brother Geoffrey of Harcourt was Marshall of England and one of the leaders of the victorious English army.

There is little left in Beuvron of the Harcourt family these days. Indeed all that remains of Castle Harcourt is a small mound on which it once stood. However, the remainder of the village is brimming with character and fully deserving of it’s ‘plus beau village de France’ status. There are a couple of buildings in a village which stand out amongst all the others. The first is a large 15th century half timbered Manor House located on the corner of the Avenua de la Gare and the Rue des Haras

The other is the covered market hall at the centre of the village which fits in so well with the 16th and 17th century half timbered houses surrounding it. This particular building was erected in 1975 and there is quite a story behind it.

The original 19th century covered market was unsafe and demolished in 1958. The railway station followed in 1964 and with that came a marked decline in the village’s population as residents were forced to leave in search of employment. The age profile at the time was such that a further significant decline in population was inevitable (and this has proved to be the case) but; there are signs now that the decline has been arrested and this is largely due to the efforts of Michel Vermughen who was Mayor of Beuvron between 1971 and 1996. He took action to ensure the future prosperity of the village by means of, amongst other things, some very effective town planning.

A new motorway being built some way to the north of the village (the A13) further threatened the village but, perhaps with his eye on tourism, the Mayor appealed to the State and various local authorities for assistance in revitalising the ailing village. He sought to regenerate, improve and better promote the already attractive Norman village by (a) restoring the facades of the villages’ many typically Norman half timbered buildings (and to this end enlisted the support of a student specialising in civil architecture and Norman heritage, Yves Lescrouard, to work with the community on restoring the many dilapidated buildings) and (b) sympathetically regenerating the village centre with a ‘new’ covered market hall using traditional building methods and materials (particularly from old barns being pulled down because they were in the path of the new motorway). In this latter regard some 75,000 roof tiles were removed from a ruined barn in Beuzeville to cover the new market. Such initiatives helped transform the village into the best example of a typical Norman village as could be found in the Calvados Department and it become one the first communes in France to secure ‘plus beau village de France’ status.

Beuvron en Auge has been transformed into a most picturesque village and on a fine sunny day I cannot imagine a more perfect place than the village centre to simply sit and chill with a cream coffee or a glass of the local dry cider (or even a calvados for that matter) but, it doesn’t end there. Peaceful as the village may be, there’s a pleasant buzz about the place, a freshness and vitality. It comes, I suspect, as a result of the village being rebuilt and having a future, no matter that it is through tourism.

No surprise that Place de La Halle in the village centre was subsequently renamed Place Michel Vermughen and a plaque carrying his motto “renover dans la tradition” (renovate in tradition) was struck to commemorate the vision and energy of the former mayor. What an example Vermughen sets for Brighton and all those other bungling councils across Britain.

I mentioned previously that just 200 people live in the village now but that number includes the world famous artist David Hockney and his partner. It is perhaps fitting therefore that I finish this entry with a copy of a painting of his which I believe is from his “The Arrival of Spring”. I very much like it.

On to Jumieges…

It took no more than an hour or so to drive south from Yport to the small town of Pont-Audemer and the Belle Isle sur Risle Chateau Hotel & Spa.

Vanya had booked us into the hotel for my birthday and, having been told to do nothing other than relax during our stay, I decided against taking anything other than a very short walk around the town. I cannot therefore tell you much about the place. I know it dates back to the 8th century when it was known as Duos Pontes (Two Bridges) and that it suffered horribly during the 100 Years War (but didn’t just about everywhere in the north of France?). I know too that the town reached it’s heydey during the 18th century, after an influx of English artisans helped revolutionise the local tanning and papermaking industries but; both of those industries have long since failed and the town is now trying to reinvent itself on the back of tourism. I learned all that from ‘plusbeauxdetours.com’.

Parts of Pont-Audemer are very picturesque; especially down by the canals where there is a mix of half timbered houses and some elegant town houses but; during my admittedly short walk I saw little else of interest and there is considerable competition in the tourism sector. Pont-Audemer will not find it an easy sector in which to establish itself.

Having said that, the very welcoming Belle Isle sur Risle Chateau Hotel & Spa attracted us to the town and could quite easily do so again. It proved a very relaxing hotel, reasonably well placed for travel around Normandy and it has a first rate restaurant.

