Normandy - La Ferme Des Isles

Our next destination was the charming Ferme Des Isles located near Autheuil-Authouillet. We arrived in the late afternoon after a drive with a pit-stop for wine and calvados to be greeted by the charming Francois and Sylvia.

After a tour of the grounds and our room we met the Farm's domestic animals; two dogs (Jet and Dirty) and two cats (Gremoulin and Glowee) and both of us fell in love with them all.

After a chance to clean up and enjoy a beverage we headed off to a local restaurant for a very good dinner before returning to the Farm for a late night tipple and relaxation
in the garden.

The next day was a day of touring and rather than the normal dynamic duo this time we were a Terrific Trio!








The other guest at the farm was Ai, a young lady from Japan who was visiting France for three months but did not drive and spoke only a little English and French. Our host asked us if it would not be too much trouble to take her along should we go out touring and so we obliged.


We hopped in the car and drove off to Vascoeuil to visit the sculpture gardens and chateau.

It was well worth the visit as the sculpture gardens hold some very interesting pieces, the little museum to Michelet was quite cool, and the exhibition of the artist Roland Cat was fascinating.

On the way back we stopped for a crepe lunch (noting that the diminutive Ai has no trouble packing back the French food) and a visit to the ruins of Chateau Gaillard which was unfortunately closed for a visit but still accorded amazing views of the Seine.


Then it was back to the farm for some relaxation before enjoying a lovely dinner (salmon tartar being the star of the night) with our hosts and other guests (including Ai).

We enjoyed white wine and then calvados as the sun set on our last night in the Norman countryside.


After dinner, we all went off on a walk around the property with the dogs. It was a lovely stomp through the field of hay to the side of the little stream that runs through the property and then back to the farmhouse.

Our two nights at Ferme Des Isles were wonderful (albeit a bit hot in the non air conditioned room) and the hospitality of our hosts was exceptional.

We left Normandy having only seen a fraction of its treasures but excited to see Paris after a five year hiatus and on a night like no other!

Normandy - Juno Beach and La Pommeraye

We left La Louviere after three wonderful nights and headed to our next destination, Chateau  De La Pommeraye near Clecy, Calvados.

A detour to visit Chateau d'O (sadly not yet open for the season) and the Tiger Tank at Vimoutiers added a bit to the drive but we didn't mind as driving in the French countryside is a treat when the weather is as perfect as it was.

Before arriving at our B&B we also stopped for a lunch of moules mariniers at an odd roadside restaurant.

Being the only patrons there (there had been a few others but we arrived late) we ended up chatting with the little old lady that ran the place.

Inevitably she hit it off with Christos and ended up giving him a record of Pierre Spiers, of which she had a stack of perhaps a half dozen for sale at 2 euros each, as a parting gift.

We also popped into a small Calvados producer that had been in operation since 1769 but was just a family business. Inevitably a bottle came home with us.

We arrived at our next B&B in the late afternoon and booked dinner at the Chateau. Dinner was very good with wonderful grilled shrimp, (superb) scallops, risotto and (of course) cheese followed by an after dinner calvados for Christos.

As there were few guests and Alexander the manager (owner?) liked Canadians, he upgraded us to a suite!

The Chateau and grounds were simply lovely and idyllic with tame horses nearby, a walk along a "roman road" to a nearby ruined castle (we opted not to enter as it was undergoing excavations), a fish pond, gorgeous common rooms on the first floor filled with art and books, rooms with amazing views, nearby tame horses and the calm serenity of the country.

The next day we headed off to visit Juno Beach, the site of the Allied landing in Normandy on June 6, 1944.  Juno Beach had been stormed by (amongst others) Canadian troops and it was quite a costly landing. We visited the museum and then toured an old German fortification, part of which had only been uncovered in 2010.



After the moving experience at Juno Beach, we headed to Bayeux to see the famous tapestry as well as the lovely cathedral followed by a wander through the quaint old town.

We made it back to the B&B with enough time to rest a bit before it was time to head to nearby Pont D'Ouilly for dinner we had the best meal of our entire time in France! It was in fact one of the best meals we have ever had ....

