I’ve been asked a few times if there is anything to do and see in Normandy for ‘the ladies’ by guests who don’t share their menfolks enthusiasm for all the amazing D-Day museums and sites.
The simple answer to that is… OUI!

I have to start this blog by saying that we’ve had many lady guests who’ve loved the D-Day sites and many chaps that aren’t interested so of course I’m not saying that all our female guests want to shop ’til they drop’ or go to a lace making demonstration and all the chaps want to delve down into a bunker or admire a tank so I’ll try and avoid any stereotype labelling… but here are just a few of the many, many things that don’t involve a tank or memorial. Those things are poignant and worth a visit of course so I’ll cover them in more detail in a future blog.

There’s something for everyone in Normandy! So, lets go and explore some Normandy gems…

SHOPPING IN STYLE
Deauville oozes style and you can shop ’til you drop at many designer boutiques. You’ll be spoilt for choice at Louis Vuitton (my personal favourite), Hérmes, Cartier and Sonia Rykiel and you’ll also find shoes, clothes and perfums by Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix, Gucci, Hugo Boss and Jimmy Choo inside the charming department store Printemps.

Printemps really is worth a stroll around so you can soak up its lovely French chic charm. When I went there with my nieces, they bought a small bracelet each and the sales assistant couldn’t have made them feel more special, each item was beautifully and carefully wrapped and handed over to them with stylish aplomb. Oh la La!

Deauville has two other main streets to explore: Rue Desiré-le-Hoc and Rue Eugène Colas, where you’ll find a number of small boutiques selling clothing, jewellery and various local French products and Avenue de la République has shops selling antiques, knick-knacks and French delicacies.

And a short drive along the coast, just outside Honfleur is the designer outlet village if you like a bargain.
https://vimeo.com/289629305

LALIQUE GLASS
For over a century, Lalique has stood for exceptional ‘savoire-faire’ à la Française (tradtional French know-how) and Lalique glass is still sought after today as much as it ever has.
René Lalique was best known for his glass art creations, in the 1920s he became famous for his work in the Art Deco style. He was responsible for the walls of lighted glass and elegant glass columns which filled the dining room and grand salon of the SS Normandie, not to mention the beautiful perfume bottles we’re more familiar with.

You can see his exquisite work at the Notre Dame de la Fidélité Chapel at nearby Douvres le Délivrande, where in the 1930s, he redesigned the interior of the Convent of Notre-Dame-de-Fidélité chapel. 
If you like the understated elegance and serenity of the famous Lalique glass then you’ll love the chapel’s interior as it really is an exceptional work of art. 

Situated in a quiet courtyard you’ll be welcomed at a window by one of the nuns who live in the convent. They will provide you with an entrance ticket (it was €3 last time I visited) and show you in to the convent.
The atmosphere is calm and peaceful – we visited immediately after a visit to the beautifully colourful windows of the Basilica Notre-Dame de la Délivrande at the nearby town square. The light and colours at the Basilica are incredibly bright so entering the Lalique chapel is a huge contrast. There is no colour at all to distract your eyes from the serene beauty of Lalique’s opaque glass. It really is stunning, the alter cross and 6 candlesticks are stunning and the huge colourless windows behind it are staggeringly beautiful.
The door of the current tabernacle, in Caen stone, is the only piece with its original chromed steel frame. The luminosity of the dove within it varies according to the angle you view it from.
The large hanging sanctuary lamp is fitted with a white bulb as instructed by Lalique who wanted “nothing to alter the whiteness and transparency of the slabs”.

The chapel is one of the first monumental buildings to use slabs of glass, an architectural technique that René Lalique was the forerunner of, and which he used for the first time in the Coty building in New York in 1912. 

The Congregation of Our Lady of Fidelity at the convent is a congregation of women founded in 1831 which has as its primary goal the education of young women, especially orphans.

SAINT-JAMES: THE FAMOUS FRENCH STRIPES
Inspired by the beautiful bay of Mont-Saint-Michel and the sheep bred in the local salted meadows for their wool, Saint-James knitwear is an iconic French marine clothing label for women, men and children. Established in 1889, the brand is known for their range of quality striped shirts, sweaters & jackets.