The town rather grandly describes itself as the Venice of Normandy (which really does stretch the imagination) but, in keeping with that portrayal, the hotel is built on an island in the middle of the River Risle. It sits in 5 acres of mature woods and the gardens are quite beautiful. They were planned by the celebrated 19th century horticulteralist, landscape architect and Andean adventurer, Edouard Andre, who designed city parks all around the world, including such places as Monte Carlo, Montevideo, Paris (Les Tuileries) and Liverpool (Sefton Park).

The hotel itself comprises the main building (built in 1856) and a remodelled orangery which together contain 28 rooms and/or suites. We were given a large ensuite room in the former orangery which is described in the hotel brochure as being ‘of hushed elegance’. With it’s art deco furniture, thick carpets, floral curtains and luxury bedding, etc, Vanya and I would describe it as being ‘shabby chic’ but we would mean that in a most complimentary way. The hotel is spotlessly clean, very comfortable and wholly calming.

The spa facilities include an outdoor pool, an indoor pleasure pool, two jacuzzis, a hammam (a type of steam bath), a sauna, a massage room and a fitness room. What else do you need? Regrettably, because of my damaged hand (see Yport blog if you have an unhealthy fascination in injury), I was unable to take advantage of any of those particular facilities but Vanya did while I sat and sipped a large gin & tonic and perused the evening’s menu.

To my mind, Gault & Millau (with their “Yellow Guide” and “Nouvelle Cuisine 10 Commandments”) are as much a reference for gastronomy and hospitality in France as Michelin are. I was delighted therefore to see read that the hotel, it’s restaurant and it’s chef are recognised by Gault & Millau.

Our dinner that evening is best described as a total experience. Everything about the event was perfect. The superb food took centre stage but all other aspects of the occasion had clearly been given considerable thought; from the elegant restaurant setting through all aspects of the friendly and attentive service, the exquisite food & wine and the luxurious and yet comforting ambiance. We couldn’t see the resident pianist from our table but, my goodness, he played well.

For food we chose from the recommended 6 course gourmet meal, which without wine cost 76 Euros per head. The hotel’s wine selection was extensive. At first glance it was also very expensive (starting at 15 Euros a glass for the house white and rising to 4,750 Euros for a bottle of 1959 Chateau Petrus) but, there’s no denying the quality. We gave the Chateau Petrus a miss but we didn’t stint on the wine.

The food was in keeping with the aforementioned 10 commandments – home made bread (baked fresh in the hotel); home made duck foie gras; fresh stir-fried scallops & chorizo (served with samphire & a rich potato puree); a homemade Granite de Pommeau (that’s peach/honey flavour with champagne); a cotriade de poisons for Vanya and a Filet de Boeuf Francaise for me (and the meat was the best ever); four fromage Normands and; I finished with a Pineapple Charlotte topped with a raspberry & mango sauce while Vanya finished with a black chocolate palet covered in all sorts. The chef, Armand Malandain, did not disappoint. The meal ranks among our most memorable.

We would like to have stayed on at the hotel but our ferry back to the UK was booked for the next day and I wanted to overnight somewhere closer to Calais. We’d spend one more night in France at Poix de Picardie.

Postscript: Still on the subject of food; you can’t go to Pont-Audemer without tasting the famous Mirliton or Kazoo. It’s a biscuit roll filled with praline cream and closed at both ends with a small chocolate cap. It looks and tastes delightful.

We arrived in Fecamp in order that the vet could do the necessary with Nala and Beanie to facilitate their return to the UK. Within an hour of arriving we had parked up, seen the vet, had coffee and a pastry for breakfast and were en route to Yport, stopping at a supermarket for Vanya on the way (Vanya will always find room in the Van for a few more bottles of Cremant). We like Fecamp but it is fast becoming a bitter sweet place to visit since, more often than not, it heralds the end of a tour.

Better news is that we had pre-booked a place at our usual campsite in Yport and, best of all, had secured a table for dinner at our favourite restaurant in the town and one of our favourites in Normandy – Le Nautique.