The restaurant was the Pomme D'Ouilly and Lisa started with foie gras (superb) while Christos had a parsnip veloute with bacon and raspberry (!?) that was amazing. Lisa had an amazing cut of beef with a wonderful spicy sauce while Christos had five lovely scallops served with a side of mashed celery as entrees. Desert was a wonderful poached pear for Lisa and a two mousse chocolate cake for Christos.

We stayed up late sitting by the Chateau's fish pond drinking wine, chatting and listening to the sounds of the countryside before retiring to bed and watching a little "Rick and Morty" on the iPad until we both drifted off.

The next day was a Sunday and we opted for a visit to a nearby lookout and hiking park called Roch D'Oetre.

The view from the rock was stellar and the hike down into the ravine, along the Rouvre river and then out into the countryside before arriving back at the start was a wonderful 6.7km, 2 hour trek.

After a brief lunch of fries and beer (water only for Lisa) we decided to do another small (1.8 km) hike down into the ravine and back out.

Finally at 5PM we attended about a 1/2 hour of a concert given by a Anglo-Rock Duo known as Potlatch. Quite fun but we had to get back to the B&B with enough time to freshen up and rest before dinner so we could not stay for the 2 hour event!

We arrived back at La Pommeraye for a bit of relaxation before our 8PM reservation at a different local restaurant called La Gavotine (as Pomme D'Ouilly was closed this evening) where we had a wonderful meal. Christos started with the home smoked salmon which he loved so much that he ordered a take away portion for lunch the next day! Lisa started with escargot, a French classic. We both had the slow roasted pork with potatoes, veg and gravy. All very rustic and excellent stuff; perfect after our day hiking in the sun!

Then it was back to La Pommeraye for another evening outside with wine before retiring to bed in preparation for the next day's drive east towards Paris.

The Norman Invasion - La Louviere

We arrived in Paris on a sunny and hot Tuesday morning after an uneventful overnight flight from Toronto. Given our ten day time frame we had decided to only take in Paris at the end of the trip so we hopped in our rental car (Madame White) and started the 3 hour drive to our B&B near Alencon in the heart of Normandy.

We arrived shortly before our expected check-in time so we had a quick drink at a local bar while waiting to enter the grounds of the lovely La Louviere.

The property is a large walled in garden/woods complete with a duck pound, an outer cottage and several romantic resting spots to wander to as well as the restored 18th Century large farmhouse.

Our charming hosts welcomed us in and showed us to the lovely suite we had booked. After a quick tour of the gardens, the amiable ancient retriever Venus (pictured) soon became our friend (she is a sucker for belly rubs) although the cat Shadow remained unseen until the second day.

After a chance to clean up and rest for a bit it was off to Alencon for dinner at the Rive Droite, a restaurant located in the same building that General LeClerc used as his HQ during the liberation of France in 1944! It was then back to La Louviere for a good night's sleep in the countryside.

Our next day was a tour of Alencon including a visit to the musee Des Baux Artes et la Dentelle.

La Dentelle is "lace", a product Alencon was famous for beginning in the 17th Century. The museum also housed a small but lovely collection of paintings as well as a section devoted to Cambodia during its domination by the French.

While we had both been skeptical of how much we would enjoy the lace exhibit, it was actually quite fascinating as neither of us had realized the level of intricacy and work required to make the pieces. An intro film whetted our appetite to see the museum's pieces of lace from the 17th and 18th centuries and they did not disappoint!

We made it back to our B&B for a little relaxation by the pond and in the room before we had dinner at La Louviere with two other couples who were staying there. It was a tasty dinner of gamecock poached in cider (a product Normandy is famous for) as well as all the usual French trimmings (salad to start, cheese plate etc). Unfortunately Lisa was still not fully acclimatized to France and could not get through much of dinner (Christos did manage to finish her fowl, mind you).

The next day we toured the area and visited a local Bicycle Museum that had a significant section dedicated to the Tour de France.

The museum had bikes and jerseys from famous Tour de France participants as well as a portrait gallery of every winner. Interestingly, the portrait of Lance Armstrong still hung on the wall but with a black X marked over it!

That night we had dinner in nearby Saint Ceneri Le Gerei, one of the 200 prettiest villages of France.

Dinner was yummy, we shared terrine to start followed by magret for Lisa and beef for Christos. After dinner we enjoyed a walk through the lovely village before heading back to La Lauviere for our final night before heading to the Calvados region within Normandy.

Off we go!