Calvados
Port-en-Bessin
This part of Normandy has something to tempt pretty much everybody.
To the north are the evocative D-Day landing beaches and their museums,while to the west lies the tourist honey pot of Mont-St-Michel and Brittany. If you are looking for quiet and solitude there are a myriad of lanes for walking, cycling or exploring by car.
More ambitious walkers can tackle the Grand Randonnées or enjoy a more gentle amble along the cliff tops in Swiss Normandy. If you'd rather wander around picturesque towns and villages, Bayeux to the east and Dinard to the west escaped the war almost intact and are justifiably proud of their mediaeval centres.
Normandy also has one of the longest coastlines of any of France's départments, and with it comes a huge variety of seaside towns and ports, such as Port-en-Bessin (above), with enclosed harbours or promenades along wide, sandy, beaches.
Closer to Cormolain there are not only D-day museums but a couple to the area's mining heritage at Caumont L'Eventé and Le Molay-Littry, or to the area's mediaeval past.
There are also activities for those of you a little more adventurous, there's bungy-jumping while there's plenty of time for reflection at Monet's garden not too far away, or spend time outside with animals in the area's two zoos - Jurques and Champrepus. Even Cherbourg's spectacular Cité de la Mer is only a little over an hour away. Perhaps closest of all is the Château in Balleroy, with its celebration of hot-air ballooning.
Click here for a list of all the monuments in the area - and beyond.
St Lô market