Dinner was a few hours away and so, after parking up at the campsite, I strolled off into Yport, leaving Vanya to sunbathe. She wants a suntan before Iain’s & Orla’s wedding in August and I wanted some sea air.

Yport has barely changed since we were last there. I say ‘barely’ because I did notice one difference in the church. The votive (model ship) which used to hang over the altar now sits amongst various others along the far side of the church. Isn’t it sad when you notice that kind of detail? Hey, no matter. Yport is a great place to chill.

Yport is also a great place to eat. There aren’t many restaurants or cafes in the town but they are all okay and, if you like fish (especially mussels), Le Nautique is outstanding. They love dogs there and the patron chef went out of his way once again to personally find a table for us in our preferred space at the back of the restaurant and cleared a space for Nala and her wheels. He couldn’t have been more accommodating. The welcome, the service, the food & drink and, most important, the concern he showed throughout our repast made for another unforgettable visit.

Vanya particularly likes the mussels at Le Nautique but we were a little concerned that it would be too early in the season for them. We needn’t have worried. They wouldn’t serve them if they weren’t first class. We do love the Nautique.

The next day saw me down at the beach again but this visit didn’t go too well. Would you believe that skimming stones over the waves nearly cost me a finger? I would never have believe that rock could be so sharp. I threw a piece of flint and as it left my hand it literally ripped open the length of my index finger. It was a wide, deep and long cut and boy did it bleed. I’ll not go into any more detail except to say that I couldn’t get any treatment locally. Yport is a very quiet little town. The only place open that particular afternoon was the tourist information office and the lady there couldn’t contact the local doctor, nor the chemist. Moreover she was frightened to death of blood. Fortunately, I keep a fairly comprehensive medical kit in the Van and I was able to sort things myself.

Enough of that. It was my birthday and we were booked into a quite exceptional little hotel a few miles down the road at Pont Odemeyer.

It’s 21 May 2024 and this morning we left Brighton for a short tour of France in the Van. This is Tour number 9 and, all things being equal, we’ll be on the road for between 5 and 6 weeks. Both Vanya and I would prefer to be out longer but there is just too much going on at the moment.

This tour will differ from our others inasmuch that, instead of going where we please (following the sun and changing direction on a whim), we are going to have to restrict ourselves to relatively flat areas close to quieter towns and villages. This is because our German Shepherd dog, Nala, has succumbed to hip dysplasia (a not unusual condition for aging ‘Shepherds’) but, to compound matters, she has also suffered a disc bulge. There’s no remedy for either condition and, while the pain associated with both is being well managed by appropriate medication (not cheap), her mobility is significantly reduced. We’ve purchased a set of wheels to support her back legs and these help her to get out and about (she can handle 4 kilometre walks with the wheels and for the most part she seems very happy with them) but, we have to be careful she doesn’t overstretch herself. Moreover, we must limit ourselves to visiting those places where she can more easily manoeuvre in her wheels. Her spacial awareness is akin to that of a bull in a china shop… bless her.

So, a 07.15 start saw us heading off to Folkestone to take Le Shuttle to Calais and then on to Neufchatel en Bray in Normandy. The journey went like a dream. There was no traffic to speak of as we travelled along the M23, M25, M26 and M20 to Folkestone and we arrived almost two hours before our scheduled train to Calais. We sailed through the Pet Checks, Passport Control, Immigration, etc and were able to catch the 10.18 train instead of the 11.48. The drive from Calais to Neufchatel en Bray was wet but nowhere near as bad as we experienced in Folkestone.

Tomorrow we’ll press on to the Loire Valley but for the moment we’re parked up at Camping Sainte Claire close, not far from the centre of Neufchatel en Bray and just 300 metres from a sizeable Leclerc. Vanya stayed with Nala and Beanie while I obtained essential provisions from the Leclerc, checked out the town’s eating options for the evening and enjoyed a quick beer in the town centre. Of course, ‘essential provisions’ included some decent French wines and the local cheese (this is Normandy) which has to be Neufchatel cheese. Neufchatel, not to be confused with Swiss Neuchatel cheese, is soft, slightly crumbly and grainy with a sharp tangy taste andit is often produced in a heart shape…

Dinner was at a small but very friendly and accommodating Italian restaurant in the town centre, Le Catanzaro. Yes, I know this is France but it is a Tuesday and many French restaurants are closed on a Monday and Tuesday evening. Hey, we were lucky to find somewhere that would accommodate Nala and her wheels and; the food (and wine – we insisted on a Sancerre in preference to the Italian choices) was excellent.

