Discovering St. Lô
Our second guided walk of 2021 with Simon Tasset, this time discovering the town of Saint Lô. Some 97% of Saint Lô was destroyed by bombing in 1944 and the architectural style of the town now reflects the overriding urgency and construction methods employed to rebuild the town as quickly as possible after the War.
Picnic and a Mausoleum at Roncey
This event rounded off the summer and it was a real pleasure to eat, drink, chat and laugh together, after so many months of Covid restrictions in the lovely garden our two of our members. From their home we drove the short distance to the Mausoleum just outside Roncey, where we were met by our […]
Visit to St-Sauveur-Le-Vicomte, The Château
Once again, our excellent guide and historian, Simon Tasset, brought another piece of Normandy stone to life and, in his inimitable style, allowed us all to imagine the reality of an earlier time. He explained the relevance and importance of the site of this ancient château, originally of timber construction in a motte and bailey […]
Day out to Giverny – 20th April 2018
For our trip to Giverny, near Vernon, we were blessed with perhaps the warmest day of the year. Due to an early start we arrived in Giverny before it became very busy and we had a wonderful opportunity to see the garden without crowds of other visitors. After a cold spring the tulips were still […]
Lunch at Granville and tour of the old town – 14th June 2017
On one of the warmest days so far in June, sun-lovers met at Le Borsalino on the marina in Granville. We enjoyed a varied and unhurried lunch including seafood, salads, turkey, gammon and pizzas. We then made our way to the old portcullis gate at the entrance to the old town of Granville (known as […]
Oyster farm visit – 13th October 2016
October 13 was a lovely sunny day as 19 of us gathered at the marine supplies shop in Blainville-sur-Mer to spend a morning learning about the production of oysters. Our guide was Claude, who was a mine of knowledge, not just on what happens to today, but also on the history. He explained how oysters […]
The visit to the lighthouse at Gatteville and the island of Tatihou – 9th September 2016
Friday 9th September dawned cloudy and breezy with a threat of isolated showers. We had a long drive ahead of us to get to the top right hand corner of the Cotentin peninsular by 10.45, to visit the lighthouse at Gatteville. There seven of us set off up the 365 steps to get to the top; […]
Beach Picnic -11th August 2016
A picnic, a swim in the sea and a game of bat and ball – some of the simple pleasures of the annual beach picnic, one of my favourite Anglophone events, held this year on 11th August. It was a cool blustery day, but at least the sun was shining. We gathered on the […]
Coutances Cathederal – February 26th 2016
“Wear warm clothes” came the surprising advice from the organisers. Well, it is still February so why would we need the reminder? 27 of us met at the appointed hour and were split into 2 groups, because some parts of the tower structures cannot support more than 14 people. Our group started at the bottom, […]
Haras National de Saint Lô – October 28th 2015
One fine Wednesday in October (yes, really, it was a lovely day!) twenty Anglophones paid a visit to the Haras National Stud Farm in Saint Lo. The centre concentrates on breeding the Selle Francais (the French warmblood horse), Percheron and the Norman Cob (a grey work horse). The architecture is stunning and the space is […]