A Postcard From Normandy

I have slowly been coming down to earth with a bump since returning home from a weeks holiday. We stayed in the picture postcard village of Le Bec Hellouin, which is one of 'Les Plus Beaux Villages de France' (The Most Beautiful Villages of France). The village gets its name from the stream (bec) which runs alongside it and from Herluin, the founder of its eleventh century abbey.

Not only oh most pleasing to the eye this was a most tranquil spot. We stayed in a house on the outskirts of the village - you can see the view from our bedroom window in the middle photo of the bottom row. From the house it was but a short distance along the road (middle top row photo) into the village. Traffic was extremely light so it was a most pleasant walk. The only noise (if you can call it that) we heard all week was the regular pealing of the abbey bells, bird and cricket song and the neighing of the horses from the nearby riding stables. Like most places large or small in France there was a fine restaurant, which came across on the first evening and where we had a delicious meal. We managed to be restrained and returned only the once for lunch on the last day. We were in easy reach of some delightful walks including access to a Voie Verte (Green Way), which from what I could gather, followed an old railway track for some 26 miles, with Le Bec Helloin being one of the settlements en route.

Sadly we did not manage to fit in any garden or nursery visiting but as usual French roadside planting lived up to my expectations - if only you could stop the car at roundabouts to take photos. However we did get to see more chateaux and of course eat more gateaux so more to come shortly from Normandy.