Normandy France tour 9/9 traditional food

 

Pork skin pate, pressed beef cheek, intestines sausages, tripe stew, liver pate….. traditional food is still available and well appreciated in France.

 

 

Normandy France tour 8/9 Cider and Calvados tasting

No just we learn a lot from visiting the cider and calvados production houses, it is also a pleasure to wander around the grounds of these multi-generations family business, with the old buildings in great conditioins.
 

Calvados is distilled cider, with an alcohol content over 40%, aged in various oak casks like sherry, whiskey, port etc for the colour and rounded deep flavor.

 Christian Drouin::

 

 

 Cider is made from special cider apples that have a lot of fragrance and tannin, most houses have a mix of over 30 types, fermented at arond 15˚c for 2 to 3 months, for the rich flavor, bottled under pressure so that it is very bubbly like champagne on opening, with only 4% alcolhol.

Dupont:

Normandy France tour 7/9 Cheese tasting

Met rainy weather while in the Pays d'Auge area, the best thing to do is go round the cheese area to visit museum and production houses, with tasting of course. 

Camenbert

Camenbert

Camenbert

Camenbert

Liverot

 

cheese tasting paired with a sharp cider

 

Normandy France tour 6/9 Pays D’Auge

It is ust a bit north east of Swiss Normandy, has totally different characters, gentle low hills with many apple orchards and dairy farms, houses with exposed timber structures, very homely feel, no fortification nor castle in the area.

It is the key production area of Normandy cheeses, Camembert, Liverot, Pont l’Eveque and Neufchâtel, all named after the town, and also cider and calvados from apple.

The villages here are all very charming, lovely to wander around, but lack the history and grandeur of Swiss Normandy area.

Blangy le chateau:

 

Beuvron en Auge:

Beaumont en Auge, situated on top of a hill, with a panorma view of the area from town center:

Grilled camenbert with truffle, so simple yet so morish:

Normandy France tour 5/9 Bagnoles de l’Orne

 

A spa town with very different atmosphere then the rest, grand buildings, wide roads, lake in the middle and long walking path around. A place with a long history of having visitors for health benefits. 

 

 

A  great loop walk in Gorges de Villiers, just 2.5km, from the hill top down to river, along the river and back up the hill. In an hour, saw glacier rocks piles, pretty water with nice small bridges, dense forest and dairy cow pasture, really worth the small effort. 

Normandy France tour 4/9 Lassay les chateaux

 

A small town famous for having 3 chateaux, once, now only one is still standing. It is a small chateau, but still surrounded by fortified walls and 8 towers, in perfect condition, and lived in.

The town is pretty with many plant pots, hanging baskets and flowering corners everywhere.