They have a shop in Bayeux and there is a shop within a shop of Saint James clothing and shoes in the Comptoir de la Mer shop on the quayside in nearby Port en Bessin, both about 20 minutes from Le Pressoir.

The Comptoir de la Mer shop https://www.comptoirdelamer.fr/magasins/port-en-bessin in Port en Bessin also sells and amazing array of beautiful home decor items, delicious local preserves and biscuits and you can even buy yourself a new fishing rod and tackle if thats your thing.

To quote them on their Interior decor range –

THE LADIES’ ABBEY
Founded around 1060 by Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror. The Abbaye-aux-Dames in Caen was home to a community of Benedictine nuns until the French Revolution.
 The convent buildings were mostly rebuilt in the 18th century and became, in turn, a military garrison, a poorhouse, a hospital in 1823 and a hospice in 1908. 
The buildings were restored in 1984  to what you see today. 
The cloisters gallery has a beautiful example of fan-shaped vaults. The guided tour allows visitors to discover the interior architecture, the neo-Classical décor and a number of rooms.
 The abbey church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity on 18 June 1066 remains a masterpiece of Norman Romanesque architecture. 


Queen Matilda rests in the presbytery under a slab of black Tournai marble. The capitals of the apse display a variety of fantastical animals drawn from the bestiary and the underground crypt of Saint Nicholas, which can be seen only on guided tours, is remarkable for its forest of columns and the capital showing the Last Judgement. 
Guided tours in French and English every day at 2.30 p.m. and 4 p.m. 

Oh, by the way, there is also a Abbaye-aux-Hommes (Mens Abbey) in Caen –

THE BOTANICAL GARDEN BAYEUX
This calm little gem in Bayeux is a treat for the soul, set amongst towering mature trees the garden is full of plants from all over the world and most of the planted beds include plaques to explain their origins, their medicinal properties or their rarity. There is a cactus house and a sweet little book box where people leave books for others to enjoy.

I recently went there with Mallory and Ben of France of a Lifetime Tours while they were staying with us researching setting up one of their tours in our region. As we were leaving our own tour of the gardens Mallory selected a few books to take home. We joked that ‘books don’t grow on trees’ and we all loved that rather than books being thrown away, visitors are encouraged to leave books they no longer want and to take away any they’d like to read. How charming is that.

The early spring flower beds are already blooming and it will just get prettier and prettier throughout the late spring and summer.

In the heart of the gardens you’ll discover the truly amazing and imposing 160 year old Bayeux Weeping Beech that has just become the runner up in the European Tree of the Year award, personally I think it was the clear winner and I’ll do a future blog just about this magnificent tree and it’s incredible support system so watch this space.

LEARNING TO STITCH, BAYEUX TAPESTRY STYLE
Fancy embroidering your own medieval masterpiece using the very same stitching technique used to make the Bayeux Tapestry? 
If so you can book a workshop with Chantal James, master craftswoman embroiderer at Bayeux Broderie. 

Although not included in the workshop price, a visit to the original Tapestry might be worth doing so that you better appreciate the embroidery art form and also to marvel at this 955-year-old UNESCO listed masterpiece! 
Situated just across the road from the Bayeux Tapestry Museum is Bayeux Broderie, the shop and workshop run by Chantal, who is skilled in the technique used to make the Tapestry – the Bayeux stitch. 

You start by choosing the images you’d like to embroider. The embroidery kits include a pre-designed linen canvas, needle, wool, embroidery hoop and instructions. Chantal will talk you through it step by step, starting with the stem stitch. She then teaches you how to do a straight stitch – lengthwise, stretching the threads, then the needle goes in and out on the same side.
Watch this charming video about the experience.

Bayeux Broderie workshop packages:
€61: Small (30cm x 25cm), €69: Medium (40cm x 35cm), €104: Large (70cm x 60cm), €121: Extra large (90cm x 60cm) Prices are per person (adults and children aged 9 and over) and include a two-hour workshop, embroidery hoop, embroidery kit (100% linen canvas design), wool, Bohin needle, coloured diagram and instructions.