The town was almost totally destroyed during World War II and then rebuilt along more practical lines but; unfortunately, this makes for very little in terms of photo opportunities. Nevertheless…

And on to the Loire Valley…

Saint Pierre en Port was to be our last overnight stop before we took the Shuttle from Calais back to the UK. It is a little further from Calais than I intended (just over 150 miles on mostly slow roads) but we were there for two nights and wanted a comfortable campsite (with a bar and restaurant) close to Fecamp, such that we could get the dogs seen by our usual vet. We settled on the campsite ‘Huttopia Les Falaise’ above the cliffs at Saint Pierre en Port.

We managed to get the dogs seen by the vet on our first day at Saint Pierre en Port (see previous blog on Fecamp), leaving another whole day to chill and/or explore the area. We filled that morning taking the dogs for walks and I spent the afternoon watching England’s final Group D match against Samoa in the Rugby World Cup. It ended 18-17 in England’s favour but what a scrappy performance. They may get through the next round but, thereafter, forget it.

Saint Pierre en Port is a tiny village but it has all the basics; a bar restaurant (Le Saint Pierre), a small store, a boulangerie and a chemist. The little beach is a short but steep walk (some 300 metres) down through a gap in the cliffs. I was surprised by the number of locals swimming down there.

The camp site is perched at the top of the cliffs with good views out to sea. It was taken over by the Huttopia chain some time within the last two years and they completely renovated the place. It is spotlessly clean and has excellent facilities including a heated swimming pool. I suspect it would be an expensive place to stay in the high season but ACSI discounts apply early in October and it proved very good value for money. This would be an excellent place to stay were we using the Newhaven – Dieppe ferry.

But that was it. Tour 8 ended the next day with us driving on to Le Shuttle at Calais and making our way back to Brighton. It was a relatively short tour; just 34 days because of Vanya’s appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon but, once again we packed much in. Roll on the spring and Tour 9.

You know the Tour is approaching it’s end when we reach Fecamp. That’s our ‘go-to’ place for the dogs’ tapeworm treatment (as required by the UK authorities).

Parking at the usual place on the harbour we made our way up past the Palais Benedictine to the vet. Thereafter, we would find time for a spot of lunch and a quick look around (not necessarily in that order).

The Palais Benedictine, where Benedictin has been produced since 1863, looks as splendid as ever. I don’t think I mentioned previously, it is a myth that the liqueur was concocted by Benedictine monks. Alexander Grand had a chemist help him develop the drink and then used the story about the monks to help promote it. No matter; it’s not a bad liqueur and; it’s produced in a truly impressive building.

Vanya wanted to spend a little time in the Van on her own and so I went off for a short tour of the town. I’d been to Fecamp three times before and not once seen inside the church of Saint Etienne and I was determined to try again. Sod’s law! I made it inside this time but all three of the naves were curtained off while the stained glass windows were being cleaned. Such bad luck.

The local priest must have seen or felt my disappointment because, after explaining why the naves were curtained off, he invited me to join him in an ante-room at the back of the church and gave me a preview of a large olive wood carving of the Nativity. It was stored, ready for the Christmas festivities, and it is a real work of art. To give some idea of scale, each human figure in the carvings below is about 12 inches high.

It was time to eat so I set off to rejoin Vanya and the dogs, taking a circuitous route around the harbour and past the small fish market.

Lunch outside ‘La Progress’ on the Quai Berigny was fantastic. Vanya went for her favourite, the Moules. I opted for the three course Plat du Jour, enjoying oysters as a starter, the biggest bucket of mussels you’ve ever seen as a main (served with the best ever chips) and finished with a very strong calvados sorbet. The service was excellent and I’d use that place again.

With the dogs fit and us fed we moved on to Saint Pierre en Port, just to the east of Fecamp, for what remained of the day and the night. The following afternoon would see us head for Calais and the train to Folkestone. Tour 8 was rapidly reaching it’s conclusion.