Marco's holiday pics August 2012 in Normandy

[Marco]

Old Church in Argentan:





Old door on same church:





Bagnoles de L'orne:
























































At night:










Small family-run restaurant in Fleure where we had a superb Sunday lunch:





Old Church in L'Lonlay L'Abbaye:





Domfront:





Mum and dad in Domfront:














Restaurant in Domfront where we took my parents to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary and my 47th birthday:





Canapés with cocktails, before dinner:





Inside the restaurant:





Some of the food we enjoyed (all are starters):

Sliced local pork with apples in a mixed mustard sabayon and light Calvados jus:








Fresh langoustines in a pea broth with Jambon de Pays:





The rather awesome dessert trolley....





Massive market in L'Aigle (one of the biggest in Normandy):





Huge cockerel we noticed in the livestock section:





Superb (and very cheap!) lorry driver's cafe we found just outside the town (L'Aigle), where we ate:





12 Euros per person (roughly £10, for a starter, main course, dessert or cheese), INCLUDING a quarter carafe of wine or cider!!





The dessert choice(!) with my dad's wee nut underneath ):





Old church in Belliou-en-Homme:











Just a nice building we saw at the side of the road:





Another nice little restaurant we ate in:





Old church in La Ferté-Macé:





At night:





The little cafe in La Ferté-Macé where we had breakfast every morning (amazing selection of home-made jams, croissants and bread):





More of La Ferté-Macé:











Auberge de la Mine, where we ate one night (http://www.aubergedelamine.com/page8a.html):





Marco.

[Marco]

Just to break things up a bit, here are some more in a separate post:

A little hotel we ate in, in the quaint little village of Briouze (more details here: http://www.hotelsophienormandie.com/)...











A little pizza restaurant we sometimes had a snack in at night (in Briouze):





An old relic in Alencon:





L'Onlay L'Abbaye:









































A little bar near St Omer we had a drink at before our last meal in France, before returning home:





Our favourite place to eat when arriving in (or leaving) France, 25 mins from Calais in a remote little village, called Wismes:








Marco.

[The Grand Wazoo]

.............always knew you'd eventually abandon that ropey old Technics thing & go for one o' them high mass turntables, Marco!
That's a mighty idler wheel if ever I saw one.

[synsei]

You appear to have a pink, flowery growth on your nose in this one Marco

Lovely photos dude and what's more the weather looks as if it held up for you. Congrats to you for your birthday and for your folks for their wedding anniversary



Little Chef could learn a thing or two and those prices are phenomenal

[Audio Al]

Very nice set of images ,

the places look like they have lots of history ,

and the food looks very nice

Thanks for showing us

And a belated Happy birthday

[MartinT]

Looks absolutely idyllic, Marco. I love small-town France and their slower way of life. I've done a fair few trips there with biker friends and we always feel recharged after a few days.

[Alex_UK]

Looks like you had a great time, some lovely places and food by the looks of it. Congrats to your folks on their Golden Wedding Anniversary!

[Marco]

Cheers, guys. We all had a fantastic time, especially my parents, which was what it was all about

Rural France is just fantastic, but you must have a car, otherwise you can be rather isolated (we always like to have a car with us on holiday, as it gives you much more freedom to get around). Not only is it dirt cheap there to eat supremely well, but also so are the prices of the rooms in the local family-run hotels. We were paying 42 Euros per ROOM (for two people) per night!

Nothing fancy, just spotlessly clean and functional rooms and somewhere to put your head down at night, which is all you need, as you're out most of the time. The money you save can then be spent on goodies, such as wine, beer, cider, etc, and food... The car was absolutely heaving on the way back!!

Let's just say that Christmas is pretty much sorted!

Marco.

[Thing Fish]

Looks really beautiful Marco. Glad you had a great time on your double celebration.

Not many people around either? which would please me greatly...

[Spectral Morn]

You obviously all had a great time and nice photos to remind of that time. Normandy looks very beautiful.