LA VIE EN ROSE – SMELL THE ROSES
Villa Les Rhumbs, Christian Dior’s childhood home in Granville, is a Belle Epoque style 19th century clifftop villa overlooking the turquoise sea below.

It is the only ‘Musée de France’ labeled French museum dedicated to the couturier and showcases his Haute Couture garments on three floors. The garden, arranged as an English landscape park by Madeleine Dior, the fashion designer’s mother, is one of the rare today remaining artists’ gardens of the early twentieth century.

As you enter the garden, enjoy the calm of the surroundings. Stroll through the Dior garden in spring to discover the rose garden created by Madeleine Dior, Christian’s mother and become intoxicated by the subtle scent of roses and sea air that make this garden so charming.
In the summer there are perfume workshops in the intimate setting of Madeleine Dior’s reading room, enjoying the magnificent sea view. The workshops are given in French but you can follow along even if you don’t speak French.

I’ll do a full blog about the Christian Dior House, Gardens and our lovely Champagne Lunch soon so watch this space.
In the meantime you can watch this –
https://youtu.be/jEx6m_-blNc

HORSES FOR COURSES
Do you have a love of horses or simply curious about the world of racing?
Whichever it is, the Estivales de Cabourg is a memorable evening out. Every summer for two months, Cabourg Hippodrome (racecourse) vibrates to the rhythm and excitement of night trotting races and horse racing events, in a thrilling atmosphere. 

If you’ve never attended a horse race at night, prepare to be amazed! 

Every Tuesday and Friday during summer, the best trotters compete to the cheers of the public, in an electric atmosphere! You can bet on your favourite horse and jockey and let yourself be carried away by the excitement of a night race, either from the course-side bleachers, listening to the pounding of hooves approaching at breakneck speed, or take to the skies, and follow the races from the stylish, panoramic restaurant.
We can highly recommend the panoramic restaurant option. The food is excellent, the view is amazing and you can even bet from your table while you dine!

What is Trotting I hear you ask… the difference between normal horse racing and trotting is that a trotter horse moves its legs forward in diagonal pairs (right front and left hind, then left front and right hind striking the ground simultaneously), whereas a pacer moves its legs laterally (right front and right hind together, then left front and left hind). A trotter also has to stay in ‘trot’ and not break into a gallop, it’s quite a skill for them and if they do break into a gallop huge shouts are heard from the bleachers as the horse and jockey are disqualified from the race. The Hippodrome also holds daytime races if you don’t want to venture out in the evening.

Place your bets!

DING DONG
If you love bells and copper pots then you’ll really enjoy Villedieu-les-Poêles with it’s picturesque high street, copper cooking pot shops, and pavement cafés and restaurants.

Colourful flags and flowers decorate the elegant Mairie in the high street and beautifully crafted brass pots, tools and sculptures gleam in shop windows. Quiet alleys between the houses lead to a clear stream where ducks dip and dive between swaying reeds. 

At the Cornille Havard Foundry you can discover nine centuries of tradition, from ancient tools to the most modern techniques. The foundry holds fascinating tours in French and English.
The Foundry has a long tradition of bell founders, established in Villedieu-les-Poêles since the Middle Ages.
In the heart of it’s unique 19th century workshop, ancient tools and practices are mixed with cutting-edge technology. More than a hundred monumental bells are cast each year. Renowned for its excellence, Cornille Havard made the new bells for Notre Dame de Paris in 2013.

At the end of the visit, you can ring a few melodies yourself with a mallet or listen to the carillon and visit the foundry shop where you will find the best of local craftsmanship: bells, art foundry, weather-vanes, culinary and traditional copperware, decorative and collector’s items, jewellery and souvenirs… Ding Dong!

THATS NOT ALL FOLKS…

These are just a few of the gems of Normandy that don’t involve a tank or a memorial and in the coming weeks I’ll share even more wonderful things to do in Normandy that don’t involve a tank or bunker including letting you in on the secret of some fabulous local Brocantes where you can browse and buy to your hearts content. They really are fascinating places to pick up some authentic French goodies and we can even take you on a Brocante Tour if you’d like – let me know what you think.

Bye for now, or should I say, à bientôt