LATE AVAILABILITY INDEPENDENT HOLIDAY COTTAGES IN NORMANDY
PRIVATE HOLIDAY COTTAGES IN NORMANDY
- Home
UK Holiday Cottage Search
French Properties
- Advertise Your Holiday Home
- Owners' Update
- Our Other Sites
- Read Our Blog!
back
search again
Scroll down the page to see self catering gites, villas, apartments and holiday accommodation to rent in Normandy - France. Properties are listed in random order. Please scroll down the page to see all our holiday properties to rent in Normandy. Accommodation is listed in random order.
Ref: fno3087
SPECIAL OFFERS >24th Nov - 1st Dec
1st Dec - 8th Dec
Maritime Normandy, famous for World War II landing beaches, Bayeux tapestry, camembert cheese and home to the impressionist artist Monet, is probably the most familiar French region to the British. Jump on a ferry from Portsmouth to Caen or Le Havre or from Newhaven to Dieppe and in a few hours you are in the heart of a familiar yet contrasting country to our own. Normandy is a large coastal region consisting of Haute and Basse Normandie separated by the Seine flowing from Paris via Rouen to the English Channel at Le Havre.
Haute Normandie is only an hour or so from the Eurotunnel entrance and Calais and Boulogne ports in Picardy being just 90 minutes north of Paris and Disneyland Paris for feasible day trips. This is an ideal family holiday area as an alternative to the more expensive self catering accommodation near Paris. Rouen and Amiens are a must, easily achieved if based in the peaceful Bresle Valley. Basse Normandie incorporates the Conetin peninsular, and the alternative car ferry from Poole into Cherbourg. The hilly area around picturesque Domfront in Orne is very reminiscent of the Alps, and is known as “Petit Suisse'.
The D-Day landings on June 6th 1944 were the largest in history, and pivotal in the allies’ subsequent victory in World War II. The landing beaches of Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha and Utah are now bucket and spade beaches backed by sand dunes. There are many memorials, cemeteries and museums in the area but the best one is the Caen Memorial and Museum for Peace which traces the events of the 1930s leading to World War, Cold War developments and more recently international terrorism. These days the exclusive coastal resorts of Deauville, Trouville and Honfleur are as chic as the Cote d’azur!
The Bayeux tapestry is a fascinating 200ft tapestry depiction of the Norman conquest of England, over 50 cartoon like scenes depicts the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings. The town itself still has some surviving medieval half timbered colombage style buildings, and is also capital of the Calvados department, famous for the apple brandy enjoyed as a drink and widely used in Norman cuisine.
Rouen, the third largest port in France, is reputedly home to a hundred spires, including the glorious gothic cathedral of Notre Dame which was famously painted by Claude Monet. Both William the Conqueror and Joan of Arc died in Rouen. Every December the streets are lined with festive Christmas Market stalls.
Normandy is a year round and accessible holiday destination, rent a family gite or self catering country cottage in the summer, when temperatures are warmer than England and crowds non existant, or stay in a chambres d’hote or B and B accommodation for a few nights as a last minute break to enjoy the varied gardens like those of Monet at Giverney in spring or take in the autumn colours. Foodies will adore both traditionally meaty fare as well as fresh seafood, often with creamy sauces or cooked in cider or calvados, and of course cheese. Less popular are Andouillette sausages, lets just say there is more offal in these than most sausages and an acquired taste! Neufchatel cheese is special because it’s delightfully heart shaped. If you love beaches, art, historical museums, gourmet food and unspoiled rolling countryside then you will love Normandy!