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Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

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Original poster

Normandy and Brittany - help!

12 replies

beginnings · 17/04/2013 22:15

Can you lovely lot help me? We're thinking of a week in Normandy and a week in Brittany at the end of May/beginning of June. DD will be 12mos and is a pain in the neck of an eater and I'll be about 25 weeks pregnant. DH has never been to this part of France so we want to do the war cemeteries, Bayeux, Mont St Michel and then head to Brittany for a week of laziness, possibly in a gite. Any suggestions? We'll have the car. I thinking Caen - Portsmouth makes the most sense....

OP posts:

Irishmammybread · 17/04/2013 22:31

Hi. Arromanches is a lovely little town on the Normandy Coast,about 8k from Bayeux and an hour from Caen ,so not far to drive once you get off the ferry. The tourist office website has lots of details of places to rent/stay in the town. In the bay you can see the remains of the "Mulberry Harbour" from WW2, there's a really good museum and you're easy striking distance to war cemetries,bunkers and lots of other places of interest relating to WW2. The beach is a perfect for paddling and sandcastles and there's a good selection of restaurants and eateries. We first visited the town years ago(DH's grandfather landed on the beach on D-Day so we wanted to see the floating harbour he helped build) and liked the place so much we've been back many times, our DCs love it. It does get busy around June 6th though!

Original poster

beginnings · 17/04/2013 22:50

Great Irishmammybread. I'll look into that. Sounds great. We should have moved on by June 6 so that'll work for us.

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Portofino · 18/04/2013 10:36

Honfleur is very nice, and William the Conqueror's castle at Falaise.

Mandy21 · 18/04/2013 21:45

We stayed at Chateaux Les Eaux close to Granville which was lovely.

Lonecatwithkitten · 18/04/2013 22:58

Beware that the first week in June being the anniversary of DD will make any accommodation close to the actual beaches very difficult to find. You are also likely to find access to various monuments restricted and certain times and on the 6th June large parts of Arromanches shut for the parades. Also that time of year is notorious for truly terrible weather. Very, very wet.
I would go earlier in May or Later in June.

Weegiemum · 18/04/2013 23:05

We went to Normandy 5 years ago - was brilliant.

Ill have a poke around and get some ideas for you.

Off the cuff Mont St Michel, Bayeux, beaches (it was a bit of a "woah" moment on Omaha beach, with everyone playing and laughing. But was that not the entire point?).

There's a fab "reptile zoo" near mt St Michel we went to (our dc were 4,6,8 when we went) and they were in awe of the massive tortoises!

sweetestcup · 18/04/2013 23:39

I only had a day in Normandy last year, on the way back from the Vendee. We visited Arromanches, Omaha beach and the American military cemetery, very moving.

Original poster

beginnings · 21/04/2013 07:39

Thanks all, these are great ideas! Lanecat we're actually thinking of Normandy for the week of May 27 and then onto Brittany - I've found a place near Benodet that looks good so hopefully we'll avoid DD restrictions.

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StuffezLaYoni · 21/04/2013 07:45

In Brittany, the little town of Dinan is worth a visit a so beautiful. I can recommend a really nice little B and B near the beach. It's by an English woman who's an ex french teacher. She knows loads about the area and will suggest things for you to do. It's called Le Petit Havre.

Jenijena · 21/04/2013 07:52

Have you considered a static mobile home key camp/euro camp style? We're staying in one in June partly because its as 1 yr old proofed as we're going to get (almost the same age), pool, some toddler facilities etc. and I don't have to take cot/high chair/changing mat etc.

Having said that, lots of my later childhood holidays were gites in that area and were great.

I'm close enough to the south coast to do day trips via Caen and have driven/explored d-day beaches this way. I can thoroughly recommend the Canadian museum on Juno beach

Original poster

beginnings · 21/04/2013 12:11

Thanks both. I'll look into that B&B StuffezLaYoni. Do you think she'd let me use kitchen facilities to prepare food for DD? We're not quite at the "eating of my plate" stage yet. She's a slow starter.

I've looked into Eurocamp style things Jenijena - I just like the idea of a house :) Thanks for the recommendation for the Canadian museum. I'll add that to the list.

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StuffezLaYoni · 21/04/2013 12:27

I'm sure she would - she's lovely. An ex colleague of my mum's. if you type "pordic" into google images you will see some gorgeous shots of the beaches near to it. I would love to go back but need to persuade my mum to take us, as I'm too wussy to drive in France!

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